Pure Water for the World

Water, Health, Hunger Concerns Resource Group

RI President and our District Governor have asked each club to participate in the world wide effort on quality drinking water. We have identified a program, founded by Rotarians, where every club can participate, have an impact and make a difference.

Pure Water For The World is working with Rotary Clubs and other NGO's (non-government organizations) in Central America to provide individual families with the equipment and knowledge necessary to improve their water, improve their health, and break the cycle of poverty in which they are trapped. What is being provided more than anything else is HOPE!

In Honduras, where fresh water is plentiful, 50,000 children under the age of twelve die each year because of disease caused by drinking contaminated water. Over the next two years, Rotarians will save or improve the lives of over 15,000 individuals, most of them children, by providing the most basic need -- potable water! This project will provide many families with a household multimedia gravity biofilter, hygiene and sanitation education, training, monitoring and follow-up to insure success.

Our district has set a goal to place 133 filters. This is enough to supply and adopt an entire village. With matching grants, we can do even more.

To learn more about Pure Water For The World, visit them on the web at: purewaterfortheworld.org

We recognize the uniqueness of each club and are committed to working with you and your international service directors. Our "Family to Family" and "Connecting Our Children to Their Children" plans have been enthusiastically received. These plans can be tailored to your club or a new plan can be devised.

To schedule a club presentation or learn more, contact:
District Water, Health and Hunger Concerns Resource
coordinator Byron Miller.
908-233-4300
byron@mycomcast.com

Haitian Initiative Health and Hope for Children

“Safe water and sanitation are essential to protect children's health and their ability to learn at school. In this sense, they are as vital as textbooks to a child's education.”

Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Executive Director, 1995-2005

For most Haitians, life is a struggle to survive. Food to eat, safe water to drink, a paying job are the priorities. Survival takes precedence over education; consequently, Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere. It is the lack of education about hygiene, sanitation and water quality that creates problems, suppresses relief efforts and stifles hope.

Problems are opportunities waiting for solutions. Haitian children can have access to clean safe drinking water. It is a matter of commitment, not of resources.

Pure Water for the World (PWW) is providing clean, safe drinking water and hygiene/sanitation education to children in the poorest outreaches of Haiti. Five hundred (500) schools, orphanages and health clinics will receive the means and tools necessary to deliver the education and create sustainable safe, clean water in these facilities and the surrounding communities.

Now you can sponsor a classroom, school, orphanage, or health clinic. A plaque at the facility will designate your sponsorship. You will receive pictures of children who are benefiting from the program and a certificate of recognition. Make your gift to PWW-Haiti:

$500 – Classroom or a small school

$1,000 – A school of 100 to 200 students

$2,000 – For an orphanage or a school of 200 to 500 students.

$3,000 – For a health clinic or a school of 500 - 1200 students.

For efficiency, the program will be implemented by geographic region. A typical project will train teachers and health professionals to educate and perform community outreach. PWW will produce and install a permanent hygiene/sanitation curriculum and a water filter program for the students. Water testing and essential follow-up services will be provided. This is necessary to create sustainability.

Regions will require approximately $60,000 to $80,000 of funding, depending upon their size and remoteness. The scope of the project is $500,000 and benefits over 100,000 people. Funding sources include USAID, Management Sciences for Health, Rotary clubs, civic groups, church organizations and inpiduals like you.

Each donation represents a contribution to the mission of Pure Water for the World, Inc. Donations will be used where the need is the greatest in order to bring education and clean water to the school children in Haiti. All donations are deductible under the 501c3 provision of the United States IRS code and will be acknowledge.

Clean Water Volunteer Rasa Siminkas Kent Reports From El Recreo

Installing 70 filters in our first community, we were exhausted by the end of the 4th day.  We had only the most far flung, uphill homes remaining and we were ready to call it quits when we met Digna.

Rob, Jeff and I hiked up to one of these mountain-top houses to scope out the trail.  Arriving at the house we were all ready to put it off until the next day, when we could make a proper sling to carry the filters.  As I was speaking to Maria, a 39-year old mother of 11 children, I noticed the huge eyes of her youngest daughter.  I commented about how frail she looked and the mom immediately began to tell me that Digna has had diarrhea for the past 8 days.  She was so weak, she couldn't even stand on her own and her skin had no elasticity because of dehydration. 

I began telling the mother she should use SODIS (Solar Disinfection) until she can get a filter.  SODIS is when you keep a plastic bottle of water kept in the sun for 24 hours to kill all the bacteria.  Ironically enough, with all the plastic trash in this country this family was too poor to even buy a bottle of coke so there were no bottles to be found.  I rushed over to Rob and Jeff, my ears filled with the sounds of Digna howling, and told them, "We have to install this filter today!".  Before I turned around to talk more with Maria the boys were already off looking for sticks to make a stretcher.   By the time I fetched Enelida and our buckets, the boys had already rounded up an army of help and had the filter harnessed to a stretcher.

The trail was not really a trail at all but a stream channel with a lot of big rocks. The best thing about this whole situation though was to see all the people who pitched in to help bring this filter to the family in need, which could not afford to wait another week.  We arrived at the top of the hill at their house to see Maria beaming at us and her new filter.  Enelida and I started installing the filter right away with our little army of helpers watching everything.  I almost felt like we were in an operating room "water, we need more water", "bucket, dump this bucket".   We finished up and said we would return in three weeks with the water jugs and to check up on how Digna was doing.

Upon returning to El Recreo, I was very pleased to see Digna wobbling on her own when I entered their house.  This community is very fortunate, they have transportation that passes by about twice a day.  It is a small truck that makes the hour trip to the main road and from there to the health clinic.  Luckily, Digna's mother was able to make the trip and get the medication she needed to save Digna's life.  She had parasites, amoebas, and a urinary tract infection, most likely all caused by poor sanitation and dirty water.

The filters are not a cure but a preventative solution.  Now that Digna's system has been cleared of parasites and infection, the filter along with the health education her mother received will reduce and potentially eliminate instances of gastro-intestinal illnesses.  That means children like Digna will have the strength and can get the needed nutrients to develop properly instead of  losing them to parasites.  In the long run, this will lead to an increased attendance at school because they are not home sick, they can pay attention and not be suffering discomfort, and hopefully from their improved education they will have better opportunities in life.

Digna Dunia Marisol Martes, 17 months old on February 7, 2007	Our army of kids helping to carry whatever they could grab
The valiant group of porters passing through a stream trying not to trip	Over the hills and through the woods, while carrying 150 pound filter
Success, we made it up the hill!