The Long Road Ahead

Monday, February 8th, 2010 — root

HAITI – The earth shook and three weeks later as many as 230,000 Haitians are dead. Nearly 500,000 crowd camps around Port-au-Prince. 1.5 million are homeless, hungry, and thirsty. Illnesses like typhoid and cholera spread quickly under these cramped conditions.

Living Water International teams, shaken up themselves, are working hard to restore water to broken wells in these camps, and on the quake-devastated northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

Their challenges are many. Ports are damaged, roads are out, and fuel is scarce. The bank where funds are usually wired is a pile of rubble, but the work goes on.

A Living Water volunteer team, working with one of the Haitian national teams, rehabilitated six wells in the last week; you can follow their progress through a series of short webisodes. Tune in over the coming days and weeks for more webisodes following our Haitian team.

“The people fleeing Port-au-Prince are settling in rural communities across the countryside,” says Jim Mohney, Program Director of Living Water Haiti. ”It’s putting pressure on already vulnerable communities and local food and water supplies.”

Half a million have fled the capital entirely and that number is projected to double. As population shift continues, Living Water crews will also work in the north to serve communities that are rapidly becoming overcrowded. Far from the cameras and international aid attention, these outlying areas are easily overlooked, but also in desperate need.

The pressure is on to rebuild as much as possible in the coming months; Haiti’s rainy season begins in May, followed by hurricane season in June. Hoping to repair 500 water wells in 2010, Living Water’s teams are moving quickly to help as many communities as possible before the weather slows them down.

“We’re in a hurry to do as much as we can as quick as we can,” says Mohney. “But we’ve got a long road ahead of us. Rebuilding after this catastrophe will be a problem of years, not months.” Living Water is committed to helping restore life to Haiti for the long haul. That was the plan all along.