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Haiti
Water Missions Haiti
Port Au Prince, Haiti
Number of Safe Water Projects: 303
Number of Staff: 25
Language- French and Haitian Creole
GDP Per Capita- $1,300 (the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere)
Population- 9 million.
Poverty Level- 80 percent live below the poverty line.
Religion- Most (80 percent) of Haitians are Roman Catholic. A
large number practice voodoo.
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Climate- Tropical climate, heavy rainfall in the lowlands; prone to flooding and hurricanes.
Brief History - Discovered and settled by Columbus in 1492 as the island of Hispaniola, Haiti has a long history of political unrest. Recent elections have been marked by fraud and boycotts from Haiti’s citizens.
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Program Overview - In August 2009, Elsa and Julio Paula transitioned from leading the Sri Lanka program to heading the Haiti program. At the time, Julio kept asking, “Why us? Why Haiti?” On January 12th 2010 a 7.0 earthquake shook the Water Missions International compound in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and they received their answer. This married missionary team was in Sri Lanka during and after the South Asian Tsunami and this disaster made them well equipped to coordinate massive responses in a short time frame.
With the guidance of the
Paulas, these disaster response projects will transition into
communities for long-term development projects. The Haiti program is
going through a period of change as WMI addresses the array of issues
that arise while transitioning from a period of immense, rapid growth to
a stable development program.
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To donate funds to our Haiti Country Program, please go to my.watermissions.org/donate and designate Haiti Country Program.