HOW HAITI OUTREACH BUILDS COMMUNITY WITH WELLS

The Adopt-a-Well Program

Haiti Outreach Community Well at La Fontan

Haiti Outreach operates a new program that should interest many individuals, churches, and schools, along with Rotary Clubs and other civic groups and foundations: The Adopt-a-Well Program!  In its 17 year history of community development, Haiti Outreach has earned a reputation of excellence as an organization that works with Haitian communities to build sustainable facilities for transforming life.  

The Forest Hill Church Haiti Mission has committed to raising funds to sponsor a well for the little village of Gabo in the Central Plateau region of the country.  The community there has asked Haiti Outreach for a well, with the blessings of the municipal mayor and the national clean water authority.  And at the same time, village's leaders have made a commitment to develop their capacity to manage the well permanently with their own personnel and resources.

In this program, the sponsor raises the money for a specific community managed well in rural Haiti. Each community has a name, population, and its own story about where and how far people have to go to get contaminated water that they bring home daily for their families to use.  In order to receive its well, each community must have its own organization responsible for permanently managing its well and the distribution of clean water.  

This newer method of developing a local community well management group to take responsibility, be accountable to the whole community, and do their work in a transparent way is transforming life in rural Haiti.  The success rate for clean water wells in operation steadily over more than five years has dramatically increased from about 50% to more than 90%.  That translates into better health and fewer deaths from contaminated water.  It leads the way to better sanitation and living standards.

Once the funds are raised and donated to Haiti Outreach, their staff begins the process of engaging the people of that community and training a volunteer water management committee. When they have been sufficiently trained, the well will be developed on community owned land and completed with a ceremonial inauguration. While that process is underway, the sponsors can be informed as to the progress of the well management training and drilling.

Haiti Outreach produces 50 community managed wells a year. That impacts 18,000 – 20,000 people every year.   But in order to do this,  need to raise the money to maximize our capacity.  Each well costs $15,000, so that is the sponsor’s goal. Of course, if the sponsoring group could raise funds for more than one well, that would be great! If the sponsor can only raise half that much, another group is recruited to add funds in order to reach the goal.

If some members of the sponsoring group wanted to travel to Haiti during this process to visit the community, or to attend the well inauguration, Haiti Outreach will do its best to facilitate that as part of a trip to see Haiti and other community development projects of Haiti Outreach.

Here is a very specific and concrete way YOU can make the difference in the lives of hundreds of people in one of the poorest countries in the world, not only for today, but for years to come as they maintain their well. Become a sponsor and literally save lives with clean water and sanitation education.

For more news and information about Haiti Outreach click on this link.  For a video telling this story click on this link.