Personal Involvement is the Cornerstone of Rotary International Projects - Haiti Water For Life

The personal testimony of the founder of the Haiti Water For Life program is an example of how Rotarians have been able to impact the lives of millions of people around the world. This is Roy Sheldrick's story of a Rotarian's journey from home in Ancaster to a valley in Haiti....and how a simple well handle can change lives.

A time when our forefathers, who immigrated here from other lands, had to haul their water from a well to provide clean water for their families for drinking, cooking and washing clothes. Except in Haiti, many Haitians don’t have the luxury of having a well or other clean water source.

When you see children, some as young as seven, carrying heavy buckets of water on their heads it leaves you with a desire to help ease the burden of these Haitian people. It is sad to say that even when they have access to water it is not always clean. Many, mostly women and children, sometimes have to walk long distances or climb down a hillside to get to a polluted canal or water source only to bring back to their homes water from locations that are not fit to drink from. How far does a bucket of water go – not very far when you have a large family and a garden to tend? This means several trips to that dirty water source which in turn causes illnesses that prevent men from working in their field, children from attending school or women going to the market.

My wife Norma and I went to Haiti for the first time in 1996. It is here that my story begins.

Dr. Everett Sargeant, a well-known doctor in Hamilton, and his wife Arlene, friends of ours from our church, Ryerson United in Ancaster, Ontario, asked us to join them on a trip to Haiti to work at the hospital where they had previously worked for a year. In 1996 the hospital and the surrounding buildings were in need of repairs and work teams were established to help out in any way they could.

After much soul searching we agreed to go with a work team, headed by Ev and Arlene, to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer in the Artibonite Valley, Deschapelles, Haiti. We are glad we did. There were 6 of us who went and we worked in several areas. Norma and Arlene purged hospital files. I did some carpenter work, working along side our friend Hal Devins and some Haitian helpers. Another member of our team did electrical work. Dr. Sargeant’s interest was in Women’s Health. Sad to say Dr. Ev Sargeant died in 2002 as he was indeed a true friend of Haiti. Arlene, who is able to speak Creole, still goes to Haiti with work parties to help out in any way she can.

Realizing I wanted to do something to help the plight of the Haitian people in that valley Bill Dunn, who at that time was Executive Director of the hospital, suggested installing water wells in villages in order to eliminate the need to travel many miles only to reach a polluted water source once they got there. There are around 700 small villages in the Artibonite valley, many without wells.

My life’s journey to put 200 wells in the valley started with my Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Ancaster, District 7090, in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, buying a well and subsequently, over the years, purchasing ten more.

The Rotary Foundation has generously matched funds raised as well as receiving a much appreciated 3H (Health, Hunger and Humanity) Grant from Rotary International. Also, thanks go out to the many donations received from caring individuals and churches. After speaking to numerous Rotary Clubs we reached the half-way mark. In 2005 we installed the 100th well to mark the 100th anniversary of Rotary. To that date, having raised over $500,000.00 Canadian we are receiving encouraging reports that these wells have made a vital difference to the health of the Haitians living in the valley.

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer was opened in 1956. Its founder, Dr. William Larimer (Larry) Mellon and his wife Gwen Grant Mellon built and staffed a medical complex that fit the needs of a neglected rural population. Larry Mellon, while reading a story about Dr. Albert Schweitzer in a Life magazine, became committed to building a hospital with principals similar to Albert Schweitzer’s hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, Africa. Over the entrance to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer is inscribed Albert Schweitzer’s motto “Reverence for Life”. Larry and Gwen followed this precept, working together to serve the people of the Artibonite Valley for the rest of their lives. Dr. Mellon died in 1989 leaving Gwen to lead the hospital, which she did with wisdom and compassion, until her death in 2000. While at the hospital I came across a plaque with these words of wisdom by Dr. Y.C. Yen:

Go to the people.Live among them.Learn from them.Love them.Serve them.Plan with them.Start with what they know.

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, built on a decommissioned banana plantation, serves approximately 285,000 people in the Artibonite Valley of central Haiti, an area 30 miles by 20 miles with around 700 villages within this valley. The hospital has grown over the years and now has 190 inpatient beds and nearly 900 permanent Haitian staff, who work in many areas of the hospital, with many visiting doctors, nurses and other supporters who come for various lengths of time to help out

The hospital is a model for health care facilities in developing countries around the world. Over half of the patients seen at the Albert Schweitzer hospital are children suffering from malnutrition and trauma. The hospital also deals with difficult childbirth and diseases of tropical poverty plus many other ailments. It serves as a clinic, emergency room, school and outpost of hope for the many Haitians needing medical care. Two very important departments connected with the hospital are Community Health and Community Development.

Hôpital Albert Schweitzer also fights the causes of disease. In the 1960’s the hospital wiped out neonatal tetanus, which killed hundreds of infants every year, by immunizing mothers and educating midwives. The hospital attacks the cause of malnutrition, aids, tuberculosis and malaria. Community health centers and dispensaries bring hospital services to outlying areas. What a blessing these outlying dispensaries and health centers are as they spare Haitians, who live in remote areas, a long walk to the hospital, often carrying a child in their arms and bringing other children along as there is no one at home to care for them.

