Navigators in a Foreign Land

This week we are fortunate to have Joe, Jamie and Ron here with us in Haiti.  These guys have spent lots of time traveling around the world and have been to Haiti a few times.  They are good ol' boys from Missouri and have lots of great stories.  They work with an organization that takes people around the world to serve others by helping to build churches, schools, gardens and homes for people.

Joe works on sustainable food projects (he's going to teach classes to interested patients who want to learn about gardening), Ron works with clean water (we're hoping he'll consult with us on our well and how we can help get clean water to our neighbors), and Jamie likes to build.

They have come to stay with us to build us two shade houses for our garden and we are SOO excited.  This will mean we can grow plants about 15degrees cooler than the outside temperature and these plants will have a cover which will allow 40% sun and rain water to soak through.  Apparently they have built these all over Haiti and several other countries and the recipients of these shade houses have had a lot of success.

Here's a photo of Ron, Jamie and the appropriately-named Redheads Without Borders members Nancy, Eve and Susan prepping the ground for the shade houses.

Joe is sort of the ring-leader and has came to Haiti three months at a time 6 different times.  He speaks a bit of Kreole and has so many great stories to tell.  I have a feeling these guys are going to give us a lot of insight into some of the cultural things about Haiti that continue to stump me.  Sort of navigators in a foreign land if you will.

Yesterday I was talking to Joe about how much people want to be paid in Haiti since we almost always have an employee dissatisfied with their salary.  When we first came to Haiti we were advised that $100 USD/month was adequate since the average person in Haiti makes $600/year.  We have paid our employees well above that and we also provide room, board and free health care.  Yet some are still unhappy.

Joe said they will always be unhappy with what we pay.  We were cut off after he said this last statement but I plan to pick his brain to try to understand why.  Is it a cultural thing to try to get as much as you can?  Are they worried we'll pick up and leave and they'll be out of a job so they better get what they can?  Do they see our extravagant lifestyle in comparison with theirs and think they can probably get more pay?  I'll let you know what I find out when I get a chance to talk to him.

I am looking forward to this week not only so we can learn more about gardening from this trio, but so we can also have some help navigating our way through this foreign land.