The Northcutt 8: Another trip to Haiti

Port au Prince

Haiti is a country that has been through a lot. 2 mass exodus' in the 1960's, in which the educated people - teachers, professors, etc., were invited to countries like S. Africa and Canada. It has been ravaged by crime, corruption and the latest, an earthquake, well over a year ago now.

Immigration

Trash dump just outside the guest house

There is a lot of work still needing to be done because of this earthquake. It is truly unbelievable the kind of conditions the Haitians live in.

More Trash

Largest Tent City

You and I would be appalled if we had to live anything remotely close to the way they live. In fact, we would not stand for it, we would be rioting and rushing Washington's front doors.

Mayor's home in Port au Prince - completed after earthquake

Water that cannot be drank because it carries deadly diseases, electric that is only on for a few hours a day, roads that completely destroy a car's suspension in a matter of a few months, trash everywhere, farm animals that run the streets freely, prices that make it virtually impossible to buy anything, government corruption that leaves the people paralyzed and so on and so on. This is not some remote location in the country; this is Port au Prince, the capital city in the country.

Cow grazing in dump just outside guest house

Daniel and I got back Monday August 29th from another trip to Haiti.

Daniel and Mr. Brown

We were able to get 2 cars running again for Dottie Diehl, a missionary.

One for her personally and the other for the school. We were there only a week and it took the whole week to complete the task. Everytime we turned around we had more issues to deal with and more parts that were needed. Mr. Nickson had to do lot of running for parts and tools - some he never did find, so, we improvised to make things work.

We worked on a 1996 Chevy Blazer and a 1997 Isuzu Rodeo. When we started with the Rodeo it was not running at all. We thought the fuel pump was problem but I found that it was working so I replaced the fuel regulator with the new one I took down with me. First car running, Praise the Lord! After bolting the gas tank back in, though, the fuse for the fuel pump blew and the engine would not start, again. I disconnected the fuel pump and found that I had a short there. This means I had to drop the gas tank out of the car to check the pump. When I got the tank out I found that someone had spliced the wires inside the tank and didn't completely cover the wires, so it was shorting against the metal bracket holding the pump. I repaired that connection and several others that I found under the rear of the car. Once I completed that car, by about mid week, I turned to the Blazer. I needed to check the fuel pressure to the engine to make sure we had the proper fuel pressure. We went out looking for a gauge and had one man at an Auto Parts store promise us that he would have us one the next morning - he never did get it for us. I decided to replace the fuel regulator first, instead of the fuel pump because it had a 3/4 tank of gas in it, but this meant I had to remove the upper intake manifold from the engine, though. I was able to get the manifold off the engine and replaced the fuel regulator and then I had to wait for Mr. Nickson to find some gasket maker for me so that I could seal it down on the engine again.

The Market

Once I had the gasket maker I put the engine back together and then tried to start it. Suddenly the engine just stopped and would not crank anymore. I thought maybe the battery was low, again, since we had had battery problems all week, so I connected the charger to it. After a while I realized the charger wasn't working - found a broken wire. So I decided to jump the Blazer with the Isuzu. Still the engine wouldn't crank. By this time it was getting late, so we decided to quit for the night. As I was laying in bed, praying, I realized some gas had spilled out when I pulled the regulator off and I thought it might have gone down into the cylinders - Pistons cannot compress a liquid. The next morning, Saturday, I tried to start the engine again - same thing - it still won't crank. I decided to pull the spark plug out of the rear cylinders to let the gas out but I needed a longer extension for my socket wrench - Mr. Nickson went out looking for an extension. He returned with the extension and I got the plug out. As I turned the plug out the gas just started pouring out of the cylinder. I put the plug back in and tightened it up and tried to crank the engine, same thing happened again. I decided to pull the throttle body off the manifold and found that something was leaking, Ugh. This means I have to pull the manifold back off again, Oh GREAT! Having used a gasket maker to seal it on to the engine it wasn't coming back off again very easy. I worked at it for quite a while and was able to get it off. I found that the regulator had slipped out of place when I re-installed the manifold and gas was pouring out everytime the fuel pump ran. As I pulled the manifold off the second time an O-ring broke on the injector unit. So Mr. Nickson went looking for a new O-ring. He came back a couple hours later with 5 different O-rings. One of them worked, Praise the Lord! I put it all back together, pulled the spark plugs to drain the cylinders again and a spark plug wire broke, Oh No! I can't believe this. Nickson went out, again, late in the afternoon on Saturday. (You have to know that everything closes early in Haiti) He came back with a new set of plug wires but they didn't work -they're for a Mitsubishi. (This is the way they repair things, just find a part that might work. They don't go by Make, Model and Engine.) I got anxious and decided to start the engine anyway. We had to jump start it again because Daniel left a light on inside the car. It took a little bit to prime the fuel system but then it started and is running good. Mr. Nickson never did find a spark plug wire. Dottie asked a guest coming in from the US to bring one in for her.

There had been much prayer the whole week and our GREAT God and provider heard and answered our prayer. Thank you Lord!

On Sunday we did get to go to Hope, Faith and Love Infant rescue, run by Dorothy Pierce, to see the kids and to help out a little. They currently have 25 children - 10 of those are HIV positive. At this time their only washing machine is rusted out and they have no back up batteries for power. With city power only on for a few hours a day this makes it tough to live and care for these children properly. This is one of 4 orphanages that I know of within a 5 minute walk of the Dottie's Guest house where we stayed.

Please pray for a washing machine and batteries for their backup power system.

Gary