There are no paved roads leading to the village of Capity, Haiti. This isolated farming community tucked into the mountains of Haiti’s Artibonite region is home to Gladys and her family.
Gladys and her children used to wake up in the middle of the night to walk into the mountains to collect water. The steep roads were treacherous in the dark, but they needed the daylight hours to tend to their farm.
It took everyone in the family working together to carry the buckets home, heavy with water for drinking and watering their animals. Gladys did her best to bring back extra water for neighbors who were unable to make the journey into the mountains. There was seldom enough water left over to bathe.
“I used to go to church dirty, without washing,” recalled Gladys.
Worst of all, the water the family spent so much time collecting was often contaminated. It made everybody in the household sick.
Thanks to your support, Water Mission installed a safe water solution in Capity. Gladys’ family and neighbors now have a reliable source of abundant safe water close to home. It has transformed their lives.
“Now, we wait until morning to walk outside and get fresh, clean water,” Gladys shared. They can rest at night, instead of trekking into the mountains, because the safe water is so close to home. Gladys’ elderly and disabled neighbors can collect water from the tap stands, instead of relying on others to fetch it for them.
Because the water from Water Mission’s best-in-class Living Water Treatment System is safe, Gladys no longer worries that the water she is giving her children will make them ill.
“Since we’re drinking this treated water, we don’t have the sickness that we used to get,” she said. “Even the animals are healthier!”
Water Mission also trained residents in hygiene and sanitation practices that can protect them from waterborne illnesses like cholera—a deadly disease that swept across Haiti in 2010. Proper handwashing is a powerful tool in preventing another outbreak.
Gladys is thrilled that the abundant water source makes it possible for her to bathe before she attends church. She loves the Lord and wants to worship Him with dignity and honor.
“Since we have this clean water in Capity, I wash really well before my family goes to church,” she said. “Now I can praise God with a clean body and a clean spirit.”
For the past 20 years, Water Mission has been on the front lines of the global water crisis, bringing safe water solutions to communities like Capity. With your help, we have served more than 1.2 million people in Haiti with access to safe, clean water!
We believe that we can end the global water crisis in our lifetime, but it will take us all working together to do so. Prayerfully consider how you might come alongside us to be a part of the life-changing work of giving safe and Living Water.