Without access to clean water, the choice can come down to drinking contaminated water or facing potentially fatal dehydration.
Access to clean drinking water can mean the difference between life and death. Using contaminated water sources for drinking water can cause life-threatening health conditions such as severe diarrhea, typhoid, urinary tract infections, and cholera.
In Haiti, the lingering effects of drought and prior earthquake damage to water storage tanks have caused some families to resort to drinking whatever water is available, no matter its condition, or risk dying from dehydration.
Samaritan’s Purse is installing boreholes, solar-powered pump systems, and handpumps as well as repairing rain catchments to provide several communities in Haiti with clean water sources. Our in-country staff members partner with local churches to share the eternal hope of the Gospel as they help people in need in Jesus’ Name.
When All Hope Was Lost
Because of rising prices, Monplaisir could no longer afford to buy charcoal so his family could boil the water they drank. They had to consume rainwater stored in tanks or fetch water from the nearby river, which was highly contaminated.
A Haitian boy draws water with household containers. The search for water can lead to whatever spring or river is available.
“I felt like there was no hope and that we would just live the rest of our lives with this water issue,” Monplaisir said.
This past year, members of our water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) team installed a handpump and solar-powered water distribution kiosk in his community, benefitting 200 families.
“I am so happy, and I thank God very much for the new water kiosk that Samaritan’s Purse has built in the community,” Monplaisir said. “After I lost all hope, the new well was installed. I am very grateful to Samaritan’s Purse for helping us.”
A Water Source Named Deliverance
In another community, human waste could be found in a river that people were relying on for water. A lack of clean water to cook with led a school to stop serving meals.
“I have 1,297 children in my school that I need to feed everyday but because of a lack of clean drinking water to cook, often these children are not fed,” said the school director. “Our biggest problem is that we also do not have clean water for handwashing.”
“My village was brought back to life. Thank you, Samaritan’s Purse.”
Our Haiti WASH team built a latrine at the school and installed boreholes and a solar-powered water system. Clean water is now available for the school children and the community, totaling 1,700 families.
“The coming of this project is like the beginning of a new season for my village,” said the community’s manager of the water system. “My village was brought back to life. Thank you, Samaritan’s Purse.”
The community named the water system, “Deliverance.”
Taking Steps to Prevent Cholera
In another Haitian community facing water insecurity, Samaritan’s Purse repaired a rain catchment and taught water, sanitation, and hygiene classes.
Rainwater stored in cisterns was the only water supply for the community. Many of these structures had started to deteriorate, so when an earthquake struck in 2021, it destroyed the faltering cisterns, leaving many people without safe drinking water.
Children fill plastic containers with water from one of the water points we’ve constructed in Haiti.
A case of cholera also was reported, sparking fear in the community about unclean water. Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by the ingestion of contaminated food or water.
In 2022, a Samaritan’s Purse WASH team rehabilitated four of the rainwater storage cisterns. They also trained a management committee of five people from each local area to oversee and sustain the structures. The next year, staff members completed the construction of a new reservoir that benefited over 550 families.
The WASH team also held community education classes last year, covering topics such as cholera prevention measures, water point chlorination, and hygiene best practices, to further help residents improve their health.
Please pray that through these water projects, Haitians would find their thirst quenched in the Living Water, Jesus Christ.
