Water Women Eradicate Cholera:
We Have the Evidence
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12/2/2022
Hello,
You’re receiving this email as one of a subset of our friends and collaborators who have a particular interest in our mission in Haiti, as either a funder, partner or colleague...or at least I hope you do. You will see a short version of what I have to share today in our upcoming Sunday E-News, but I feel that you may be interested in more details, particularly when it comes to the remarkable evidence of success that we are seeing with our efforts to eradicate cholera.
I’m taking the risk, as it were, of sending you an extra email because what we have to say is contrary to conventional wisdom, yet it’s extremely important... and it’s heavy. This is not a fundraising email. It’s a plea to help us get the word about the lifesaving success of our work in Haiti.
I was hesitating to take this step, and then day before yesterday, our Haitian team sent us a photo of a young girl who had just died in front of them in a cholera tent clinic, about 12 years old, her mother bending over her. The cholera tent is in an area central to where our team is currently working: Plaissance-du-Sud. Our team members are sick at heart because with just a little more resources, they would have already reached this child’s village. They would have already trained and equipped Water Women for that community, and this little girl would not have died. Further below in this letter, I’m going to present you with evidence of that claim.
I share our team’s heartache. I’m constantly trying to convince colleagues and potential funders that this “human solution”, Water Women, is the most effective, cost-efficient, sustainable, way to get this terrible disease out of Haiti, and quickly. Some do listen and respond, which is why we have reached most of this area: thank you if you’re among the helpers. Unfortunately, even tragically for those in the path of cholera, many of our colleagues in the field of water work dismiss and even push back against our work.
My team knows, and I know, that just another two weeks of timely program work would have saved that child’s life. Unfortunately, we had to pause our work to raise more financial support. With timely funding, we would have saved all the other patients in that tent as well, from the ravages of a terrible disease that brings terrible suffering even if its victims survive.
So you: maybe, likely, you share our heartache. Maybe you’re a helper who can help us find more helpers, the kind who feel compassion and respect for the people of Haiti. Maybe you’re a colleague who would reconsider conventional wisdom. Maybe you could encourage someone with power to reconsider that with you.
Here’s the message we need to get out there. We can stop cholera where it’s broken out, set up a long-term sustainable defense, and we can ensure that cholera doesn’t return. We have evidence: a data-supported correlation between cholera-free populations and our Water Woman program.
As of today, based on Haitian Health Department statistical reports, (Documentation – Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population) there are likely 4750 or so cases of cholera that have emerged since September 26. (12,541 suspected cases, 2866 tested, 1110 --38%-- of those tested positive.) Of those 1110 confirmed positive, at the time of this writing, only 3 are located wherever we’ve been working since 2017. We can quickly show you that with the following maps.
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This first map, with red areas denoting the presence of at least 1 confirmed case per commune, is from the 11/27/2022 cholera report by the Haitian Department of Health. |
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This second map illustrates the spread of our program: the blue dots represent over 81,000 Water Women across Haiti. This map is lifted from our GIS (Geographic Information System) data; each dot a Water Woman registration with her Sawyer PointONE filter. Take a look, and note the larger clusters: those are where we have been working since November 2017 to saturate entire communes (akin to US counties). |
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Now for the 3rd map: the first two combined. You can see what we see. Blue dots, a.k.a Water Women, form a bulkhead of defense against cholera. First, take a look at the Nippes department in the south, the largest blue dot area: 0 cases confirmed. Zero. Plaissance-du-Sud, where the little girl died in front of our team members, is at the very far western corner, among the last small areas of Nippes where we are still working. To the west of Nippes, beyond our major projects,10 confirmed cases in the Grand-Anse department. To the east, 17 in Petit-Goave. Who knows how many more among the 91% who are suspected cases yet remain untested? How many more die before they can get to a cholera tent?
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Look at Saint-Michel-de-l’Attalaye in the north, (0 cases and thousands of Water Women), with 9 next door in Marchand-Dessalines, where we have never worked. Look at St. Jean-du-Sud at the very southern tip, look at the island of La Gonaive, with only 1 confirmed case in Anse-a-Galets -- the only town where we didn’t work, to avoid interfering with the local sellers of purified water. Look at Cornillon; where cholera claimed multiple lives in 2018-2019 -- until our team arrived to raise up Water Women. Cornillon: 0 cases confirmed, 43 next door in Croix-des-Bouquets. You, dear reader, may be one of those who helped us pull together the needed resources for these places and more, so please, share our gratitude and pride. We cannot do this work without you.
The evidence of the 3rd map tells us that our Water Women are true to their heroic commitment. Regardless of religious affiliation, they made a promise to filter for their neighbors. They answered a call to serve as heroes of a new revolution against cholera and all other waterborne diseases. Months and years after they were equipped and trained, they are sharing filtered water. Even in Verrettes, where Water Women were commissioned 5 years ago, there is only 1 confirmed case of cholera.
We do have quite a bit of follow-up survey data, and it confirms the power of the Water Woman. If you’re interested, I’ll be happy to show you the stunning, long-term results.
Conventional wisdom says that what we claim is impossible. Conventional wisdom says that other methods must be included: chlorination, hygiene, sanitation, water infrastructure. Absolutely, I want to see those things in Haiti, but to a large degree, these are either long-range projects that can’t keep up against the rapid spread of this disease, or short-range (chlorine tablets, soap) programs that disappear when the disease goes underground for a while. We at Water With Blessings have learned that we can move quickly and effectively against cholera with one simple solution alone: a Water Woman equipped with a Sawyer PointONE filter.
This has been a lot of details, and if you’re still with me, it’s because you have a heart for Haiti. I hope you can understand; I’m not writing this to boast or to put down any other program. I’m just saying please, for the sake of Haitian children who are undefended against this terrible disease, please help us find more listeners, more partners, more colleagues who will be willing to join us. More of us believing in Water Women, will mean more mothers saving more Haitian children and their families from the heartbreak of cholera.
Blessings and gratitude...
Sister Larraine Lauter
Sister Larraine Lauter OSU
Executive Lead, Water With Blessings
(o) 502.749.5492 (c) 502 356-9281
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Water With Blessings, 1902 Campus Place, Ste. 11, Louisville KY 40299 |
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