Combat Haiti's Spreading Cholera Crisis

We estimate that at 110 community sites and 160 school sites, our chlorinators help protect over 760,000 Haitians from waterborne diseases. However, there are many Haitian communities that still need clean water.

One area of Haiti that we are working to bring clean water to is the city of Leogane. We have installed chlorinators on several community water stations in Leogane, but there are many surrounding communities that we have not been able to reach. Grand Savanne is one of these communities. We need $2,000 to bring clean water to Grand Savanne.

With your help, we can reach this goal!   

Our hope is to begin installing chlorinators in Grand Savanne by late September. Along with community leaders and local organizations, we will be working with Sustain Haiti, another U.S.-based non-profit. In April of 2012, Sustain Haiti was contacted by the community leaders in Grand Savanne. Sustain Haiti was asked by the leaders of Grand Savanne to hold agriculture, health, and business classes – there are now 2-3 free classes per week in Grand Savanne.

Despite being well-led and organized, the residents of Grand Savanne are without clean water. On behalf of Grand Savanne, Sustain Haiti has asked us to help this community make clean water a reality.

There are two community organizations in Grand Savanne, one for women and one for the general population. These two groups have previously mobilized their community, independent of any outside NGOs, to bring electricity to their church, which serves as a school and a community center. Pastor Emmanuel, the president of the general population organization, and Bijoux Kamitachka, the president of the Grand Savanne Organization for Women, have both expressed their complete support in bringing chlorinators to their community.

282 families (approximately 2,200 people) reside in Grand Savanne. Once the chlorinators are installed, it will only cost $32 a month (the cost of chlorine) for the community to provide clean water to all 282 families. An amazingly low cost to provide something that is so important: clean water. 

For $2,000 we can install the entire Grand Savanne chlorinator system. With $2,000 dollars the 2,200 residents of Grand Savanne will have clean water for years.

Thank you for your ongoing support, it enables us to help thousands of Haitian families with access to clean, safe water. 

Warm regards,

The International Action Team

International Action Haiti’s southeast water project aims to install chlorinators, water pumps, and water tanks in 54 schools in the Sud-Est department of Haiti, as well as in many hospitals and public water sites.

Timeline for school completion:

The installations of our chlorinators at each of the 54 schools, along with the creation of Water Boards will be completed by the end of June, 2012. The children are our first prioirty. The schools are going to open up their clean water stations to the public after school. This requires each school to have a Water Board.  

Schools:

1)      Ecole Nationale Eximagilles – 433 students

2)      Lycée Cely Lamour – 2,400

3)      Lycée Pinchinat – 2,020 students

4)      Efaca de Meyer – 596 students

5)      Lycée de Cayes-Jacmel – 1,050 students

6)      College les Quatres Evangelistes – 104 students

7)      Centre d’Etudes Secondaire de Jacmel – 295 students

8)      Lycée Celie Lamour – 2,400

9)      École La Dignité -- 236

Total student population that now has clean water – 9534 Haitian students

Community Water Sites :

1)      Cyvadier (with DINEPA) – 616 famlies

2)      Meyer (with DINEPA) – 500 families

3)      Saint Michel Hospital – 20,000 patients per month

Total population that now has clean water – approximately 6,000 Haitians year round and 20,000 patients per month

Installation Spotlight

We are charging ahead with the Sud-Est Clean Water Initiative, centered around Jacmel, Haiti. By the end of June, we will have installed water treatment systems in 54 schools and many hospitals and public office buildings. February 7, 2012 marked the start of our full schedule of water treatment installations in the south-east of Haiti. We will complete three installations a week. You can check out reports from the field at www.HaitiWater.org to follow our progress. 

The first wave of installations will include eight schools and one hospital. Collège les Quatre Evangelistes, a school, was the first completed on February 7. The 103 students of Collège les Quatre Evangelistes now have clean water because of their new 150-gallon tank and chlorinator. The students’ families and nearby residents in the neighborhood also have access to the clean water at the school. 

To appreciate the full impact of the installation at Collège les Quatre Evangelistes, we have to look at who exactly we are helping, not just how many.

Collège les Quatre Evangelistes is one of the most innovative schools in all of Haiti. In large part this is because it is one of the most affordable schools in Haiti – many children in Haiti do not attend school because their parents cannot afford the price of private schools (all schools in Haiti are private schools.) The teachers are volunteers. This shows how important this school is: teachers are willing to volunteer on a near full-time basis. Collège les Quatre Evangelistes gives parents a chance to send their students to schools, regardless of how much they can pay.

The cost is not the only innovative aspect of this school. The school’s Director, Rigaud Emmanuel Rousseau, is teaching these 103 students not only academics, but also the importance of building up their community. The school’s mission is to give a quality education to students and to encourage them to help build up their community, both now and in the future.

Moreover, Mr. Rigaud also uses the school space for community events such as microcredit classes for women and nutrition programs for children.  

“What you did for us today is beyond amazing. Can you imagine that we’ve been here for this many years without clean water? I promise to allow the community to come after school hours to also get clean water. Please thank your donors and may God continue to bless them. You’ve given us hope”

  Rigaud Emmanuel Rousseau                                                                                                                   Director of Collège les Quatre Evangelistes

The clean water these 103 students, family members, and women of the community can now access will immediately improve their health, allowing them to spend less time collecting water and increasing the potential this school can offer to all students and community members involved. 

Many thanks to all involved.

The International Action Team.