Clean, Close Water

We recently placed bio-sand water filters in twenty Haitian family's homes. These simple, inexpensive systems provide great tasting, safe, clean water and will continue to do so for 10 years with very little maintenance. You can tell by the smiles that they're really happy to have good water.

The last time I was in Haiti I ventured up to a little village where there was no water. There was no well and no nearby springs. Villagers had to walk several miles (each way) to get water out of a ground spring which, I have since learned, is contaminated. The only source of water is any rainwater they can catch off their tin roofs.

More than 90,000 people on La Gonave have no clean water to drink. The most common cause of death here is not TB or AIDS or even malaria. It's diarrhea... from bad water. Friends, this is just wrong.

We cannot stand idly by.

Call me crazy, but I think we can do something about this, with God's help. There are many levels of how we will address the problem (well-drilling, public filtration systems, in-home filters, etc.). This year we will do it for one village, next year... two.