From November 8 – 18 I travelled to Uganda and Rwanda with Building Goodness. The purpose of the trip was to explore the possibility of building a hospital for the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation, based in Kasese, Uganda. My travel partner for the trip was Martin Quarles, a veteran BGF volunteer and builder with Alexander Nicholson.

The epic trip began in Washington. We took a 12 hour flight to Istanbul, a 6 hour flight to Entebbe, and then an eight hour drive to get to Kasese. Once there, Martin and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of hard-working people and explore a beautiful place. Our hosts were Bishop Zebedee Masereka and his wife Mama Stella, who are founding members of the Foundation. The foundation was initially begun as a program to aid students and children whose families have fallen victim to HIV / AIDS, but it now also focuses on providing medical care to the entire community. We met with Dr. Daniel Sambili, the chief operating physician at the BMCF medical clinic. We met the entire medical and administrative staff at the clinic, all of whom were very optimistic about the work they were doing and forthcoming in their goals for the new facility. In addition to Daniel, the staff includes two clinical officers, ten nurses, a lab technician, a lab assistant, one radiographer, and an administrative staff (30 people total). They have only 18 beds and one operating theater. Their primary focus is maternity and neonatal care, but they provide other services through their lab, which is able to check for malaria, HIV, etc. They offer inpatient, diagnostic, and outpatient care while also placing importance on community consultation for birth control and HIV / AIDS prevention. It is the only care immediately available to the residents of Kasese. However, they are currently operating out of a rented facility that is composed of four small (approx. 20’ x 40’) buildings, which are entirely inadequate. The humble facility restricts their capabilities, and the new hospital will allow them to better serve the town of Kasese and the surrounding area.

In addition to meeting with the medical staff we had many other key meetings with board members and community leaders. Present in all meetings was Leslie Nicholson, a key member of BMCF’s Board of Directors in the United States. We also had the pleasure of meeting three members of MASS Design – Chris Maurer, Andrew Brose, and Commode Dushimimana (all of whom live in Rwanda). MASS Design is a group of very talented designers and builders with offices in Boston, MA and Kigali, Rwanda . Formed as a subsidiary group of Partners in Health, MASS provides high quality design services mainly in Central Africa. We had an opportunity to tour their recently completed hospital in Butaro, Rwanda.  Set on top of a hill with a beautiful view, the hospital is an extremely sophisticated facility that was built over the course of three years primarily with local labor and materials. The hospital is now successfully serving a rural community of approximately 400,000 people.

While we were certainly busy with meetings, we did have a day of leisure spent in Queen Elizabeth National Park, where we were able to see lions, hippos, buffalo, crocodiles, elephants, monkeys, as well as many different kinds of birds, and other animals.

The trip was a success in many ways. Martin and I were blown away by how incredibly dedicated these people are to their work, and we hope to be involved in the project. It remains to be determined exactly who will be involved in the construction of the BMCF hospital, but the preconstruction process is underway and the new facility will greatly improve the lives of those living in Kasese and western Uganda.

- Tommy

From April 9 – 24 I traveled to Haiti again with Building Goodness Foundation (http://buildinggoodness.org/). BGF has just begun a Ti-Kay (Creole for “small house”) program, which implements a modular housing system designed by C’ville architect Mike Stoneking (http://www.s-vs.com/), and which has been studied and tested in the field by many Charlottesville contractors and carpenters. The houses are 12 feet wide by 20 feet long, 4 feet of which acts as an outdoor porch. They are constructed entirely from pressure treated lumber and galvanized roofing metal; they have four windows, three doors, and come complete with bug-blocking and window and door locking hardware.

The group I went down with was one of the first to begin mass-assembling these houses at a compound in Leogane (the city in which the 2010 earthquake was cenetered). My group was lead by Clay Clark and included team members Pete Syme, Michael Plehn, Bryce Fletcher, Dave Ackerman, Mike Rabinowitz, Nora Brookfield, and Mary Butcher. Everyone was extremely motivated and I was impressed by everyone’s work ethic. For some, it was their first time in Haiti and for the rest of us, it was a fresh type of trip since we were staying near the center of Leogane and had intimate access to the city.

