A few years ago, while in Ranquitte, we learned that a group called Peacework Medical were leaving Haiti, having initiated an important program around clean water with their Haitian friends over the previous few years. Their idea had been simple: in the midst of a brutal cholera epidemic, they found the best way to keep people healthy was to start with clean water. They had built cisterns to catch naturally flowing water – water which could easily be infected with cholera (which resides in the water table and could be disrupted by storms, aftershocks, etc). These cisterns would have secure latches to prevent tampering with the water supply and would have their contents treated to protect the water with chemicals to kill any cholera or other organisms.
When we found out that Peacework were leaving Haiti, we offered to take over the water project. We took stewardship of the 25 tanks they had built, and then built many more on our own.
Recently, we’ve gone through and done an assessment of all the tanks, more than 40 in total now, and recognized where some tanks needed repairs or others needed to be entirely rebuilt.
This tank shown here, at a spot known as L’eau Fort 2, needed a new cover for the cistern, and as you can see our donors helped provide that.
More good news to come soon around community building, public health, and self reliance in Haiti. Houses are being built, cisterns and being repaired, and students are being sent to attend school. Slowly, step by step over time, we are building a stronger community together.
