Day 7 - Final Day of the Build

Today started an hour earlier. The typical last day of a Carter sponsered Habitat build has Jimmy going around and taking pictures with groups of people. So I can now say that I've had my picture taken with the President... former though he may be! So we put in about 5 hours before lunch. We finished about 95% of what was hoped for by the construction coordinators... on one house... #309. I'd estimate that about 80% of what got done on the other house we were assigned was done by other folks who pitched in to help. House #310 was under a roof by the end of our day today, but it still has quite bit left to be done. A couple cool tings happened today. First off, at the 11 o'clock hour the entire work site paused for reflection in honor of Veteran's Day. I learned that historically, it was George Washington that originally called for a moment of silence to be observed at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventhy month. I feel bit ashamed to say that I didn't know the origins of veteran's Day before today, and even more so that I don't recall having paused for that moment of silence ever before today. At the end of the silence, the Canadians sang their national anthem, and then we sang ours. It is the first time I have ever gotten choked up at the singing of our national anthem... it was that powerful... here on foreign soil. Another cool thing, obviously, was the photo opp with Jimmy and Rosalynn. As predicted, it was a bit of a circus and everyone performed accordingly. After the photo shoot our team got together with the owners of the two houses we were on and had a little imprompto dedication. The REALLY cool thing about that was that Alix Blaise, who had come to see me on the first day of the build was there... for all of it! We stuck him right in there for the Carter photo. AND he was helpful! He and I installed a door, ran off for materials together, and took apart a bunch of scaffolding. And since he was there, he interpreted for our crew and homeowners. Suddenly we were having real conversations instead of making hand gestures. We all wished he had been around the whole week. Salim, who had to leave Wednesday morning spoke fluid French and we sort of communicated through him... but I think the fact that Alix was one of their own made it much easier... either that, or she (Carleen) and her husband (Stephan) were just really excited about how their house had come together on the last day. Regardless, Alix showing up capped off a very special week here in Haiti. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be back in Atlanta. I'm looking forward to a real shower, a long nap on a real bed, and a phone conversation with my wife and kids as soon as I can make each of them happen. I'll post once more tomorrow evening. Peace and God bless... good night.