December 4, 2004 Dear Everybody: Gonaives seems to be recovering from tropical storm Jeanne. It has meant very busy times for us since we decided we would install biosand filters as part of the disaster relief effort. 300 filters are already installed in people’s homes in Gonaives which were funded by World Vision. 100 of the filters were installed in Robadeau, a very poor, very badly affected area of Gonaives. I received a letter from a resident of this area which I will translate: “I am well content with this initiative. This proves that you truly love Haiti. But the quantity of filters you give is not sufficient, it doesn’t correspond with the quantity of victims of cyclone Jeanne. I would like for you to give others again. Thank you.” It is rare for me to receive a thank you letter here in Haiti so when I do I cherish them. Even though this one came with a request I am happy because I know the people really appreciate having filters. Fortunately, we are able to grant the writer’s request, because a great deal of funding has come in for still more filters to be produced. Money has come in from a privately administrated fund along with funds from Pure Water for the World, Children’s International Lifeline and Crossroads Family of Ministries. Enough funds have arrived or been promised to install another 1000 filters and give education to the users. At the beginning of this project I would never have dreamed so much interest would be shown. 100 Huntley Street is a Canadian Christian television show that is part of Crossroads Family of Ministries and they invited Tal to come to an interview a few weeks ago. He did an excellent job, and the interview can be found on http://www.crossroads.ca/100hs/2004novprog.htm [Nov 15] in the show’s archives. His interview is in the second half of the show. Crossroads is funding 500 of the filters, and I suspect they will help Clean Water for Haiti in numerous other ways as well. Reynold Mainse was kind enough to mention our volunteer needs on the show, and we have received a response from that already. He also took some very good pictures of filters in use in Gonaives. I had to decrease the resolution to send them in this message, but ask me if you would like to receive the same picture in high resolution. Roman has been a huge help and without him the next 1000 filters in Gonaives probably wouldn’t happen at all. He just came back from a three day trip when he delivered 200 more filters which will be installed in the coming weeks. Roman has agreed to head project BRAVO, a study sponsored by CAWST to attempt to measure the quality of drinking water improvement afforded by the biosand filter in the field. Pre- and post-treatment water testing will be done in hundreds of households using the filters over a period of about 5 months, and we hope the results will make the biosand filter more universally accepted by organizations and governments. Roman will start on that project in January but I’m hoping he will return to Clean Water for Haiti when it is over. Roman is lots of fun, and he comes from the same Town in Austria as the Governor of California. He also shares the same attitude. When confronted with a barricade of flaming tires in one of the recent “manifestations” is Saint Marc, Roman got out of the truck in an attempt to remove some debris and drive through the gap. He was chased back by a guy with a machete and eventually turned the truck around but he said “If I had a bigger truck I would just drive through.” Just like the terminator. We need more missionaries like that. On one trip I took to Gonaives with Roman, we were stuck in a manifestation for over two hours. Knowing that the UN has convoys constantly running between Gonaives and the capital, I thought that the people would disperse as soon as the first UN troops arrived. Sure enough, a jeep full of Argentinian soldiers cleared a path through the blockage and came through. Their words as they drove past us: “Good Luck!” They left and the mayhem continued. I guess breaking up riots isn’t part of the UN’s mission here. Ironically, the protesters claimed they were protesting lack of clean water in Haiti! On a personal note, today is my 30th birthday, and I’m doing pretty well. I’m exactly where I want to be at this time in my life and I intend to keep doing the lord’s work here for the foreseeable future. I take a vacation from Dec 21 to Jan 4, and my mum is coming back with me at that time for her first visit to Haiti. In addition, my brother will be coming down sometime in January to shoot some video footage of the mission work for promotional purposes and my good friend Joel will be coming down for his second annual Haiti trip sometime later in the winter. It is always encouraging to have friends come visit, but what we really need is some long term volunteers! If you hear God’s call, answer. It’s nice and warm here, and the mission is right on the beach. There are worse places you could be. -Chris Rolling |