Success Stories from Our Members in the field

US Legacy After Hurricane Mitch: Better Water; Sanitation and Gratitude, Action Against Hunger, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, CARE, Save the Children, and Plan International

No nation in Central America was harder hit than Nicaragua in the fall of 1998 by Hurricane Mitch, which killed thousands and left in its deadly wake billions of dollars in damage.

A group of U.S.-based relief agencies - including American nongovernmental organizations Action Against Hunger, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, CARE, Save the Children, and Plan International - joined a coalition of Nicaraguan organizations in planning and implementing a comprehensive strategy for cleaning up after Mitch. Funding for the program came from an American organization called the Environmental Health Project, which received support for this work in Nicaragua from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

After 28 months of hard work, hundreds of communities were able to rebuild water systems, repair sewage sanitation facilities and receive training on such environmental health issues as hygiene.

The American nongovernmental organizations and their Nicaraguan partners estimate that they helped 215,000 people in 289 rural communities spread across northern Nicaragua.

They built or repaired 2,692 water supply systems, 7,226 household latrines, 295 boreholes for water and brought clean water to 40 health clinics. The relief groups documented marked increases in the percentage of people who followed hygienic practices in hand washing and human waste disposal, and that the occurrence of diarrhea in children under five was cut nearly in half.

The Environmental Health Project says that a key to its success was broadening its focus on water supply and sanitation systems so that projects in those areas were integrated with programs to educate Nicaraguans on health and hygiene.

Forming international partnerships to help foreign neighbors in need is both the right and the smart thing to do. Nicaraguans are not likely to forget the assistance they received from the United States, and Americans can be assured that they have friends in Nicaragua who would help them during similar emergencies.