Capois La Mort High School, Haiti

Water access was a source of hardship for the 350 students attending Capois La Mort High School. The school had a borehole on campus, but the hand pump had fallen into disrepair over the years, and the water in the well was inaccessible. The students had to leave the campus in search of water, putting themselves in danger. Moreover, there was no way to determine if any alternate water source was safe for consumption. Sometimes it wasn’t, and the students suffered from water-related diseases.

This scarcity also meant that water rationing was a common practice at the school. The teachers tried to save what little water they had for the students to drink and to prepare the students’ lunches, so basic hygiene measures were often abandoned. This resulted in illnesses spreading throughout the student body. When they were sick, the students missed even more time in the classroom, making them more likely to drop out altogether. The water crisis was putting the students’ educations and futures in jeopardy.

Joseph Lukcé is a teacher at Capois La Mort High School. He was disappointed in and sad about the school’s inability to provide water for the students. He knew the lack of safe water—and the resultant diseases—made it difficult to provide an effective learning environment for the thirsty children, especially when they spent so much time looking for water elsewhere.

Joseph said, “The situation was bad. The students had to leave to look for water. It was really dangerous because of motorcycles in the streets. They needed money to buy water. Sometimes they do not have money, and then they suffered a lot from thirst.”

When school leaders heard about our team’s work in their region, they knew they had found the answer to their water crisis. Our representatives responded to the school’s great need by coming to rehabilitate the existing well!

The team helped the Capois La Mort High School community establish sustainability practices to help ensure a future of safe water access. They guided the school in the selection of a well caretaker. The caretaker will oversee the care and maintenance of the well and collect a small fee from each students’ family to cover the cost of future repairs. Our representatives will stay in contact with the water caretaker to support sustainability efforts and monitor the well’s functionality.

In order to help the students of Capois La Mort High School understand how to use the safe water you gave them as a means of improving their health, a hygiene and sanitation promotion activity was held. These interactive sessions included lessons on effective handwashing and the prevention of germ spread. The students are excited about using the safe water you provided!

Joseph knows that having abundant safe water will transform daily life for his students: “The situation will be better. It will be less dangerous for the students because they will not have to leave to look for water.”

He and his fellow teachers know that safe water changes everything. They can now provide an effective educational environment, their students able to concentrate on their studies. The entire community will benefit from having a nearby safe water source, and the students and staff take pride in their ability to implement community driven solutions to prevent their well from falling into disrepair.

COMMUNITY DETAILS
Exact Coordinates:	Latitude: 19.5363837| Longitude: -71.7324584
Previous Water:	Borehole
Source/Location:	School
Total Users:	350
Main Water Collectors:	Students
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
Pump Type:	Hand pump
Depth of Well:	18 m
Coliform Bacteria:	Absent