Harvey in Haiti

[Taylortractornut]

One thing you have working for you is the willingness to help themselves. I got hot this april in SMithville Mississippi. A friend of mne and I went down with his church group to clear some debris for the storm victims. We were working on this families housethe second one that we were on that day to folks would point out we missed a few tiny sticks or this and that. About 1/4 way through One left and went to the postoffice and came back wide open. A charity gave away 150 000 to several homes with damages. This family recived 1000 dollars. As soo nas they got it the all ran in and left for Tunica to gamble. Leaving us and their neighbors to clean up their yard.



At that I walked the excavator and skid steer across the road to their neighbors that were helping us at that yard. THey even stuck with us on the next 3 houses we worked on. I like seeing folks that will help themselves.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

One thing you have working for you is the willingness to help themselves. I got hot this april in SMithville Mississippi. A friend of mne and I went down with his church group to clear some debris for the storm victims. We were working on this families housethe second one that we were on that day to folks would point out we missed a few tiny sticks or this and that. About 1/4 way through One left and went to the postoffice and came back wide open. A charity gave away 150 000 to several homes with damages. This family recived 1000 dollars. As soo nas they got it the all ran in and left for Tunica to gamble. Leaving us and their neighbors to clean up their yard.



At that I walked the excavator and skid steer across the road to their neighbors that were helping us at that yard. THey even stuck with us on the next 3 houses we worked on. I like seeing folks that will help themselves.

Taylor nailed it.

What I have found is this perfect moment in time for the recycled plastic block house to be initiated in Haiti.

The Haitians realize that times are getting ready to get really hard because their economy is shrinking due to the status change from disaster to development. The world's generosity for helping disaster victims is many times greater than it is to help others develop a better life. The NGOs that do disaster relief are cutting back severely if not leaving. The NGOs that deal with development are struggling with the additional demand upon their services. This is forcing the Haitians to look inwards instead of outwards for help. There seems to be a realization that they are going to have to do this themselves if it is going to get done.

The NGOs at the same time are looking around and literally billions of dollars have touched down in Haiti and then evaporated. They are scrambling to find ways to make the dollars spent bring results.

The need in Haiti hasn't gotten less. It has gotten greater. It's just that we have to work with our heads and not our hearts to make Haiti work as a nation. The best analogy I can think of is dealing with a young adult addict that is our child. Tough love is harder on those giving it than those receiving it.

I wish everyone here had been with me Friday in that meeting with the women at Wharf Jeremy. You would be as filled with hope as I am.

Personal security is a concern for someone who looks like me in a lot of places in Haiti. My personal situation is very humbling. I am on a very small budget. I cannot afford to pay people to be with me when I venture into some of the places I go. However, I have two men who cover me like I'm a dignitary and they are the secret service. Their motivation is they believe in this more than I do. Someone gets too close that shouldn't finds a barrier between us that is subtle but there. They don't make a big deal about it and I try to make it easier on them.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Land titles in Haiti are a nightmare. There are often forged titles competing with real ones, the land courts are either nonexistent or politically controlled. The government is too disorganized and powerless to fix the mess. As a result, squatters rule, especially in the anarchy of Port au Prince.

It's worse than that from some places and not that much of a problem in others. Yet even in the worst parts of Cite Soleil there are abandoned houses that no one touches even though the last occupants might have died in the gang wars five years ago. They are ready for the family to come and claim them when they decide to do so.

You have neighborhoods where people live on less than two dollars a day. This is an economy where a rice lunch will cost you a couple of bucks if you buy it from a street vendor. An irony is there are goats and hogs everywhere. No one touches them even though they might be starving. The deterrent is the respect for spells and power beyond the obvious. I suspect some of the land rights are protected the same way.

At Wharf Jeremy Friday we were ran off from a public playground by a group of women that felt we shouldn't have been there. They followed us like yapping dogs until we were clear of their territory. I never did figure out if it was a religion thing or just a neighborhood watch deal on steroids. My guys explained it to me with nervous laughs about it being a "woman thing". I imagine anyone not part of that homeowners association would find life extremely difficult in that neighborhood.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I think of all the stuff that gets chunked at the rubbish landfill at work thats still usable. I have to compact what I cant haul home. I tink what person like you could do with all that wood there. I have a freind thats wanting to start building and donating rocket stoves. He has access to a plac that uses 2 pre bent tubes that scraps alot. I told him of your blocks and work in Haiti and it got him stirring.

