Five-year partnership with Living Waters for the World and local leadership will increase access to clean drinking water
by Darla Carter | Presbyterian News Service
Water purification systems like these provide clean drinking water for communities and are operated by local people with help from Living Waters for the World. (Contributed photo)
LOUISVILLE — It’s easy to take clean drinking water for granted in the United States, but in countries like Haiti, it is a precious commodity.
“Most of the deaths that we have in children is because they drink community water — bad water, untreated water,” said Ancy Fils-Aime, who’s based in Haiti. But those who receive clean water, “you can see that they’re healthy.”
Fils-Aime is the in-country director of Living Waters for the World, a global ministry of the Synod of Living Waters that has entered into a five-year partnership with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to increase access to clean drinking water in Haiti.
The project, which will involve the restoration and installation of multiple water purification systems, is intended to bring hope to the people of Haiti and to create a new dynamic for impacted communities, said the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, PDA’s director.
“You have clean water, you have better health: health for the children, health for the family, health for the community,” he said. “Drinkable water is a fundamental right that everyone deserves.”
Living Waters for the World typically trains volunteers in the United States to establish and lead water mission teams that partner with communities abroad to start and operate sustainable water purification systems and health education programs. However, in Haiti, a different approach has been needed in recent years because of instability in the country, which has grappled with multiple crises, including civil unrest, earthquakes, cyclones and the pandemic.
“In 2020, Covid happened and then immediately after (that wave of) Covid happened, political unrest took place in Haiti,” preventing training teams from traveling to the island nation, said Steve Young, executive director of Living Waters for the World. But with assistance from Living Waters’ local staff in Haiti, 70 of 100 water purification systems have remained operational. This new approach has provided an opportunity for Living Waters to partner with PDA to continue the impact in the communities.
Receiving grant funding from PDA will help the local staff of Living Waters for the World to work toward the restoration of the water purification systems that are now offline.
Ancy Fils-Aime is the Haiti-based in-country director for Living Waters for the World. (Contributed photo)
The staff is “mapping out a strategy for how they’re going to get to those communities that are offline,” Young said. “The (PDA) funds have just now been deployed, and so I anticipate it’s going to be full steam ahead.”
The systems are operated by local people at the institutions where they are located such as schools, churches and orphanages, Young said. “The folks who had been running the system before they went offline will continue to run the system,” or new operators will be trained to do so.
González-Castillo said the project is “a really good way to help the communities in need” while working with an organization that is well-known to the denomination. PDA hopes it will lead to new partnerships and the creation of some locally run microbusinesses to help the people.
However, both PDA and Living Waters for the World acknowledge that the country is going through a tumultuous time, with much of it under the control of violent gangs.
“The last 10 to 15 years, the situation has gotten worse, not only because of the natural disasters, but the human-made disasters,” González-Castillo said, “and the political unrest the country has gone through has taken a toll on the people, the organizations, the partners and just everyone in Haiti.”
As part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, an international security force has been deployed in an attempt to restore order and curtail gang violence. But widespread suffering remains, affecting not only the capital of Port-au-Prince but some small towns too, according to news reports.
UN News reported last month that about 5.5 million people — nearly half the population — is dependent on humanitarian aid and 5 million people are facing acute hunger. Also, almost 580,000 Haitians have been displaced, a 60% increase from the end of February, the report noted.
“I don’t know what Haiti is going to be in two years,” Young said. “We are hopeful that it will stabilize. The joy and resilience of the Haitian people is stunning.”
Living Waters for the World is currently located in 28 countries and has staff in 10 of them. To learn more about the nonprofit organization, go here.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is one of the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
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