Fight childhood disease with safe drinking water

Haiti has had so many problems in the last months.  When I wrote to you about our work in Haiti in early August I talked about the dangers our volunteers  face with political instability and violence.  The President of Haiti was assassinated and travel in the country was unsafe for everyone. Then on August 14  the Southern part of Haiti was struck with a major earthquake causing many injuries and deaths.  Our volunteer teams living there were affected as well with damage to their homes and injuries, but thankfully none were killed.

Right away large International aid agencies came into Haiti to help with the immediate medical, food and shelter needs of the communities. Some stayed for a few weeks , some for several months. Our small non-profit, - supported by your donations- has a different purpose.  Instead of focusing on large expensive operations we focus on the individual family and the community to bring safe drinking water and long lasting sanitation to them.  The earthquake damaged or destroyed many communities water systems  and forced families to use unsafe, possibly contaminated water sources, so immediately after the earthquake we launched a special campaign on GlobalGiving to support our work there.  In a brief period you and other donors contributed nearly $2500 to help families find ways to make their water safe to drink.  GlobalGiving also gave Agua Pura a generous donation.  You can read about our early organizing work on our Haiti donation page

The fundraising is over but the work has just started!

Now I can report on the first visits of our teams to affected communities.Two teams of volunteers went out, and teams were able to reach some affected communities that were cut off by the earthquake. by motorbike. When they were able to get through, they brought some immediately needed supplies and also were able to help community members restore damaged springs and  other water sources. They also talked to the families about how they can protect themselves from water borne diseases.

Now our teams will be returning several more times in the next months to continue their work.  They will be testing the water sources for contamination and sharing water purification supplies.  We expect to continue our work with earthquake victims for at least another year. I’m  sharing a few pictures of our volunteers.   They are proud of the work they do and grateful for your continued support. 

We share stories about our work when we can but we only try to ask you for help just once a year.  We know you have many responsibilities and we don't want to take advantage of your generosity.  But because we are small and all volunteers every dollar has a big impact on our ability to provide life saving help to the families we serve. Can you help us with a year end charitable donation

Links:

• Here's our website where you can read more