SCOTTSVILLE, Va. — When it comes to weather, Virginia and North Carolina have had it all this year. From Hurricane Irene to a 5.8 magnitude earthquake to numerous tornadoes, residents have found themselves scrambling to prepare for storms and cleaning up in their aftermath.
When severe weather causes electrical power outages that involve thousands of people, electric companies from other states will respond to make repairs and get the lights back on. And the same is true for international disasters.
Workers hold the lineman’s boots donated by their counterparts in the United States.
|
Chris Allen, a member of Antioch Baptist Church in Scottsville, Va., spent three weeks last February enabling workers to restore electricity. The trip, however, was not across state lines. It was to the Caribbean island of Haiti; and the earthquake that caused the mass devastation had not just passed, it had happened over a year ago.
Allen and co-worker Bryon Sandridge, two electrical linemen from the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative in Colleen, Va., read a notice from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s International Foundation requesting professional trainers to go to Haiti, where some areas were no better off than they were following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010.
They became two of eight linemen sent by the NRECA’s Foundation to Haiti. It was an eye-opening experience to see how people there live in poverty and learn that 60 percent of the electrical power lost had yet to be restored, Allen says. Their task was to travel to the Port-au-Prince area to teach six lineman pole climbing and safety.
Immediately they noticed the Haitians lacked proper footwear for the job. Most wore regular street shoes or sandals to work. Lineworker boots with steel shanks to protect the arches of the feet were needed.
Haitian lineman installing lines on newly-erected pole.
|
“I remember what it was like when I first learned how to climb a pole,” said Allen, a journeyman lineman. “The workers never complained and were willing to soldier on, but their feet must have been killing them.”
The workers Allen and Sandridge trained had no climbing experience. They were using fiberglass ladders with missing rungs. They had never used hard hats, safety glasses, special gloves and climbing gear.
Yet as the weeks passed the Haitian electric workers learned the skill quickly. Others were eager to learn and the workers they trained will be able to train others, says Allen. To aid their fellow workers in Haiti, the Virginia volunteers left behind the equipment and climbing gear they brought.
When returning to Virginia for de-briefing at the co-op, Allen and Sandridge shared the need for equipment and suggested collecting boots from linemen who were finished with them, Allen explains.
Their idea for “Boots for Haiti” was to put a box at each of the co-op’s three district offices to collect boots, which can cost as much as $250 for a new pair. Yet their effort mushroomed into something much more.
Greg Kelly, Central Virginia Electric Cooperative’s member services director, took it to social media. He posted the request on the NRECA and CVEC’s Facebook pages.
Anne Scruggs, a member of Woodland Baptist Church in Arrington, Va., posted a link to the story on their church Facebook page. Her husband and several church members work for CVEC. The congregation had prayed for them while they were in Haiti and it was a good way to share the information about their successes for Christ in Haiti doing what they do — building lines, she says.
In July both men made a presentation at the annual meeting of the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Co-ops. And the effort gained further momentum.
Prior to Allen’s trip a Gideon speaker had visited his church and left several Bibles. He shared them with the Haitian workers.
He noticed Scriptures printed on the side of taxis in Port-au-Prince. The one that most sticks in his mind comes from Isaiah 40:31: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
“That’s what the people of Haiti are waiting for,” he says. “They’re waiting on the Lord to rescue them.”
One weekend the team was able to take a break and traveled outside of Port-au-Prince to meet a group from Franklin Graham’s Operation Christmas Child which was distributing shoeboxes to the children.
“I left the U.S. expecting to help other people learn about electricity,” he says, “but I learned as much as I taught.”
The trip changed his life, he admits; and while there are no plans at this time, he would consider going back to Haiti on a mission trip to share with those still in darkness the light of the world, Jesus Christ.
And the boots? The response was overwhelming. The first shipment of footwear to Haiti contained 50 pairs of new and used boots, mostly donated by Virginia, Delaware and Maryland co-ops. A second shipment has been sent with boots from states as far away as the Northwest, enabling linemen to restore power and bring hope to the struggling nation of Haiti.
To donate used lineworker boots or for more information on Boots for Haiti, contact the NRECA International Foundation at 703.907.5645.
Barbara Francis ([email protected]) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.