Building in Haiti: One man’s solution

Dan Hildebrand is a man trained in building Monolithic Domes, who has helped on several projects in places like Haiti. He has a real passion for that type of work and for helping people.

What he describes in the article that follows is help for a small number of Haitians. But before you read Dan’s article, let me tell you about two magnanimous plans that never saw reality.

World Bank

Three years ago, seven executives from World Bank told me that they would fund Monolithic to the tune of six billion dollars to rebuild Haiti. Their plan included roads, sewers, water, generators, a new parliament building, a new palace, 150,000 houses, various commercial buildings, fire stations and police stations.

That plan also called for training Haitians to do the construction, thereby providing them with an employable skill, as well as a daily nourishing meal.

Four months later, two World Bank attorneys came calling; they told me that World Bank would not do the rebuilding because Haiti was just too corrupt.

A European funder

Almost three years later, another company called on behalf of a European funder who wished to rebuild Haiti. They wanted Monolithic to build a university, an airplane manufacturing and repair facility, fifty other commercial buildings, housing for the people we employed, and 250,000 houses for the natives.

But after three months of talk, talk, talk, we were told that the project was canceled because the country was just too corrupt. It’s really sad that something can’t be done to help Haiti’s entire population. Haiti still has 400,000 people living in tents.

The rest of the story

Despite the corruption, Dan Hildebrand and Domes for the World have done more work in Haiti, with just a few people, than any of the big talkers. Follow what Dan is trying to do. You will see that he has answers for people’s housing.