Trying to describe this last week in Haiti is like trying to describe the Grand Canyon-- impossible.  Our goal was to install as many water filtration systems as possible in strategic locations throughout Haiti.  We met with the Assistant to the Minister of Health, Ben Poux.  He requested us to visit a tent city in Port Au Prince (PaP) where a number of cases of cholera have been reported.  We drove out to the tent city (called 'Aviation' because of its location on top of the old airstrip) to meet with the leaders. 

There were 16 different leaders that made up the leadership council of Aviation.  They shared with us a number of things about Aviation:

* 27,000 people live in the  one-mile radius.

* 8-15 cases of cholera are reported weekly, and because their bodies are so run down, most die within 24 hours of contact.

* They have no running water, though water is delivered by trucks and stored in sim tanks at 21 different locations throughout the city.

* There are no schools or any other forms of education.

* There is no medical aid or support.

* 95% of the population have no access to jobs.

* Dirt trenches are dug throughout the city, between the tents, for sewage and gray water, and flow to the nearby river and out to the ocean.

* 100% of all the people we talked to and interviewed said they would do anything to get out of this city and situation. 

After hearing about and seeing these conditions, the FFCC team of three went to work and began putting together the plan that would service and provide clean drinking water for the community.  We had the council identify two people for each water station.  We trained each team to oversee, distribute, and protect each water filtration system.  A total of 42 water managers emerged and became part of the FFCC family.  It was amazing to watch this team of water managers learn and implement the disciplines necessary to ensure that this community will be assured of having clean drinking water for potentially the next 100 years -- that's how long the system will work before the filters must be replaced.  We ended our work week with a meeting with all the water managers and council members, approximately 80 people. 

We began the week as strangers, and even a bit fearful of each other.  By the end of the week these strangers became our brothers and sisters.  The leader of Aviation, Brunache Jude, gave us a letter that reads as follows:

"We realize that you are able to provide the camp with pure water.  We realize your intervention in our camp to provide pure water to the population.  We were very concerned about out water being undrinkable and how sick people are.  The leaders want you to know how thankful we are and to tell you again thank you.  We are expecting and hoping that you can help with other projects for the population.  Thank you for everything you have done and receive our most dignified thanks."

We also installed other filters in another village called Trouin and in other places in and around PaP.  By the end of the week, FFCC installed enough filters to provide pure drinking water for 30,000 people.   I'll share more later about our GPS tracking method to follow up with each filter location and the opportunity you will have to see where the filters are installed and the people and families responsible for them. 

Many more filters are needed.  I hope you were encouraged by the great success of our team and can continue to partner with us as we continue to provide more water kits.  Each kit cost $75, and you can donate directly through our website to provide one or more kits for this effort.  There is still much more to be done, let's continue to help one family at a time!