Water

Water here in Haiti is not good to drink as many of you know. The result of drinking unfiltered water can be as discomforting as stomach issues or something more severe of the parasitic nature. Most of the villages have wells that are roughly 30 feet deep where the people can manually access water. The water coming from these wells are good for Haitians to drink but does pose a risk for westerners. At the orphanage we have a well that is 40 feet deep with a mechanical pump that provides water to all the buildings.

This past week our pump broke. This would not be a big deal with a couple people but with 50 kids and 10 volunteers it becomes a huge problem. The kids are bathed twice a day and need clean drinking water. The cooks also need clean water to make food for everyone. Of course bathing ourselves and drinking clean water is also important. You can see the problem this cause and the urgency to get the pump working again. We can make do with countless trips to the village well and long trips to town for clean drinking water but this takes up all ones time.

I was put in charge of fixing the pump because our maintenance guy, Arlin, was visiting home for this month. Many of you can see the problem here. What are you going to do all you can do is paint? you might ask. Well, i was asking myself the same question. I have never seen a water pump before. Regardless, i was helped by a man in the community named Roni, pronounced Woni.

Woni and I took a trip to town after retrieving the pump at the bottom of the well. We went to a large machinery shot located in the back of a school. This shop was very impressive with large machines and ample work space. After inspecting our broken pump the shop employee rambled off some creole i could not understand. Woni, who speaks about as much English as i do creole, reported that the part could be fixed. We first had to take out the specific part in the pump before they would work on it. This required a trip up to a classroom in a different building and a guy named "the bos" who spent two hours taking apart our pump. He didn't charge us. With the pump taken apart we took the part needing fixing to the shop and left the rest of the parts in the classroom. After returning to the shop the power went out. Everyone in the shop went home. We were forced to head back to the village with no pump. We left all the parts at the shop, it was a frustrating hot day.

After a month with no rain God blessed us with rain to supply ample water for the kids to bath at night and water for flushing toilets.

The next day we headed back in to town and headed back to the shop to get the pump fixed. Upon arrival the power had gone off again and was not expected to go back on until 3 pm. This was not what I wanted to hear. I left Woni in the city and headed back to the village. Woni called at 5pm with good news. We sent another worker with money to pay for the pump. The pump reached the orphanage at 7pm. God again sent rain for much needed water.

With the pump at the orphanage we started the process of putting the pump back together and getting the necessary parts in the right places. We turned the pump on and got water in all the buildings by 9pm. I was overjoyed and relieved that the process was over.

Kind of a long story but i was taken back by the two nights of rain God sent us. We haven't had rain since those two nights and this time of year its rare.