Money

I have been learning a lot lately - which probably goes without saying. One of the things that has been tossed around here in front of me a few times is that it may be a possibility that I take over another missionary's job because they eventually want to lead another base up north. They haven't necessarily been training me to do this, but through my daily interactions I have been learning quite a bit about what he does (there is A LOT to learn and most of it in a new language).

In addition to the money related post from this morning, one thing that I learned today is the amount that the Haitian workers here get paid. I really had a hard time believing it. The average Haitian earns about or less than $1 per day. These guys here at the Mission make about $5 US dollars per day (roughly...some more and some less). That's $25 per week or $100 per month. They shop at the same grocery stores that we do and go to the markets for food (which is probably a little cheaper than the stores). The first thing that I thought of when I heard this was "How do they possibly by food for themselves let alone their family?" I thought about trying to live on the same dollar amount per week for a week or two. I am not sure that we will really do this, but I am interested in trying it for myself to understand and for the kids to understand. The mind numbing thing for me is that I have been blessed so much that I can call it quits and live like we have been any time I want - these guys, and others far worse off, cannot simply do that.

Coincidentally, today our friends (the Livesay's), posted a great post that can help to clarify the earning and living situation in Haiti.

Hesitantly and reluctantly, I took the kids for ice cream today because it was warmer and I wanted to give them a treat. We spent about $8 US dollars for ice cream (or about two day's work). I will forever remember this number and apply it to everything that I buy. I almost don't feel like eating. I can't believe the amount of money that I used to make at my desk job and that I would waste it away at times.

This is one of those times that I feel like I have so much more to say, but there is so much there that I cannot spit it out. Not just about the money stuff, but other things as well. So, I'll just post a couple of pictures...

Here is Lou. Kayla slowly ate a spoonful of peanut butter (I won't even tell you how much that costs) and Tina gave one to Lou. Well...he saw that Kayla was eating it but didn't watch how. He downed the spoonful in one bite and this is what he looked like...


Kayla, our artist, took a look at her spoon and said "Hey, this spoon looks like Grandma Schilling!" (without the face)...



Boring car stuff...

I worked a bit creating a database for the Mission to use regarding the Mechanic stuff. It sounds like as I have time, there are other things that we'll incorporate into this database. It is in Access and this is what it looks like...

I swapped a rear tire with the spare in one of the Toyotas because the cords were showing - that's the only real car stuff I did today.

The #2 generator had high oil pressure as I mentioned two posts ago and so I changed oil and filters (oil, air and fuel) and tomorrow I will see if it helps. I also cleaned the air filter pre-cleaner. I took a measure of the air temperature in the room and it was 135 degrees F - HOT. There was a water leak in the roof of the generator room that leaked on generator #1 and I fixed that today as well. So, lots of work for the generators today!