By Dale Snyder
Margaret Saintvil is a very proud woman, and rightfully so. She was extremely happy that her 400 person community of Dominik, in very rural Haiti, was receiving a Haiti Outreach community managed well. When the Haiti Outreach animator and the community trained water committee emphasized the importance of every household having a latrine, she got busy and is now in the process of finishing her own latrine. She was so proud of it that she asked one of our group, when we were there in early April, to come and see what she had accomplished so far.
Before the new well, Margaret and her 3 children, Roselove, Clinton and Carline, had to walk 1 ½ miles, about 30 minutes, one way down a ravine to the nearest river, and then go back up carrying heavy buckets of water to get their daily water needs met. Thanks to the Adopt-a-Well funding support from the German Rotary Club of Aschaffenburg-Schoenbusch, Margaret and her family no longer need to travel like that to get contaminated river water. Instead, they have clean water only about 100 yards from their home!
When our group was there, we helped to clear the area around the well, hauled and sifted sand to build the concrete “house” around the well, and painted it for the inauguration that took place on April 7th. It was a great celebration for the whole community and our group, and for Margaret along with her neighbors who thanked us all so very much for our help and support in bringing clean water to their community that they will manage and maintain.
