Spending some time in the States!

Back with Mom and Dad for a bit!

On the fourth of July, I was feeling a little homesick and my wife noticed.  We talked about it for a while and she suggested that I take a trip and see my family and friends in the US.  Her visa is expired, so she can't currently travel to the US.  This was a very generous gesture that she made.

I packed a few things, grabbed Abby and Victoria and we headed to Omaha!  Our daughters have US passports, so getting them out of Haiti and into the US was a breeze.  The travel was not too bad either.  On July 12, we left Gonaives around 10am, drove to Port au Prince as a family and said our good byes at the airport.  I put Abby in a front pack and Victoria used my rolling laptop bag as her stroller.  They did well in the airplanes, immigration and customs at Atlanta is a piece of cake.  We arrived in Omaha at 11pm.  My father met us in the airport.

Before we left, I was starting to lose sight of my mission through the daily routine of life.  I now have a family to support and care for.  My obligations to my immediate and extended family were overwhelming me and I was just trying to survive.  I really needed this time to focus on my goals and make a plan for them to happen.

For those of you who have followed me from the start, you saw what I can do!  Our English language institute was something amazing.  Chris and I started the school with the help of Valmy.  We grew it from afternoon only in some rented classrooms to having classes at all times of the day in a building that was ours to use.  I taught for nearly three years.  The school was great for me because I was constantly surrounded by people that were striving to improve themselves through education.  They all wanted to be there and they wanted my knowledge.

I am in a position now where it feels like I am surrounded by people that don't have the same motivation for self improvement...I need to change that and get back to being around high achievers.

I believe I can get back to that through a carpentry school.  I have been supplementing my donated income with small carpentry contracts.  If you look back on the past posts, you will see that I have built beds, school furniture, beautiful cabinets and even drums!  I am constantly approached by people that want to learn to build like I do.  They want to know how to use the specialty tools and how to make a consistent product again and again.  I would love to do this.

This dream is not too far away.  I have all of the tools I would need for now (but you can always use more tools!)  I have a piece of land for my shop.  I have a good line of existing products that would work well for instruction.  I have a large number of young men and women that would love to learn the trade.

To get the shop going, I need to get the land ready.  It is a piece of land with no improvements yet.  I would need to hook up to grid power, build a wall around the property, build a covered work area and get a generator that can run the tools when the grid is down.  This will cost around $18,000 US.

Once the shop is built, I will be able to fulfill my existing contracts from there.  I will also do some marketing and advertising to find new customers.  All of my current work is from word of mouth and repeat customers, there is a huge untapped market for what I can do.  My carpentry school would be project based.  Simple projects are prerequisite classes for the more complex projects.  The simple projects will focus on the fundamentals - reading plans, measuring accurately, tool and shop safety.

As students pass through the project classes, they will earn shop time and they will be able to come in and build things of their own with the tools that they have learned to use.  I would incorporate some business training as well to help turn their new skill into a means of supporting their family.

So, I would like to follow this dream, but I can't do it by myself.  If you would like to hear more about it, lets meet up while I am back here.  Send me an email with your contact information and we can sit and talk about it.

blueteamleader@gmail.com is my email address, https://www.facebook.com/scott.peters.501 is my facebook page.

Thanks,

Scott