Tuberculosis is very prevalent in the valley. Near the hospital is L’Escale, a T.B. Clinic, which houses some 60 to 70 tuberculosis patients. Many are children so a family member(s) comes with them to care for them. Only patients are given meals here and they only eat twice a day. At present their water well dries up during the dry season so sometimes they do not even have access to clean water. When my wife and I were there in 2000 they only had one latrine to serve these patients and their families. Thanks to Rotarians they now have 5 latrines and hopefully they will soon have a deep well that won’t go dry.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT - Building Lives

This is the department my work comes under. The Community Development Department is more than putting water wells in the valley. Diseases will continue without sanitation and malnutrition will persist without reliable food supplies and clean water. Dr. Mellon wanted to expand his mission beyond medicine and into the community where the Haitian people live. He put down his stethoscope and picked up a shovel and became involved in improving water, land use, agriculture, literacy and financial opportunities to help the plight of the people in the Artibonite Valley. In 1996 there were a few wells already installed by Dr. Mellon, but these wells were located near the hospital and nearby towns, while remote areas and mountain villages did not have the luxury of having access to clean water.

Potable (drinkable) water wells are life savers. In Haiti, one out of every five children die before the age of five, mostly from curable diseases. Contaminated water gives children infections, typhoid and diarrhea which in turn can lead to malnutrition. Malnutrition is prevalent in Haiti. Over the door that leads to the Malnutrition Ward at the Hospital are these words “May Peace Prevail On Earth”. To see a child who is two or three years old who can’t walk or talk, due to malnutrition, leaves one with a lasting impression. When you visit this ward it is a humbling experience. At the same time I know when a well is installed in a village it not only helps keep the children healthy but also improves the health of the whole village.

Sometimes it is impossible to put a well in a mountain village. This is when we install cisterns. In one remote village we put in a cistern that is able to hold 13,000 liters of rain water that collects during the rainy season. This allows the people in that area to have clean water during the dry season when sometimes their water source dries up.

Wells have been installed in school yards, church yards, medical centers and on the hospital campus. On one of my trips a man from the United States who tested water for contaminants helped us out. This had never been done before but what a life saving event it was. He tested one well, which was placed near a corn field, and found it contained nitrates which is very dangerous to pregnant women and her unborn child. The Community Development Department now explore very carefully where they put wells and never install them near fields that may contaminate the water. A well can be as deep as 90 to 300 feet and it costs around $4000.00 U.S. to install. At present, with Rotary’s help and Rotarians from a Rotary Club in St. Marc, Haiti, a pipeline is being installed to bring clean water to the hospital. (Editor's note- Roy was able to travel to Haiti in November 2006 for the official opening of the 7000 foot pipeline which now supplies close to 10,000 people.)

Having been to Haiti many times since 1996 I never tire of visiting the wells and cisterns we have installed and seeing the many Haitians who come to these sources for their clean water. You can see by the smile on their faces how happy they are. Sometimes when a well is opened they have a celebration to mark the event by singing and dancing around the well. We cannot help the young girls who carry the heavy buckets on their heads but it helps to know they now only have to walk a short distance, instead of many miles, to get clean water. Mothers can tend to their gardens and their children, instead of making many trips to a dirty stream. These are the ones we are helping by putting a well in their village while also improving the health of the community. It is a rewarding experience for us and a blessing for the Haitian people living in the valley.

Giving Clean Water To The Haitian People BringsHope for Tomorrow

. As long as I am able I will continue to work on installing water wells in Haiti. I use this quote at the end of my talk when I tell this story in person.

"We make a living from what we ge. We make a life from what we give. What we have done for ourselves dies with us. What we have done for others and the world is immortal."

Henry Ward Beecher

In Haiti , half the population do not have access to clean drinking water. My hope for the future is that I will be able to install more wells for the Haitian people living in the Artibonite Valley.

Below is a portion of a letter sent to me by Ms. Irene Bell, a Belgian Lady, who has been working and living in Petite Rivière in the Artibonite Valley. It has been translated from French by Dawn Johnson, a fellow Rotarian, who is from the United States but has been working in the Community Development Division of the hospital for many years. Dawn has been a help to me in all areas of my well project from finding suitable locations for the wells to their final installation.

“In this end of April, the heat is intense in Petite Rivière, the majority of wells have dried up and the town would be almost abandoned without the wells that you have given.

“I permit myself to write you in the name of the inhabitants, above all those around the wells in Lauro, Lika, and Karrfour Amede with which I am most familiar. The population infinitely thanks you, sir. You have done there a very good action and each day people bless you without your knowing.

If you could see the women and children around the wells you would be happy, to us who are here to see it rierent of motivating the population to reforest the area to avoid worsening their misery, but your gesture of solidarity arrived in time to avoid the abandonment of hope.

Believe, sir, in the recognition of the people of Petite Rivière.” *rierent - to be beside others

For Them, Irene Bell – May 2001

The letter on the left is written to the Rotary Club of Ancaster to recognize the latest contribution to the well project in the amount of $4,885 US for the latest well...number 125. It is signed by the Board Chair and outlines how the provision of water has impacted the lives of thousands of people in the Artibonite Valley.

These letters are testiment to the work that one person has been able to champion and by leveraging the work of hundreds of others, through Rotary and beyond how a small beginning can grow to a momentous continuing effort.

If you would like to support the Water For Life Program and other work of Rotary use our donors information form on this website and we will be happy to contact you with more information. If you would like to learn more about Rotary or wish to have a presentation on any of the projects of The Rotary Club of Ancaster please use the Contact information form on our Contacts page.