“They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat

upon them.  He who has compassion on them will guide them and

lead them beside springs of water.”  Isaiah 49: 10

 

All of us here in Haiti who lived through the introduction of cholera into the country have been very sensitized to the absolute importance of clean drinking water. Cholera was quickly spread from a river in the central plateau to almost everywhere in Haiti, in just a matter of weeks sickening almost a million people and killing over 7,000. Unfortunately now that cholera has been established from inadvertently being brought to the island from abroad, it is now endemic in Haiti.

Thankfully, this disease can be prevented by people drinking clean water, through a simple addition of chlorine, good hand-washing technique and proper sanitation. But these steps are not followed by everyone, in spite of a huge effort of teaching by the public health department, churches, schools and local clinics, and there are still people who come down with cholera every day.

It is vital that the prevention message continues to go out through teachings, such as those given by Community Health Evangelists (CHE) to their towns and villages as well as pastors in their churches. Since children in Haiti are often the ones who carry water to their homes, it is so important that they too are taught, how to prevent this often, fatal disease.

Here on campus at UCNH there are over 500 university students who live and attend class. A large black filter system (battery driven to generate chlorine from salt) has been installed to provide drinking water to prevent water-borne diseases. This has been a huge resource for the students and professors and their families. The tank was installed by a team from the US, led by Denny Shewall who is a part of Nzunga and Kihomi Mabudiga’s MPT team.

A new cistern holding 64,000 gallons is in the final stages of being built that will further provide water security. Resources from International Ministries and First Baptist Church, Blue Hills, Maine, have been instrumental in helping the local Haitian workers build this reservoir that will provide safe water to the community here at UCNH.

There is also a local industry that makes and sells Bio-Sand Filters to families for their homes. Steve and I purchased one of these sand filters, locally made, in our own home and feel very grateful we don’t have to rely on buying bottled water from Limbe or Cap Haitian. There are quite a few households now in the Haut Limbe area that are using Bio Sand Filters.

Water is such a valued, precious resource for everyone in the world and we must do all we can to preserve and care for this gift that allows life to flourish. I am so grateful for this gift from God, water!

 

Nancy James