Water and Sanitation Specialist to Join CRWRC in Haiti

CRWRC Newsroom | January 28, 2010

photo by Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance Make a gift to Haiti relief:  US | Canada

Jozias Joosse, a water and sanitation specialist from ZOA Refugee Care in the Netherlands, joins CRWRC this Saturday. Joosse will assist CRWRC in designing water solutions and providing for latrines and other sanitary solutions to the crowded conditions of the camps where earthquake survivors are living.  

While water is critical, CRWRC’s Haiti earthquake response has also included the distribution of food and shelter. Yesterday, for example, 100 tarps were delivered to refugees living on the seminary campus of the Union of Baptist Churches in Haiti (UEBH) in Bolosse.  UEBH is a long-term partner of CRWRC in Haiti.  Since the quake, they have been providing shelter to approximately 2,500 earthquake survivors who have no homes to return to.

In addition, CRWRC distributed food to 60 families in two small communities in Carrefour yesterday, and to an orphanage in Leogane earlier in the week.

“The children (from the orphanage) had been sleeping in tents on the grounds as they were too afraid to sleep indoors,” said Toni Fernhout, CRWRC’s International Relief Manager in Haiti.  “Nearly 90% of the homes here were destroyed or damaged. The house at this orphanage sustained only minimal damage but the wall surrounding the compound was completely destroyed.” 

In the midst of this destruction, CRWRC staff in Haiti are seeing signs of hope as the Haitian government, local churches, and the international community work together to meet the many needs of earthquake survivors. 

 “We are seeing lots of positive things happening in this most awful situation - not as much looting as expected, banks opening, gas and fuels available, churches are full, people moving back into their homes and much needed health care is now available to the people in the city,” said Fernhout.

Thank you to the many people who have already supported CRWRC’s Haiti earthquake response.  These gifts have made CRWRC’s emergency response possible. Please remember  that the needs of the Haitian people are ongoing and will continue for the next several years.  If you have not yet given, or feel compelled to make an additional gift, your funds are still urgently needed. Every dollar makes a difference.

If Canadians give a donation to the Haiti Earthquake victims through CRWRC by February 12th, it will double in impact due to a generous contribution from the Canadian Government.

Donate online:  US | Canada

Checks, marked “Haiti Earthquake 2010” can also be sent to:

 

 

 

 

 

by Kristen deRoo Vanderberg, CRWRC Communications