ILMO Products Co. branch services director Gay Cornell spent eight days in January teaching basic welding skills to villagers in Haiti. “There is a strong desire for a trade school to develop professional skills and employment opportunities. It was sad to leave but I was also gratified with the success of the project,” she said.

Haiti is a nation in ruins following an earthquake in January, but it’s also a place with hope for rebuilding, thanks to volunteers like Gailyn Cornell.

Gay Cornell the branch services director at ILMO Products Co., an industrial, medical and specialty gases distributor in Illinois and Missouri. She’s also a pioneer among welding trainers, having started in Lincoln Electric training program in the 1970s, and she has been an advocate for the trade, and the American Welding Society since then.

In late 2009, Gay joined a medical mission to a remote mountainous area of Haiti – Calebasse – hoping to improve the lives of people in that community by teaching them to how to weld, so they might manage their own metalwork repairs.

Armed with equipment and supplies donated by ILMO Products and Lincoln Electric, Gay taught the Haitians how to weld with power from a generator. She recalls, “The students were so enthusiastic and the look of excitement when they mastered their first weld was unforgettable and incredibly rewarding!”

Gay’s eight-day trip to Haiti ended on January 8, four days before the devastating earthquake. In February, as she looked ahead to a return trip, she reflected further on the experience.

How did you prepare to train new welders in such a remote location?
“I knew that electricity was limited there and that I would have to work off a generator. Lincoln Electric’s retail division, WCTA, donated an inverter welder (a 30-lb stick welder that operates on 115v) and ILMO Products Company donated the remainder of the supplies, such as electrode and safety supplies. I knew very little about the conditions other than the people were really excited to learn and I would have to work through an interpreter.

“I was confident that I could deal with any situation once I got there, though with Creole as the common language, I knew my limited high school French would not be sufficient. We had to carry everything with us so getting the welding equipment, supplies, and steel through airport security at 6:00 AM was a difficult experience. But, after learning our purpose, they were good-natured and teased us as they went through the extra work of unpacking and packing our “stuffed to the limit” suitcases.

Once you were there and ready to teach, what were your conditions? Were there any scary realities that you were exposed to while teaching on that first day?
The first day was chaotic. We rushed to unpack supplies so they could be hauled to the church, which is where the welding classes and medical clinic were based. I’d never used this particular welder, and we needed gas for the generator, and the students were already gathered around. There were no welding tables so a rock ledge became our classroom. Once we started, we quickly realized that welding terms are not commonly translated words, and this added time. When the generator finally ran out of gas and we packed up for the night, it occurred to me for the first time, that perhaps I’d over-estimated my abilities.

Describe your students, your projects, and the learning atmosphere while they were discovering how to weld.
The students were so enthusiastic and the look of excitement when they mastered their first weld was unforgettable and incredibly rewarding! Our first project arrived on the second day. It was a bed with almost every existing weld broken. Then more beds, grills (the primary form of cooking), chairs, and other items began to roll in. The students took so much pride in being recognized as welding students that, even when we were not in class, they kept their welding jackets and gloves on until it was time to pack everything up at the end of each day.

Could you share a welding project or story about a student that touched you?
My hope was to find one or two students that would master the art well enough to do repairs and share the skill with others after I was gone. Lelly was my star student and a natural teacher. By the end of the second day, he was leading the group and my confidence in the success of the program returned. By the third day, I was little more than an observer, there only to answer questions when they arose and offer a little guidance. By the last day, the students worked successfully on projects as a group and I knew we had accomplished even more than I hoped for.