Haiti Clean Water Project
Here is an update on the water filtration systems/clean water project in the Haitian village of Macochan.
First let me just say WOW! What an awesome experience we have had so far this last week (and year).
Secondly, thank you to everyone who was involved in making this vision become a reality. One of our team members, Rene Plaza, recognized a need over a year ago when traveling to this mountain village who at the time was suffering from a Cholera outbreak due to contaminated lake water--the villages only water supply. Rene recognized the problem, researched the solution, and set out on a mission to provide clean water to these people. One year later our team delivered in home water filtration systems to 155 families covering the entire village and providing a means for each family to have clean water. Praise God for His blessings, favor, and provision along the way.
Last week Sunday we arrived in Port au Prince Haiti. On Monday we left for the mountains with a large truck (Haitian tap tap), a pickup truck, and two other four wheel drive vehicles, loaded with supplies and 24 people. We drove for 11 hours over some very rocky uneven roads to arrive at our base camp (the village of Jolie Gilbert). The men slept in the church building the women in various buildings and homes. The team consisted of three doctors, five nurses, a helicopter pilot (who met us there with a chopper from Samaritan Air), and a bunch of others with various backgrounds--everyone with a loving mission heart.
We held a medical clinic in the village of Macochon on Wednesday and my guess is that we saw everyone from the village and a few from surrounding villages as well. Malnutrition, worms, fungus, scabies, a few serious wounds, one demon possession, several pregnancies, and a few other things as well. It was good for us to meet the villagers and get a feel for the village before we delivered the water filters.
There was a lot of preparation work done in the village many months prior to our arrival. Seven village leaders had been identified and were given information on the filtration systems and villagers were informed that we would be coming and what we trying to do for them. The village homes were each numbered in paint 1-155 so we could identify each home and each resident. A list of homes and residents was made so we could make sure each home had a filter.
On Thursday morning we drove the large truck as far as we could and began shuttling the water buckets and filters via the four wheel drive vehicles up to the village. There we matched the two 5 gallon buckets and all the appropriate component parts and divided the village people by residence/bucket number. Seven groups of 25 were trained on assembly and use of the water filtration system with the village leaders, a translator, and one of our team members doing the presentation. Sounds easy? Didn’t go quite as planned and we needed to help each family assemble their bucket system. They were appreciative of our help to get it assembled correctly. By the time the distribution and assembly was finished it was time to leave the village.
I left with a hole in my heart because I was not convinced that everyone understood what they were told. We were scheduled for a much needed medical clinic in another village the next day but we felt that a day of followup was very important, so three of us (Bill Plaza, Shawn Mazza, and I) decided that we would go back to Macochan. The vehicles were needed for the clinic so the plan was for the helicopter pilot to fly us in, drop us off, and return to the chopper launch site (mountain soccer field) in less that 12 minutes which was all of the airtime/gas he could spare and still make it back to Port au Prince with the doctors and seriously ill children. He felt this could be done in 9 minutes from start up to shut down. That night, John, the chopper pilot recalculated the air time and felt he was cutting things too close and we would need to find another way to the village. Finally our American brains kicked in and we decided we could walk! This turned out to be the best idea yet as it probably took us 20 minutes to climb the mountain that separated our base camp from the village. We knew it could be done because we had seen some of the same people at our base camp that we saw in the village--they could do it--why did we need vehicles or helicopters? Bill had found one of the village leaders at our base camp and he agreed to take us up the trail to the village. It was fairly steep in some areas, and I am old, and out of shape, but even then we made it in 20 minutes. We were amazed at how close the village was and wondered if we would ever endure the hour long vehicle ride over rocks again.
This turned out to be one of the best days for us as were able to meet one on one with the villagers in their homes and go over with them the proper use of the system. With the help of a village leader and a translator we answered any questions and made sure everyone was set up correctly. It was a very peaceful day in a very peaceful village. Villagers were going about their daily lives tending to their needs--getting water from the lake (about a 20-30 minute hike down the mountain, separating beans and grains from the chaff, drying coffee beans for sale in the market, working the “fields” with machetes and hoes, doing laundry, etc. Many smiles on peoples faces and we felt as though everyone was appreciative of our efforts. There will be follow up by other teams throughout the year to see how things progress and where we can do a better job for the next village.
It was a year long project to provide clean water to a village in need--orchestrated by God--and all honor and glory goes to Him. He inspired the heart of one woman and through her He touched the hearts of hundreds of others and provided a way to share the blessing of clean water that we take for granted every day with a village who’s lives depend on it. God is so good!
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