Ecuador: “I have never seen such a flood”
by Kumar Periasamy
While waiting for the DHL flight to arrive with our shipment of water purification systems, Dorca, a DHL representative, read me the day’s newspaper report: 1,500 acres of crops, bananas, rice and corn worth $6.5 million had been destroyed. People have left their homes for temporary shelters in fear of snakes and electrical poles falling into the water. In many places, there are no drainage systems and the wells have become contaminated leaving residents without a supply of clean water.
It was one thing to hear about it in an article, but another thing to see it for myself. We ran over a snake as we drove to Baba, a town with a population of 4,000. The roads were flooded and homes still under water. Crops were destroyed.
My translator Nicholas and I talked about the loss of income for these families. Nicholas has a banana farm and he mentioned that when a banana plantation is destroyed, not only does it impact the owner, but also the hundreds of workers employed. An average farmer earns about $200 a month. When that income is not there, there is no food for the family. It will take a while before one can plant a new crop and see the harvest.
Water is another problem. The residents have access to well water, but it is not potable due to contamination by the floodwaters. Water has to be boiled or purchased. To help the residents, we (OBI) teamed up with Water Missions International to purchase two water purification systems and our partner DHL provided free shipping and local employee volunteers to oversee the delivery and set-up of the systems. Each system can purify up to 10,000 gallons of clean drinking water a day for these flood victims.
While surveying a place for one of the water systems, I talked with a few ladies who were selling small packets of water. “No one in my home is working because the crops are destroyed, and it cost my family $3 to purchase drinking water every week,” Abigail told me. “When my children get sick from drinking the well water, it sometimes costs me $40 to purchase medicine. My husband brings home about $200 a month. How can we survive?”
We found a place for the first system at Baba hospital, where we met Dr. Elida who is the director. She not only takes care of patients but also the needs of the community. Before taking the job as director of the hospital, she had been a consultant for DHL. When she heard about the water systems from her DHL friends, she was very excited and wanted to see if one of the units could be placed in her hospital to provide clean drinking water for her patients and the community.
“I have been traveling between Baba and Guayaquil for a number of years and I have never seen such a flood,” Dr. Elida told me. “I used to see rice fields and banana plantations. Today both sides of the road are like a sea. It is a disaster that has crippled the lives of my patients and friends.”
“Since taking the responsibilities of this hospital, I have asked the local authorities to put in a water system because there were about 1,700 cases related to contaminated water, but there was no response. The authorities seem busy beautifying the sidewalk rather than taking care of the people’s health.”
After we installed the water system at the hospital, Dr. Elida was the first one to drink the water. “Finally my dream has come true,” she said.
The heavy rains certainly brought lots of calamity to the people in Baba, many of whom have been using their savings to purchase medicine and water. With the water systems, however, they can rest assured that their health will improve and productivity will increase.
“You have no clue how much you are going to impact our people, lives will be saved and the people will have strength to earn more for their families. The hospital too will have good water for the patients. Thank you,” said Dr. Elida.
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