 

[pacerron]

Personal security is a concern for someone who looks like me in a lot of places in Haiti. My personal situation is very humbling. I am on a very small budget. I cannot afford to pay people to be with me when I venture into some of the places I go. However, I have two men who cover me like I'm a dignitary and they are the secret service. Their motivation is they believe in this more than I do. Someone gets too close that shouldn't finds a barrier between us that is subtle but there. They don't make a big deal about it and I try to make it easier on them.

Harvey,
I'm sure there must be a plan for the use of your plastic compressor box but so far has not been addressed in this forum.
I am wondering who is going to own, operate, maintain, and secure your device from being stolen for the metal value versus the functional value when you leave? How many blocks per 24 hour day can be produced by one of your compressors and who will own, sell, or distribute the blocks and for how much? Is there any plan to use links and levers to move the compression plate quickly rather than the screw and steering wheel or a plan to motorize the mechanical motion?

 

[forgeblast]

I though he (harv) said they needed it "off the grid" so I think the plan was to keep it people power.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The machine everything is open source so anyone can do anything they want with the information except claim intellectual property protection. When I made it open source I even made it where I can't claim intellectual property protection.

That said, anyone can do what they want to make it more efficient. All I've asked is if they do they share the information with the rest of us.

The machines I've made here were made from materials that anywhere else would be in the scrap yard destined for the furnace. It was what had to be done because of budgetary constraints. But it turned out to be a good thing because Haitian welders are just like welders everywhere. They will see what I've done and know they could do better. I've removed the arguments about correct materials from the discussion.

As for security, that is not an issue. I believe that is covered.

 

[pacerron]

I though he (harv) said they needed it "off the grid" so I think the plan was to keep it people power.

I missed that.
My thought was that compound links and levers might be easier to make than
wheels and screws and be faster to operate. Of course there is always friction to worry about. Harv is there and was involved in making test machines back in the states in April so they have probably figured out the
best way for now. He is getting more hits on this thread than on welding so
progress is being made.

 

[charlz]

I have a dream. That dream is of an excavator lifting the trash out of the canals and placing it into a large tank. That tank contains a cleaing solution that kills bacteria like ecoli and cholera. Then the trash is rinsed and placed where sorting and processing takes place.

There are some conventional recycling of plastic bottle programs on the island. I've already talked to one about them having processing equipment at this location to pick up the bottles that they want. The really bad stuff like the film and foam plastics will be processed into building blocks for housing. The organic based stuff like paper will be processed into briquettes. Charcoal is the most common cooking fuel here in Haiti.

The big problem for me in this dream is the sanitizing tank. Someone mentioned to me the use of salt water. The ocean is right there. There has to be a salinity level that will kill the bacteria. It would be the most cost effective and natural solution I believe. If you know anyone with the skill set and knowledge to find the answer it would be wonderful.

We want to clean up the plastic trash and provide a way to make the best homes at any price. But we don't want to make Haitians sick doing it.

I don't think salt water has any anti-bacterial properties. After all when there is a sewage spill in to the ocean in SoCal they have to close the beaches if the concentration is high enough.

You might be able to use seawater for an initial wash-down. Something like a trammel with pressure washer type nozzles in it to blast the bulk of the unwanted materials off the outside of the plastic items. After that I would think you need some type of conventional solution like bleach, iodine, chlorine etc. to finish the job in your tank as the insides of bottles etc will still be contaminated. If the plan is simply to get them clean enough to sort and they will be shred and pieces cleaned again later the trammel might get them clean enough for that.


I do have a question about the plastic blocks. How are the houses constructed such that wire failure on the blocks doesn't cause problems? I would think in a tropical environment with potential for salt the wire would fail after some period of time.

 

[IslandTractor]

Charlz is correct. Salt water is not an effective biocide. Heat is. Moist heat is quite effective. For practical purposes you need some pressure too but an old fashion gravity autoclave might be constructed from 55 gallon drums. I've seen it done in third world hospitals and it does work. The concern in Haiti would be inadequate supervision which could be dangerous. A safer alternative is simply to Pasturize the garbage. Look up the standards. 150 degrees for twenty or thirty minutes would do it (check my memory on the standards). You don't even have to bring the plastic soup to a boil.

The other consideration is that just soap and water should be sufficient to
make the blocks safe to handle. Who cares if there are live pathogens sealed and trapped inside? They are building blocks not dinner plates. To go an extra step just dunk the completed blocks into a 1:1000 solution of chlorine bleach for a few minutes.