I’m Sure I’ve Lost My Mind

....Because despite all that’s happening and all the potential up coming changes in things around here, I have decided to start building a house in this country. And believe me the words cannot begin to express all that means. Not even close.

For one, for those that know, I can’t seem to do anything small. And this is no exception. Not that I want a big house; frankly I honestly don’t. But, the land that I purchased is practically right on the ocean, so it’s calling for a large house. And, that’s what I engaged an architect to design.

More probably said, I engaged an “architect” to complete the formal drawings of a plan I had already completed. He just had to make it suitable for Dominican review. And him taking 8 times to literally copy the plans should have given me a clue as to what I was about to get into. Literally I gave him practically every dimension and it was amazaing how many different version he could come up with, EXCEPT the exact copy of what I had given him. A sign of things to come.

Well, the logical question is... then why am I building? And, believe me, I ask myself the same thing over and over again. And, all I can come up with is that if I don’t build, about 15 families don’t eat. When we say things are bad in the US, it’s so so far from what’s happening here, and likely in most places that are called “third world”. The only thing I can’t imagine is how bad it is in places like Haiti. If this is bad, what’s Haiti like.

In the past, for this area, there are some folks we’ve hired to help build missionary houses, dorms, etc. And these folks are all mostly Haitian. So, when they heard that I was possibly building a house, 6 of them decided they would come from Haiti and, at the risk of not building the house, wait around Rio San Juan until I did start, if I did start. At that time, I really had no plans to start building. Quite the opposite; at the time, I had NO plans to build anytime soon, especially given how uncertain things are for me right now.

Well, on their way from Haiti to the DR, these 6 guys were beaten, robbed, and thrown in jail for one simple reason... they were Haitian. All done by the police. And they risked all they had for one reason; if they didn’t get this job, they had no job; which means no money, which means no food or anything else for their families. Literally nothing. No “welfare” in Haiti. So, they literally risk their lives to work in the DR, despite all the extreme prejudice.

And guess how much they get paid per day....??? Around 12 dollars. Yep $12 for a day of incredibly hard hard labor. Labor rarely seen in the US because we use all these fancy machines to do our work; especially the hard stuff. Not here; it’s all by hand and hard labor. And that’s the job they risk their lives for. To bust these huge boulders of rock with the most basic of tools (pike and shovel and sledge hammers) for $12 per day.

So, when they get out of jail they that are told that if they report the incident they will be killed. And in this country that is NOT an idle threat. And then, they show up in Rio San Juan and wait for me to start a house I had NO PLANS to start right now. So, what do I do? I prayed about it; got some counsel, and I started building a house I don’t want to build right now.

The first week was again an incredibly hard, insane, almost indescribable experience. Like I’m in a world; back a 100 years or more. Stress I’ve not seen in a long long time. These groups of “official” representatives of various “government” agencies in the DR, all wanting bribes or payoffs. Problems with everything from the details of the plans to the foundation and everything, everything in between.

And, to tie it all of with a nice bow, the architect, as it turns out, has been lying about almost everything he told me including fees he’s supposed to have paid, the accuracy of the drawings, and then.... He has the nerve to ask me for more money. I literally threw him out of the house.

I had previously agreed on a set price, and several weeks back, after listening to his sad story of all the government fees he had to pay, I paid him about 30% more than the total contract price I was obligaged to. Well, as it turns out, it was all a lie to extort money from me. And now, he’s refusing to cooperate with transferring the plans to another person whom I know better and trust more. But, he is being investigated by the town officials because evidently this is a common practice they are trying to stop. Welcome to the DR.

I also have studied the plans and as I suspected, they are not engineered correctly. While I know little about engineering, again the architect was responsible for having the plans engineered correctly (everything around here is building with concrete and steel, so engineering is extremely important). So, now the work has come to a stop and I’m having to pay about a 1/3 more in design and engineering fees, on top of what I’ve already paid.

So, basically I’ve had a week of extortionist and lies, one right after another. And all for one reason, because I’m white and some see me as rich and stupid. Well, at least half that version is not true. And, this is week 1 of what could easily be a year or more!!!

I’m now having to basically start again at many many level and realize that this experience is probably going to be the absolute hardest hardest hardest project I’ve ever done. And the funny yet sad thing is that I know this on the front end, and it scares me. But, I’m not stopping today.

I’m dead tired every night from fighting extornists and having to run from one place to another to keep the workers going (all 15 of them). And when I pay them $12 a day, they look in my eyes and say “thank you”. And I want to scream and say that I’m stopping, but I can’t stop. And, this is on top of the “ministry” I’m in the midde of, which does not stop either.
Surely, I have lost my mind. Or will soon.