Building Solutions

You are here: Home » Building Solutions » Building Solutions

Building Solutions for Haiti’s Kids Part 1: Overview. Building, renovating, and reconstructing shelter for Haitian children will be a unique challenge. The earthquake has left a previously weak infrastructure in tatters effecting basic logistics of construction. The enormous efforts to rebuild Haiti will result in shortages of heavy equipment, local management, and skilled labor. Shipping of materials will be difficult and making use of local supplies will be critical. In addition to the question of “how to get it built” any comprehensive development program for the orphanages of Haiti must look closely at the question of “what should be built.”

The builders and founders of HORP have assembled a small group of Haitian painters, masons and general laborers. We have also appointed a Haitian construction manager who even speaks “a little english.” Renovation for our first project is scheduled to begin on April 20th. The overall success of our organization is partially dependent on the training and use of Haitian labor. Today, the average wage in Haiti is about $3/ day. By supporting local labor, we expect our resource base to grow so that we can manage larger projects in the future. Our goal is to identify orphanages that need our help, to raise funding necessary to pay for labor and materials, and to provide the necessary building support needed to create new orphanage facilities and new opportunities for Haitian children and their caregivers.

While in Haiti, we will also be meeting with architects and government officials to investigate specific building and orphanage regulatory issues. We will establish a timeline for local materials access and discuss the topic of gathering necessary geotechnical engineering data for future projects. Our time in Haiti will also be spent scouting for sites and existing structures that may provide opportunities for construction and renovation as well as logistics and storage for future development of our program.

The big for-profit construction giants are flocking to Haiti focused on high value re-building projects such as earthquake resistant low-rise structures, government institutions, international outposts, hospitals, businesses and infrastructure development. Our intention and goal at THORP is that the 500,000 kids living in orphanages, who will never be available for adoption, don’t get left behind while the rest of the country is re-built. Your contribution can help make this possible.