Work day #2

Another beautiful day with our friends at Radio Lumiere brought another day of progress. As our team members are settling into their roles major changes in the wiring can be seen around the station. A second 200 amp power wire was run the length of the building today as well as a 60 amp power wire to the roof for the air conditioner. Smaller wires were cut and staged to be installed for the other 2 air conditioning circuits tomorrow. Work also moved along in the mechanical room. A few of the breakers were installed in the new panels and some of the high power cables were run into the panels to feed the circuits. The panels and automatic transfer switches were also wired together. A few of the guys even took a some time to look at the generator which isn't working, turns out a valve blew out of the head and is lodged in the cylinder. That generator won't be running anytime soon. A couple of guys went to Port-au-Prince to find a few needed supplies and after a few hours brought back the items we needed. Tomorrow we plan on changing the main power from the current connection points to the newly installed panels.

We have just finished dinner and are about to gather in the courtyard for daily reflection and discuss the days to come.

Work day #1 complete

After getting a bit of a late start, the team loaded the bus and headed to Radio Lumiere. After a tour of the facility we laid out the plans for our work to be completed during our stay here in Haiti. First order of business was unpacking our materials from the shipping crates, staging a supply room / prefab shop and making some shelves from the crates to organize small parts. The team formed into smaller groups and the work got started.

As we wrapped up our day a new 200 amp service cable was run the length of the building, from the service entrance to the mechanical room. At the front of the building a new service disconnect was mounted and ready for hook up tomorrow. Back in the mechanical room, the 2 new automatic transfer switches and 2, 200 amp main load centers were mounted on the wall and some of the preliminary wiring complete. This evening, after our first "tap tap" ride ( a tap tap is a Haitian taxi made from a pickup truck with a cage like cap on the bed) we check out of the guest house from last night and moved into another across town.

The team has just rejuvenated with fantastic nourishment at our new accomidation will spend some time together in fellowship and reflection in preparation for our day tomorrow.

Stuck in Miami???

The Team of five of us met in Reagan National Airport earlier this morning, and now we have arrived in Miami. Our airplane was to begin boarding at 1:25 PM, but it is already 2:23 PM and we have been told that they are trying to find us another plane to get us to Haiti. The plane we were supposed to be on is still in Haiti with mechanical problems and the plane that was our replacement is also out due to mechanical issues, so we are just waiting. The desk just now notified us that we will be getting a new plane at 5:00 PM and we will arrive in Port-au-Prince around 7:00 PM. I may not get to update this later tonight to let you know where we are, but we will update tomorrow morning for sure. The one photo is some of us brainstorming in Washington. The other photo is the complete team here in Miami. Paul Shingledecker is with us and is also shown on the photo.

Starting Out - 2012

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 marks the beginning of a journey of ten men from I-TEC to the Radio Lumiere radio station in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The radio website is: http://www.radiolumiere.org. Four men are traveling from the Pittsburgh, PA area. They are Norm S., Steve W., Kerry B., and Jerry Z. Five men are traveling from the Harrisburg, PA area. They are Gary S., Matt A., Shane A., Don A., and Matt W. Finally, Gerard R. is traveling from New Bern, SC. We expect to converge in the Miami International Airport around noon on Tuesday. We will leave together for Port-au-Prince at 2:25 PM and expect to arrive in Haiti around 4:20 PM. We will be posting daily or as often as possible on this blog, so we encourage you to follow along and pray with and for us that we might be able to accomplish some electrical renovations at the station that will be a benefit to them for some time to come. Only the Lord can give us the strength and knowledge to make a difference for this ministry that reaches over 85% of Haiti with the Gospel Message 24/7.