so i realized i haven't given any real updates since the project trip! it's been exciting month, both in and out of the office. i'll start with the work updates. i'm going to try to include a little of what's going on with all of the projects in the office (not just mine) for a bigger picture.
to back up a bit- our peru project was kind of on hold for a week or two while we waited on some comments on the preliminary design from the ministry. with a project of this scope, there are quite a few options and a lot of things to consider. and we continue to wait for some final answers on building code requirements in lima. it's not uncommon for eMi to be working in places without codes altogether, so the extensive codes found in lima have been a change of pace. we've begun moving forward with the ministry's comments and i've been doing my best to help out on the mechanical end (since this project did not have the normal amount of civil design). i'm excited to be working on this and with all the visions they have for their ministry i'll be really excited to see them be able to move forward and God to use them in ways that they've been praying about for years (literally).
hard to see much, but here's a stacked view of the prelim design to give an idea of scope
in the mean time, i've been helping out with a few projects that began last fall. the first is an orphanage and school campus in mexico and the others are a YWAM youth center in haiti, an orphanage in haiti called haitian children's home (HCH), and a church project in haiti (FEH). the YWAM project was completed and issued last week and the FEH project is almost there, leaving more of the office free to work on HCH and the mexico orphanage. construction is scheduled to begin very soon on all of these haiti projects, making it an exciting time.
the civil portion of the HCH orphanage is where i've spent the majority of my time recently. it's an interesting project on many levels. the site is located at the top of a large cliff above the ocean on the southern end of haiti. while it's absolutely beautiful, it presents some challenges in both the structural and civil areas. structurally, they'll be designing for some serious hurricane winds up there, as well as the earthquakes that are always a concern. from a civil point of view the difficulties rise from the composition of the site, which is mostly hard lava rock instead of soil. this prohibits nearly all filtration necessary for the wastewater, leading to the use of the mound system (and a lot more required fill) as opposed to the normal leach field. it's been an interesting challenge and i'm learning quite a bit as i go.
south end of the site for haitian's children home (HCH)
the lava rock we're dealing with (since i know you were dying to see it)
pavas, costa rica project:
arch. sketches of the new multi-purpose building for the school (palabra de vida)
the site of the new school building (el colegio cristiana)
the kids of el tizate on their way to the current building
with all of the project trips for the spring complete, we've been really enjoying having almost everyone back in the office. the only exception to this was josh, who was doing disaster relief in chile for a couple of weeks after the earthquake and tsunamis that followed. josh, scott (an engineer from the colorado springs office), and a structural engineer volunteer from the states went to chile to perform structural assessments and set up water purification systems, similar to the relief work in haiti but a very different trip. they shared that the government in chile not only had a desire to work with eMi, but was making sincere efforts to respond and provide for their country- a harsh contrast to haiti. the team went with backpacks and tents, but were graciously housed and fed the majority of their nights there, mostly by CMA Chile families. during their time they were able to complete nearly 50 assessments of homes, churches, and a jail, as well as offer aid in some small villages that government hadn't been able to reach yet.
a couple of photos from the chile disaster relief team
as for haiti, food for the hungry recently asked eMi-AL to design a transitional housing shelter that would be economical, able to be constructed in 3-4 hours, last up to 5 years, and durable to withstand future hurricanes and earthquakes. it's an exciting challenge for the team of structural engineers here, and will be used by nearly 2,000 families in haiti while the places where their homes used to stand are hopefully cleared. the living conditions in many places there are dangerous, unsanitary, and straight terrible right now and the hope is these homes will offer a little relief to that situation.
outside of work...
here, this past week before easter is called "semana santa", or holy week. for the entire week all schools and most stores are closed, and many families travel. the interns decided to do the weekend and beginning of the week tico style (along with my dear friend hillary who came to visit), and we saw a little more of the country (not on support money of course). it was a great trip filled with catching buses in random small towns, cheap cabinas, and avoiding rice for a few days :).
a couple of pictures from our adventure
the group on our way to some hiking
street horses?
somebody used an incredibly fast shutter speed to actually catch me standing. crazy 12 ft (inch) waves...
in other news...
eMi has also put together a "futbol" team consisting of interns, a few staff, and (thankfully) our tica friend wendy and her dad. our main competitors have been ticos from the church. you may remember the US knocking out costa rica for their chance to go to the world cup. well this has made every partido a big one :). we've undoubtedly got the height advantage, but so far it hasn't been enough to keep up with their incredible natural ability for the sport. if only we could play using just our heads... so far we're 0-2 but i'm not giving up hope!
...admittedly i am a tiny bit divided with my host dad on the tico team (seen blocking a goal below)
supporting the jugadores
with the fam...
as for my family and their ministry, God has been working in some incredible ways. a couple of years ago, the Lord began to put the small, nearby town of escobal on the heart of my host dad and he's decided to start a church there in addition to the one here in atenas. it began a couple of weeks ago with an event for families in the town center. a group of jovenes (youth) from a church in san jose as well as most of the jovenes from the church here came together to put it on. we passed out fliers for the activities around noon that day, and everything started around 4. i'll keep a long story short, but it was a beautiful day of the Lord working and some people attending came to know Him as their Savior. one of which was a guy from another city who happened to be in escobal and happened to be walking by on the street just as we were starting. it's amazing to see God changing a person's life and eternity, and amazing the ways He chooses to do it. He is so good.
on another note, my host dad lost his night job a few weeks ago, after the car breaking down a few weeks before that (with a motor issue amounting to a large sum of money in repairs). he's involved in a variety of ministries outside of the church as well as the lives of many in his congregation, which made for a lot of taxi rides (expensive and time-consuming). the night he lost it he sat me down and told me, adding that he trusted that the Lord knows what He's doing. a few days later, my host mom informed me that the mechanic had called and said that someone was paying for their motor, and another person came to the house and said they wanted to help support the family. at the time he was also suffering from two hernias, which disappeared after some prayer. praise the Lord and as they say here, "amen y amen"!
our church- iglesia bautista, vida nueva
well i think that covers most of the big stuff. i can't believe i'm already halfway through my time here, and i want to say thank you again so much for all of your prayer and support. it is so appreciated!
God is good! I miss you girl! but it sounds like you are where you need to be! I am very impressed by the use of your engineering degree! and that is an awesome story of how your host dad trusted the Lord and everything worked out! (i need to do a little more of that :) and your pics are wonderful! and you look so happy and gorgeous! bren
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