Good news! The fundraising campaign ‘Drinking Water for Haiti’ – a volunteer grassroots donation appeal devised to provide the Haitian population with personal water purification devices: LifeStraw® – was closed successfully.

We would like to make a heart-felt thanks to everyone who contributed to this project and whose support and generosity will change the lives of the earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Going beyond our expectations a total of $4,922.44 USD was pledged, which means safe drinking water for 720 families. The LifeStraw® filters will be shipped to the Santo Domingo airport in the Dominican Republic where they will be trucked to Belladere, Haiti and be distributed by missionaries of the International Baptist Church (Iglesia Bautista Internacional).

Belladere, Haiti. Image courtesy of Iglesia Bautista Internacional

Initially, the Life Straw water filters were destined for Port-au-Prince but given the reconstruction process underway, people have started to move elsewhere in search of shelter, food and water – especially to cities situated close to the border of the Dominican Republic. Aid workers and missionaries currently operating in Haiti have confirmed that Belladere, a small town positioned on the Central-East border of Haiti (see maps and infographics by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Population Movements out of Port-au-Prince and Internal Displacement and Population Figures) and less devastated by the earthquake, has become a key destination for those on the move (mostly families of 6/8 members) and is therefore in extreme need for clean drinking water to meet increasing demand.

The shipment is due to arrive on March 26 2010 but this date could be subject to change as the airport of Santo Domingo is experiencing flight re-schedules in view of the increased traffic of aid relief and civilians since the earthquake on January 12 2010.

We will be keeping you updated on this project via the cluster website and the project’s site www.drinkingwaterforhaiti.wordpress.com bringing news and stories from volunteers on site who will be handling the distribution of the filters.

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