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two equal horizontal bands of blue (top) and red with a centered white rectangle bearing the coat of arms, which contains a palm tree flanked by flags and two cannons above a scroll bearing the motto L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE (Union Makes Strength); the colors are taken from the French Tricolor and represent the union of blacks and mulattoes
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| Haiti Updates |
| Drilling Crew Finishes Job in Haiti |
| Team finishes well interrupted by quake and drills 15 others |
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On his first trip back to Haiti since a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the island nation, Arron Swenson honored the promise he made his 11-year-old daughter - and slept outside in a tent.
One can understand her apprehension.
Swenson's well-drilling crew was working outside Port-au-Prince on Jan. 12 when the quake hit. The Pendleton pastor and other drillers watched tremors ripple across the flat terrain like ocean swells. His crew, which included Jason Sheets of Pendleton, drove the 15 miles back to the city and stared unbelievingly at collapsed buildings and corpses lining the sidewalks.
The drillers helped rescue people trapped under the rubble, then returned home to process what they'd experienced. The well they'd been drilling the day the quake hit remained unfinished.
A month ago, the crew returned to Haiti to finish the well and drill 15 others, most in tent cities full of quake survivors. Swenson traveled with a 35-pound drill bit in each of his three suitcases.
Upon arrival, honoring his promise to his daughter Amy, he set up his two-man tent in a yard, instead of bunking in available missionary housing.
The waterproof tent kept him dry during periodic downpours. Not so for the thousands of Haitians living in makeshift tents made of bed sheets and sticks.
"The people are functioning the best they can," Swenson said. "Any open spot is jammed with tents."
Relief workers are slowly replacing bed sheets and plastic shelters with prefabricated tents. Many Haitians whose homes weren't destroyed in the quake are also sleeping in tents, afraid to sleep indoors, Swenson said.
Sheets, who is back working at A Sharp Painter this week, said he was impressed with how the Haitian people have bounced back.
"These people are so resilient," he said. "They just pick up and move on through the tragedy."
Though some of the rubble is getting cleared away, collapsed buildings - including the presidential palace - remain everywhere. A high-profile tent city which sprouted up across the street from palace grounds has a front-row view of the rubble. The site received a visit from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush a couple weeks ago.
Swenson, pastor of Pendleton's Cornerstone Community Church, said his crew searched for tent cities that were off the beaten path, drilling public wells in nearby church yards or public property.
"These camps tend to be forgotten," Swenson said.
People gathered as the drillers drove a new $200,000 rig, purchased by Healing Hands International, into place at various locations and started drilling through sandstone, river rock and boulders for water. The men attempted to keep the ever-present crowd from encroaching.
"We always had an audience - always," Swenson said. "We were swinging big old pieces of pipe around. You kind of need a perimeter."
When the crew hit water, he said, people showed up with pails.
One day, the drilling rig quit working after a fuel filter clogged. Haitians brought them beverages.
"It is humbling to have people who lost everything and live in tents bring you cold Cokes to thank you for your work," he said.
Everywhere they went, Haitians bombarded the men with requests for more wells.
Finally, the crew drove to the well left unfinished on the day of the quake, drilling down 295 feet before striking water. The water eventually gushed to 80 feet from the surface and brought smiles to Swenson, Sheets and the rest of the sweaty men.
"It was cool that the same guys could be there to finish the job we started," Swenson said.
By trip's end, the crew had drilled 16 wells, 15 public and one at an orphanage. Their initial drill bit wore out after the 15th well.
Swenson said his project is the result of public, private, faith-based and military organizations working together. Donors from Pendleton and beyond donated around $30,000, used to buy drill supplies (bits, fuel and casings).
"I'm so proud of our community," Swenson said. "Their dollars got turned into buckets of water within a month."
Arron Swenson of Pendleton wore out this drill bit drilling 16 wells while working disaster relief bringing water to displaced Haitians in the aftermath of the January earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A drilling rig pokes out of the trees near a tent city in Port-au-Prince.
Photos courtesy of Arron Swenson |
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