Since the earthquake in Haiti, The Water Team has raised $60,000 and helped Lifewater Canada with their relief work:
- immediately shipped bags of water for the earthquake survivors,
- purchased a drill rig for the Haiti drill team; and
- drilled a water well in Godin Town.
The year is young and we’re proud that because of the generosity of the team, many more wells will be either repaired or drilled to give clean water to the earthquake survivors. We didn’t forget about our African neighbours - this year we have already drilled one well in Liberia and one well in Nigeria.
Posted by the water team on 06.02.2010 at 1:40 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
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The earthquake hit Haiti five weeks ago. 270,000 Haitians were killed. Lifewater was already in Haiti and immediately started trucking in water to the survivors in Port-au-Prince. Members of The Water Team responded immediately with donations to the Haitian team so they could, distribute BioSand filters to street corners and started repairing the earthquake damaged wells – immediately helping at least 10,000 survivors. In 5 weeks The Team gave a phenomenal $58,000 (doubled by the gov’t)!
Over a million survivors are now displaced and fleeing Port-au-Prince at the rate of 3000 per day. The problem is that there is not enough clean water for them in the areas that they are fleeing to. The Lifewater team now has a plan for how they will provide clean water to 100,000 of the survivors over the next year.
- Distribute 2000 BioSand filters
- Repair and rehabilitate 120 wells that were damaged in the quake
- Drill 30 new wells
Your generous contribution has literally saved lives. Thank you for your caring, rapid response and help for the survivors whose lives were truly devastated.
Posted by the water team on 02.19.2010 at 7:53 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
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The deadline for having your donation doubled is February 12th - this Friday . If you have already donated (and an incredible number have) THANK YOU!!!
If you are planning on making a donation this is the best time to do it. Send a cheque made out to “Lifewater Canada” to the address below (to arrive by Friday) or you can donate online -instructions below - just let us know that you’ve done that.
The Team has raised over $43,000!
The need for clean water in Haiti is HUGE.
Somewhere between 600,000 and 1 million people have fled Port au Prince and gone north - there is not enough water for them. We need $900,000 to get them the water they need.
The attached photo was taken at one of the wells Lifewater repaired on Feb 2/10 in Haiti
To donate online -
- Go to CanadaHelps at http://www.canadahelps.org/
- Where it says Search for a Charity write in “Lifewater Canada”. Click “Go”
- Then just follow the prompts
- At the end where it says Remarks write in “I am a member of The Water Team and I want my donation to go to Haitian relief” This is important because the Canadian government says the donations have to be earmarked Haiti before they will double.
- 5. Once you have donated, please email us let us know the amount and we will let the government know to match the donation.
Please email us if you have any trouble doing this and we can help you out.
Thanks to everyone for all the amazing support!
Susan and Severin
Posted by the water team on 02.09.2010 at 1:00 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
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It’s been 2 1/2 weeks since the terrible earthquake in Haiti. The Lifewater team has already done so much to help the survivors. They have also finished their assessment and have a plan of action.
What they’ve done since Jan 12th
- completed 6 water wells that were partially completed before the quake
- drilled 4 new water wells!
- repaired 4 wells that had been damaged in the quake (photo attached of a little Haitian girl on Jan 26th at a newly repaired well)
- so that’s 14 water wells newly up and running
- distributed 66 BioSand filters so that now 10,000 refugees have clean drinking water
- ordered another shipment of BioSand filters
- are buying and stockpiling all drilling supplies while they are still available
- i.e. they have done A LOT!!!
The present situation
-no more living bodies are being pulled from the rubble
-survivors are leaving Port- au- Prince and going north to Cape Haitian at a rate of 5000 refugees/day
-the need for clean water is desperate
-the Mayor of Cape Haitian has pleaded with the Lifewater drill team to drill as many water wells as possible as quickly as possible
Lifewater’s Plan based on their Needs Assessment
1. Drill 50 water wells as soon as possible and outfit with hand pumps - all in the Cape Haitian area as these villages are swelling in size daily
Cost : $3000/well = $150,000
2. Repair, rehabilitate, put new pumps, repair pump pads and provide hygiene training for 200 water wells
Cost : $1000/well = $200,000
(note: 200 hand pumps are already in a container and being shipped to Haiti)
3. Buy another drill rig (the present two rigs are not enough to get the job done asap)
Cost: $60,000
4. Buy two newish trucks to transport the drill rigs
(note; have a lead on 2 old army vehicles that need some repair)
Cost: $20,000/truck = $40,000
Total Cost: $450,000
Donations to date
The Water Team has raised $39,000 and sent it to the Lifewater team in Haiti
Lifewater has raised $41,000 for Haiti
Total raised so far: $80,000
We have a lot more work to do!
If you have already donated Thank you!!!
We never ask you for more than one donation a year - but we will ask you to pass on this update to one person you know who might be interested in making a donation.
If you haven’t made a donation yet, please remember that the matching grant expires on February 12th , so if you plan to make a donation, please send it in before that date. Please make cheques out to “Lifewater Canada” and send to the address below. If you’d prefer to make a donation online, just email us and we’ll tell you how to do it.
