It’s been a warm winter!
It has been warm here, and it has been a while since I last sent out an update. Since my last update, so much has happened, and some things still have not happened.
What has not happened is getting in my house. I mentioned in my last update that I was renting a house for a year. Well, I rented it, but I am still not in it. The landlord promised several things would be done before I moved in, and they still are not done. It is getting very frustrating, especially since I had to pay for the year in advance. The landlord is an experienced connected lawyer, so it will be very difficult to remedy the situation through a “legal” process. I am praying that he will just give me my money back and tear up the lease…or finish all of the things he said he would do and rewrite the start and finish dates on the lease.
My Mom and Dad were here!
My Father and Mother arrived on my Father’s birthday, January 10. They stayed for 10 days, what a great time. My Mom got to spend some time with Jan, my Dad got to spend some time with me in my workshop. It was my Dad’s second trip down here and the first trip for my Mom. I was very excited to show them what it is that keeps me down here. While the lifestyle is not for them, they were able to see why it is just right for me.
I eased them into things by spending the first night at a resort on the beach about an hour north of Port au Prince. Kaliko Beach Club. What a great place…if any of you come down to visit me, we will have to spend a night there…very reasonable prices and great food!
The beds are done…on to other projects.
The bed projects have finally finished. After we finished, we had built 48 high quality bunk beds for 4 different customers. We have two designs of beds and we have the construction and installation process down to a science. When I say we are finished, I mean we are finished for now…everyone that visits an orphanage or guest house with our beds is very curious where in Haiti can they get such a strong, good looking bed.
Some beds up at Good Shepherd Orphanage in Marose |
Happy customers! |
While we were building our beds in our rented shop at Mission da Vie Orphanage here in Gonaives, a music teacher that works at the orphanage approached me about building a “Cajon.” A cajon is basically a wooden box that you can beat on and make noise. He gave me a link to a youtube video showing the do it yourself cajon construcion. I have plenty of bed scraps and I like a challenge, so I built a prototype for him. It is a little more complex than just a wooden box. The drum head is very thin plywood (1/8″) and there is a snare mounted on the inside that rests on the head.
Jean Philippe and I working on some drums. |
My cajon features an adjustable snare for a custom sound! |
I built the prototype and he was thrilled. I asked him to find me a decent market price for the drums here in Gonaives, and I told him that he would get a significant discount on that one. Looking on amazon.com and other places on the internet, I found that you would have to spend at least $100 US to get a simple cajon. He told me that he could probably sell them for $50 here in Gonaives. I told him that I would sell them to him for $40 and he could keep for himself whatever profit he makes. He eagerly pulled out $40 to pay for the first drum, but I refused payment…Heck, it was a fun challenge…It was my first musical instrument. Two days later he ordered two more, last week he ordered seven more! I have sold four others before they were even finished and I have orders from several churches that would like some simple percussion for their worship teams.
Kathy Brooks, drumming away on a nearly finished cajon. |
Since the beds are finished, I can’t justify renting the shop for little projects here and there, so I am back to working in the front yard of Beaver and Kathy’s house. I string up a tarp and drag my tools out every morning! It is nice to have such a short commute.
Good morning workshop! |
Rolling cabinet is rolling along as well. Jake from CoreLuv ordered a couple of large rolling kitchen cabinets that he can use to prepare meals and then to move to the dining room and serve the meals. They are turning out beautiful, but as usual, I under bid the project…If I have the guts, I will ask him for some more money, but I did tell him a price before I started…live and learn.
Jean Philippe put a decorative skirt on the roller cabinets |
Stayed up late to mount the doors on this one |
Here is one of the rollers waiting for stain and varnish. Lots of drums in progress too. |
Support
After two and a half years of support from my church in Gretna, the financial relationship we have is coming to an end. From now on, the support I get from family and friends will go through a corporation that I have set up in the US called “Tools for Success.” The paypal buttons on this blog will no longer direct you through my church, they will go directly to an account for the Tools corporation. My sister is the president and a few of my other friends are on the board of directors. The corporation does not yet have 501(c)3 status, so the contributions are not currently tax deductible. If you want to give a tax deductible donation, you can do that through Much Ministries. Just go to this link, it is a paypal transaction, before you are finished you will have the option to send special instructions to the seller. This is where you would indicate that the funds are for Scott in Haiti.
I have some big plans, I could definitely use your help to make it happen. But, that being said, I do have a goal of being sustainable in the near future. Thank you for investing in our lives down here!
Scott