Sustainable Clean Water for Les Cayes, Haiti

As of August 2010, DSI and you are now serving over 150,000 Haitians with safe water for years to come.  Please see our current GlobalGiving Project # 4582!  Through your help and that of organizations like the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, Save the Children and UNICEF we have been able to act quickly--providing not only safe water for a day but safe water for a lifetime through a strategic plan that converts traditional aid into sustainable jobs and enterprises. 

Our programs reach both communities with the same safe water system - Gadyen Dlo - that you helped provided to over 60,000 Haitians in the earthquake zone.  This was not a "one time hit," like a vaccination.  Your compassion has helped us distribute and establish a system that will transition from initial aid to Haitian-managed sustainable enterprises.  As we talk about it internally, we provide a solution to a systemic problem that is "for Haitians, by Haitians."

Although we have been able to create many jobs for Haitians and provide safe water to over 150,000 Haitians, the need is increasing for rural Haitians.  Traditional aid organizations and the Haitian government are now focusing time and resources on dense population centers to the neglect of the rural communities that DSI serves.  There are over 1,200,000 rural Haitians who still do not have safe water to drink or properly prepare meals.   

The impact from the January 2010 earthquake remains, and we would love to continue serving rural Haitians with you.

If you have any questions, let us know!  Please also check out our website with many updates and more complete information about our strategy, goals, and people - www.deepspringsinternational.org 

GlobalGiving Success: Deep Springs International’s campaign in the 2009 Global Giving Challeng was a success! Thank you all for your generosity and commitment. Your combined efforts, totaling $5,090, propelled Deep Springs International forward to earn a permanent position on the Global Giving website by raising over $4,000 in 30 days from over 50 separate donations. All proceeds from the Challenge were designated for the Les Cayes Replication Program in Haiti. The Global Giving organization has certainly established a name for itself as one of the leading foundations that strives to connect individual and institutional donors directly to development projects all around the world. They have mobilized over $20 million dollars of funding to more than 1,300 grassroots projects in 90 countries. For Deep Springs, this development was a significant milestone in our growth and expansion. With the ability to network with donors through Global Giving, Deep Springs International will be able to further increase visibility, accreditation, and donations. Upon the grounds of the Student Union at Grove City College, Deep Springs International returned to familiar roots and saw support for the Global Giving Challenge from the student frontier. With the volunteer help of one of the campus’ men’s housing groups, the CRONS, Deep Springs succeeded in raising student awareness of the Global Giving campaign and of the Deep Springs mission. One student, Michael Galis, a Senior Finance major, said, “…to me DSI is a very worthy cause because it is self sustaining, profitable for local employees, and beneficial to the whole community.” With your help, Deep Springs International has expanded to new reaches and continues to strive for excellence. Thanks to your generous support, Deep Springs International looks forward to a bright future as we take steps forward to achieving our goals. Les Cayes Launch and Expansion: We are so excited to share with you that your giving during our spring campaign and the recent Global Giving Campaign has made bucket distribution in Les Cayes possible. Families are being added to the program daily as Coicy Franky, our School Program Director and Interim Water Project Manager conducts training sessions and hands out buckets to eager families. Each family receives a five gallon bucket and their first bottle of Gadyen Dlo, a chlorine solution used to treat their water. Christ Church Anglican kicked off the first bucket distribution in Savanette, a community just outside Les Cayes, during the first week in October. Michael Ritter and Coicy Franky joined a team from the church in Kansas to hold a session on safe water and to distribute the first forty buckets. Over the next few weeks Coicy will work with the St Jean Baptiste School in Savanette to distribute over 60 additional buckets. The program will continue to grow as we are able to bring buckets and supplies to this area.

Links:

• Christmas Giving

• DSI Fall Newsletter (PDF)