SIMÉUS FOUNDATION BRINGS CLEAN WATER SYSTEMS,
EW HOPE TO IMPOVERISHED HAITIAN VILLAGE
Clean water saves lives in Haiti

Pont-Sondé, Haiti – The Siméus Foundation and Gift of Water have joined hands to provide clean drinking water to the 30,000 residents of Pont-Sondé, Haiti. Haiti is one of the most water-deprived countries in the world, where thousands of people die each year of water-borne illnesses.

“We are privileged living in the United States to have clean, safe drinking water at the turn of a tap. But hundreds of thousands of people just off our shores lack this vital necessity. They suffer and die unnecessarily from water-borne illness and disease. In fact, contaminated drinking water represents eighty percent of all disease in Haiti,” said Dumarsais Siméus, Founder of The Siméus Foundation, who was born in Pont-Sondé.

“Children are perhaps the most at-risk. Every eight seconds, a child dies of a waterborne disease and upwards of sixteen percent die before they reach their first birthday. One-third of all Haitian children die before they reach the age of five. This is an urgent and heart-wrenching situation. These are preventable, unnecessary deaths and I vow to help alleviate that suffering in any way I can,” continued Siméus.

“Quite simply, clean drinking water will save thousands and thousands of lives,” Siméus added.

In this donation, which arrived April 2005, The Siméus Foundation and Gift of Water

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provided 150 home water purification systems and began an intensive local water project training course to ensure its long-term effectiveness. An additional 1900 purifiers will be distributed over the next 4 years. Providing the home water filtration systems is phase one of The Siméus Foundation’s plans for the Pont Sondé Clean Water Project. The second phase of the project encompasses drilling wells for the community so that every person has easy access to a water source.

“There are two major reasons why Gift of Water has had long term success,” said Phil Warwick, Gift of Water. “First, the home water purification systems are easy to use. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, we involve the community in leading, planning and executing the entire clean water project.”

Engaging the community takes on many roles. A five member Water Hygiene Committee is elected by the people in the community to oversee the project, and local residents are hired as health care workers to train the community on how to use the home water purification systems and audit their effectiveness. For this project in Pont-Sondé, twenty health care workers will be hired and trained.

“This grassroots approach to community involvement helps ensure that the clean water systems are used correctly to maximize the health benefits,” said Lamothe Lormier of Gift of Water, who provides counsel and technical expertise to the Pont- Sondé community. “The local residents of the community feel ownership and pride in what they have accomplished. They also quickly see how clean water drastically improves the quality of life for their family, friends and neighbors.”

“We are privileged to be working with Gift of Water, an organization that has successfully provided water filtration systems to thousands of families in Haiti and Jamaica for the past 15 years,” Siméus said. “I am immensely grateful to them for helping me fulfill my personal mission to bring immediate assistance and improved health to the families of Pont-Sondé and beyond.

The Siméus Foundation also operates a medical clinic in Pont Sondé that treats upwards of 400 patients a month. To find out more about this 501c3 organization, visit The Siméus Foundation at www.simeusfoundation.org.