PORt-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – We started the day meeting with two lead doctors at Partners in Health’s (PIH) temporary headquarters. They told us about a PIH clinic at a camp called Dadadou. They explained that there was no well or source of water for the 3,000 or so people in the camp – only “a large tank” that needed to be filled regularly with truckloads of water.

They further explained that the trucked-in water was not potable and needed purification. They asked if we could arrange for regular water deliveries and also set up one of our WMI plants to purify the water. We promised to make it happen later that day.

We picked up the lawyer at 9 a.m., and then drove through miles of stop-and-go traffic to the very center of Port-au-Prince for a 10:30 meeting with Haiti’s chief notary to confirm our house purchase. Even though I have watched hours of post quake news video, I was stunned by the magnitude of destruction at the heart of Haiti’s capitol.

It is a massive ground zero of broken concrete and caved in buildings. Last year I had been to the central square many times for meetings with various government officials, so I’m familiar with which building is what. It was hard to tell them apart now with so many slumped into gigantic piles of wreckage. I found myself thinking about what it must have been like for colleagues and friends I knew who were there when it happened.

The chief notary met us at an office in a building right off the main square. He stood at the open door to greet us. He was smiling in spite of the fact that we were 45 minutes late because of the impossible traffic.

He welcomed us into his tiny office and apologized for the lack of AC and folding chairs; then with the light of his cell phone, he showed us through several adjacent darkened rooms that were his old offices. He pointed to cracks in the walls and explained in French, what it was like during the quake.

I was filled with a sense of admiration for this man, who must have so much heartache, but still showed up for our appointment with such a cheerful and accommodating attitude. There is a spirit of tenacious resilience that I see over and over in the Haitian people. In spite of their suffering, they somehow remain cheerful, resourceful and appreciative that we are there to help.

After the meeting, we dropped off our passengers and headed for the camp at Dadadou.

We arrived to see an ocean of tents flapping in the breeze and thousands of displaced Haitians, milling about, sweating in the hot sun. We met with the PIH doctor who was the camp coordinator and she walked us around the site and explained her water problem. There was a large underground concrete cistern behind the clinic building.

About 100’ away, across a small parking lot and basketball court sat a new 3,000 gallon, round metal water tank that had been recently donated by Israelis. The tank had a graffiti-like painting of the Star of David and an American flag. A PVC pipe came out at the bottom with a bank of simple faucets. The tank did not have any water in it.

The doctor explained that the only way to get water to the 3,000 camp residents was to bring it in by truck, dump into the underground cistern and then somehow transfer the water to the metal tank. Even if this was accomplished, the water, while clear and seemingly clean, is obtained from local municipal wells that are contaminated with bacteria.

Water in that condition is okay for washing clothes and bathing, but not for drinking. Having non-potable water on site sets the stage for rampant disease, because thirsty people drink whatever water they can find, regardless of being warned. The people in the camp were desperate, but fortunately we had a solution.

David had already called for a truckload of water which was soon dumped into the underground concrete cistern. We unloaded and placed the plant by the metal storage tank, lowered a submersible pump into the cistern and ran a steel reinforced plastic pipe from the submersible pump to the filter plant. We then hooked the filter plant discharge to the metal tank.

Three servicemen from Water Missions International showed up to help us with installation, and within three hours we were ready to test the filtered water. The whole time that we were assembling and testing the plant, David was training three camp residents how to operate the plant and test the water.

As darkness fell and a huge crowd gathered around the water taps, David watched as one of his trainees ran the final test. The water checked out perfectly; the people cheered, and started filling their jugs.

We headed for the house. Hot, tired and thankful for God’s favor and another fruitful day.

Tags: Bill Horan, Caribbean, clean water, Contaminated Water, Dadadou, Disaster Relief, Earthquake, Haiti, OBI, Operation Blessing, Partners In Health, Port-au-Prince, Relief, Relief Camp, Tent City, Water Missions International, Water Purification, Water Purification System, WMI

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