If anyone is interested in setting up their own chapter of The Water Team and raising money so these goal can be met and the Haitians helped, please let us know. We already have a Children’s Chapter - let’s get a Businessperson’s Chapter, a Yoga Chapter , a Reading Club Chapter , a Women’s Chapter…..you have the idea - will you help?
Thank you for being on The Team, together we are making a big difference.
Posted by the water team on 02.04.2010 at 4:57 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
3 Comments »
We’ve all seen the news casts and the terrible situation there - the survivors need food and water and medicine. To date we have raised almost $25,000. Lifewater is delivering it, thanks to the money we’ve raised!
Jim Gehrels a Senior Hydrogeologist with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and volunteer President of Lifewater.ca and Les Babock an experienced driller from Alberta who has worked with the Haiti drill team for over 20 years are now in Haiti.
Gehrels reports:
- They had the worst night of their lives on Thursday - and Les has been working in Haiti for 40 years!
- All the aftershocks are pretty scary and he now understands why the Haitians wail whenever there is an aftershock
- It’s very hot
- Emotions and workload are great
- They rented a bus and filled it with supplies - water, food, medicine, water filters and sand biofilters
- After they delivered the supplies in Port-au-Prince they filled their bus with refugees and took them to Port Haitian about 90 miles from Port au Prince
- They plan to do another delivery of supplies again this week.
- Both drill rigs are ready and working
- Yesterday they drilled two bore holes/wells.
- They need a portable ultraviolet water treatment system for emergency operations and potable drinking water for the survivors/refugees
- Yesterday the hospital emptied all the water bottles in order to perform 260 surgeries
- The UV treatment unit will be used in the future for a village that is waiting for a well to be drilled.
- Their short-term goal is to provide any help they can in support of temporary safe drinking water stations in Port-au-Prince
- Their long term goal is to work on pump repairs and continue drilling new wells.
- The need for clean water is desperate
- We can have a very positive and immediate impact in Haiti if we can supply them with funds
We are so grateful -
- That they have the courage and strength to take our donations and deliver them in the form of water and supplies to the survivors.
- That they are reporting back to us exactly where our donations are going (and as always we will provide you with the details)
If you have already made a donation, THANK YOU!!!!!
If you haven’t yet donated and would like to help support this work and have 100% of your donation go right to the people in need, you can either:
- Send a cheque made out to “Lifewater Canada” to our address below.
- Make a donation online – if you choose this route, just email us and we’ll tell you how to do it. thewaterteam@gmail.com
- If you need a US tax receipt – make the cheque out to “Flowing Streams”, mark on it for “Lifewater Haiti relief” and send it to our address below.
- Email us with your pledge so that we can keep the drill team up to date on how many wells they will be able to drill with our donations
* Give them water so they can live
* Make it “clean” so they are free from disease and infections
* Then they will have a fighting chance.
Special appeal to the team:
If you know anyone who could be a donor or who could organize a fundraiser for this ultra-violet water purification unit - please pass this update on. The unit costs $15,000 and there will be additional costs of buying the generator and flying it in to Haiti.
–
Susan and Severin Hoch
Volunteer Directors
The Water Team
www.thewaterteam.ca
#250-4438 W. 10th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V6R 4R8
Canada
604-222-4750
Posted by the water team on 01.28.2010 at 6:33 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
5 Comments »
We have just heard that the members of the Lifewater drill team in Haiti all survived the earthquake and their equipment is intact. Thousands of Haitians are without clean water right now. Our top priority is to help the survivors continue to survive the added hardships of lack of water, dehydration, disease and infections that are always the aftermath of disasters like this.
Time is of the essence. Water will help the Haitians survive.
Getting water to the survivors is a major problem right now. Our drill team has set up a water station and is trucking water in to the survivors. The bridge between the drill team’s headquarters and Port au Prince has collapsed but they have managed to find a way around in order to get the water to the water station.
We need to get immediate water to the survivors and we need to dig new wells that will sustain the Haitians for a long time to come. Jim Gehrels and Les Babcock have arrived in Haiti - just in time for the second earthquake - but they are safe and have started working with the Haiti drill team access priority water sources.
Jim is the head of Lifewater Canada and Senior Hydrogeologist with the Ontario Ministry of Environment. Les is Lifewater Canada’s Haiti representative and an experienced driller from Alberta who has worked with the Haiti drill team for the last 20 years.
If you would like to help in a meaningful way, you can make a donation to “Lifewater Canada” (and send it to the address below). You can also donate online. Just email us and we’ll tell you how. One hundred percent of your donation will immediately go to drilling wells in Haiti and helping these people survive - the drill team is able to drill new wells as soon as they get the funds for material and pumps.
Our relief effort will be fully accountable and long lasting. You will see the results of your donations on our website in the form of wells drilled with all the details.
As we want to act as quickly as possible, please email us with the amount of your donation so we can alert the drill team.
Best wishes for a safe and happy 2010
Susan and Severin
#250-4438 W. 10th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. V6R 4R8
Canada
PS: Last year our team made a difference to over 5000 people by raising over $54,000, drilling 16 water wells in Liberian and Nigeria and funding pump repairs and hygiene/sanitation training. Thanks for being on the team and helping so many people
Posted by the water team on 01.28.2010 at 6:30 am// Tagged: Uncategorized //
4 Comments »