The compound where we stayed was being managed by a great guy named Jason; he has given BGF plenty of room to store materials and tools so our prefabrication of the base components, wall panels, roof trusses, and other pieces was up and running in no time. Following prefabrication, we loaded the house components onto a truck the night before a build, and early the next morning we took everything into the mountains for families that are in desperate need of safe, reliable housing. Due to the simple and elegant nature of the design, the houses can easily assembled in a day by a relatively small crew. We left the compound around 7 am, began building around 8 am, and we were usually packing up and going home around 3 or 4 pm. While we were down there, we prefabricated six houses worth of material and assembled four of them in the mountains.

It wasn’t all work, though. We had a great time hanging out with our fellow Haitian workers on the weekends and after work. The weekend between groups changing, Clay and I had two days alone and we decided to spend it at the beach with all of our fellow Haitian builders – Walton, Jimmy, Mardochee, and Gito. After a long, hot week of work, nothing quite hits the spot like fresh lobster and cold beer on a beautiful beach. That same weekend, Clay and I also built a pool table for the compound in Leogane, the felt and balls for which Clay had brought from home. The food in Haiti also deserves mentioning; we had a cook at the compound and most meals are delicious (I think Bryce agreed to go on the trip just so he could have authentic Picklies again…). But on weekends we were left without a cook, and the entire group owes a debt of gratitude to the cook at the Ocean Grill, a seafood restaurant in Leogane. There are no words to describe how many incredible meals this place provided for us.

I encourage anyone reading this who has never been to Haiti to consider going with BGF. They’re constantly looking for more volunteers. Whether you are in the construction industry or not, you can contribute to the effort in Haiti, and you will have an amazing experience. Despite the devastation from the last year, Haiti is a beautiful country filled with amazing people. There is something about Haiti that brings people back. If you go, you probably won’t go once.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the job site,

Not a tool was in use, not even a light;

The hoses and cords were coiled in the basement with care,

In hopes that the midnight plumber would soon be there;

The paint and poly sat ready for painters,

While brushes and rollers bobbed in their containers;

And Ross in his blazer, and Tom in his new cap,

Had just boozed up for a long winters nap;

When up on the roof there rose such a racket,

I sprang from the floor to check each hurricane bracket;

Up the stair I flew with a tremendous fuss,

Climbed up the wall and into the truss;

The street lamp shone on the shiny metal siding,

And slowly I peeked out from where I was hiding;

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear

But a large white truck, and eight, cold bottles of beer;

With a tall, skinny driver, so happy to be with friends,

I knew in a second it must be Jeff Erkelens;

Faster than a nail gun he did bound,

And call out each of our names with a booming sound;

“Now, Tom, Now, Cory, Now, Tommy and Ross,

On Loafers, On Gruber, On Robo-cop and Boss;

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall,

Let’s get drunk, I’ve got beer for us all!”

So through the house he flew,

With a bunch of tools, and plenty of supplies too;

Down the duct chase he came with a thud,

Wearing a hat, two pants, and work boots with mud,

He lay down the beer and bundle of tools,

In less than a moment we became drunk fools!

Jeff’s eyes sparkled, but his hair was a mess,

Yet he looked quite handsome and jolly, I must confess;

His mouth was drawn up in a smile,

But the scruff of his beard needed a good file;

We all popped another beer and drank them so quickly,

Shortly thereafter we appeared quite sickly;

Jeff spoke not a word, but went straight to his task,

He filled the buckets with new tools, and took a swig of his flask;

There were new hammers, a level, and plenty of nails,

A brand new drill and saw – great for building fancy details;

He then sprang to his truck, and gave a yell to his team,

And he drove into the night, just like a dream;

But I heard him exclaim, ere he vanished down the street,

“Merry Christmas to all, and please seal the concrete”