World Relief Update
General
- John O’Kelley, World Relief’s incoming Haiti country director, Stephan Bauman and Paul Rebman will travel to Haiti this week. Pray for their travels and the transition for the staff and the O’Kelley family.
- World Relief staff moved into a new office last week. The grounds include office space, a house for the country director, and guest house. Praise the Lord for his provision. Continue to pray as they are working on getting the living spaces ready to be occupied.
Water
- 23 water truck delivers last week provided 21,000 families with water in Cite Soleil, Delmas and Mais Gate. Each family unit receives five gallons of water.
- To date, we have distributed an estimated 316,800 gallons of water. We plan to continue to distribute water until permanent water sources are available.
Wells
- Six well sites have been identified, including churches, orphanages and schools. These wells will provide ongoing potable water to the community. We are helping to facilitate the formation of community water committees to manage wells on a long-term basis and create ownership.
- Four wells have been drilled to date. Two wells are already fully-functional with hand pumps, allowing churches and hospitals to meet tangible needs of patients, congregants, vulnerable children and others in their community.
- Hand pumps yield about 175 gallons per hour and submersible pumps give approximately 10 gallons per minute or 600 gallons per hour.
Hygiene Kits
- World Relief plans to distribute thousands of hygiene kits to people in five camps in the coming weeks.
- Already, 1,700 have been purchased and are being packaged in Atlanta to be shipped to Haiti this week. Included in the kits are: soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, detergent, towels, clotheslines, and safety pins.
Food
- After distributing food in Mais Gate, Delmas and Carrefour to approximately 10,000 individuals per day for the initial weeks after the disaster, we linked our church and community partners into 16 fixed distribution sites run by other international organizations around the capital.
- This week, we have purchased 500 bags of rice for distribution to the most vulnerable in communities that are under-served. This is expected to feed 2,500 people for twelve days.
Shelter
- We distributed 8,000 tarps to ensure protection for 2,000 families primarily in Cite Soleil. We are working in partnership with 66 pastors to register neediest in their communities. Thousands people are currently living on the streets with inadequate shelter. Each family receives 2 high quality overhead tarps and two ground tarps.
- To date, we have provided approximately 15,000 individuals with temporary shelter.
Agriculture: Partnership with Plant with a Purpose
- World Relief is forging a partnership with Plant with a Purpose, a local NGO working in agriculture, to assist in the upcoming planting season in Leogane. We will provide thousands of farmers with high quality seed to replenish supplies diminished by food insecurity. New seeds will ensure they are able to plant during the current planting season and harvest what they need long-term.
- Jobs will also be provided for a reforestation program—with plans to plant 350,000 trees in an area largely stripped of vegetation.
- This partnership aims to both provide short term jobs as well as promote sustainable agriculture and development in Leogane.
Haiti Jobs
Communications Officer
We are still hiring for a 3 to 6 month post for Communications Officer in Haiti. The position is posted on www.worldrelief.org/jobs.
