Water Project Highlights Recovery In Haiti
(Los Cacaos, Haiti) January 12, 2012 — Two years after an earthquake struck Haiti the community of Los Cacaos has demonstrated what happens when neighbors work together to solve a problem. Fresh, clean water is now available to 700 families thanks to the community’s commitment to build a positive foundation for long-term improvements.
Catholic nuns based across the Artibonite river in San Francisco of Banica Parish in the Dominican Republic organized the project in consultation with community leaders. Jesuit Refugee Service/USA provided $113,000 to fund the project, and members of the community supplied the labor to build roads, construct cisterns and lay miles of plastic pipe and tubing.
Previously, obtaining clean water meant a hike of several miles — one way — over rugged hills and through valleys to collect the water in buckets and jerrycans. The arduous trip took four hours or more, and often had to be done twice a day.
“Before the project I would send the kids to get water, it would sometimes take them half a day or more. Sometimes the water would spill on the return trip and they'd have to go back,” said community resident Olise, a father of five. Olise’s comment highlighted an additional benefit of the cisterns: children who were before engaged in trekking for hours to water sources now can concentrate on attending school within the safety of their communities.
“This project proclaims a bright future because all different age groups are involved. And I don't want to leave out the work the women have done, they have done a great deal of work for this project," said Sr. Refugio Chavez.
This community-based participative model for humanitarian aid delivery and development has had the dual role of providing necessary resources for the health of the community while strengthening the role of women in the decision-making processes and empowering them to take an active role in the development projects. In light of the prevalence of gender-based violence in Haiti, the full integration of local women in the planning and implementation of this life-saving water and reforestation project will have an enduring effect on the status of women in the region.
Prior to the January 2010 earthquake, the Los Cacaos area was home to more than 8,700 people. After the earthquake the area became a transit point for many displaced families trying to migrate to the Dominican Republic and the population soared to at least 16,000. Those not seeking to migrate were simply looking for hope and better opportunities than what remained in Port au Prince.
"One of our goals is that the project become self-sustaining,” Sr. Refugio said. “We hope that the project becomes completely integrated with education, with health, with improved agriculture and food security. There is a hope that Los Cacaos, which is considered one of the poorest places in Haiti, can show Haiti and the world that it has brought itself up and gotten on its feet and started moving. The way to improve their lives, the resources to make changes, exist right here and they don't have to go to the Dominican Republic,” she said.
Re-planting and recovering the ecology of the area will also mitigate the effects of tropical storms, as new trees and plants will take root in the mountains and deter erosion.
The irrigation system allows local farmers to have a steady supply of water for their fields, and enables local residents to have community gardens and gardens outside their own homes to grow their own food; these efforts work toward restoring the livelihood of the community.
“We could raise crops before only if we had rain. There were no crops after the rainy season. Before I had to go to one side of the hill to wash, and the other side for water to drink and cook. I feel much better not having to carry water on my head,” said Fifi, 25, who is in the attached photograph.
Louis Ma has also lived here his whole life. “Last February or March you had to dig into the riverbed to get water because it was dry season. We are able to save much time because the water is here, so we can spend more time in our fields,” he said.
“These communities have benefitted enormously from the project, and this can be an example to Haiti and the rest of the world to see how a water project can enhance people's lives," said Wilens.
"People here now feel valued, that they are taken seriously as people. That our work is not to just have them have their hand out asking for things, that it is to work together as a team. They have water and better health, but they also feel better as people," Sr. Refugio said.
This story is taken from a longer piece on the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA website. Please click here to read it and see more photos and a video about the project.
