Back to School in Haiti with Clean Water and School Supplies
Dear Friends,
I wanted to share a quick update on the current situation in Haiti and the ongoing efforts of our local GT Haiti team.
Approximately 400 out of the planned 2,500 Kenyan International police officers have been deployed to Haiti so far. Due to their limited numbers and lack of air transport, they have mainly stayed in the Port-au-Prince area, particularly around the airport and port. Unfortunately, the recent massacre of 70 people north of the capital underscores that the gang violence continues to escalate as the international police force deploys at a slow pace.
Currently, around 700,000 people are displaced, taking shelter in public and abandoned buildings—many of which are schools. This is especially concerning as the school year began at the start of October.
Despite these challenging circumstances, our local GT Water Project team in Haiti successfully delivered 36 cases of school supplies. This included backpacks, notebooks, paper, colored pencils, and pens, along with rice, beans, and canned meat, to every 2nd and 3rd-grade student at a fully functioning elementary school in Les Cayes.
The crisis has impacted GT Water Haiti in many ways. As you can imagine, the shortage of food and fuel continues to drive up costs. This has affected our operations, with rising prices for services and goods. Shipping is also becoming prohibitively expensive—our last shipment cost nearly as much in shipping fees as the supplies themselves.
Nevertheless, we remain hopeful that the continued deployment of the international police force and the upcoming elections will help restore safety and stability in Haiti. In the meantime, our team is operating at full capacity, delivering essential services that make a tangible difference in the lives of children, women, and families. Clean water, food, and school supplies help ensure children stay healthy and can continue their education.
Your continued support is crucial to our work. We are pleased to announce that we have added Zelle as a payment option for donations.
Thank you for standing with us and making a difference one child at a time.
Warm regards,
Carl
GT Water Project Inc.
P.S. – As an exclusive update for our mailing list, we’re excited to share that GT Water Project is nearing a major milestone—serving 1 million individuals with clean water since we began in 2016, through our locally employed teams in Haiti and Honduras. In addition to clean water, we’ve also provided tarps, food, medical supplies, and school supplies to many. Stay tuned for updates on our March to One Million, and thank you for helping us make a real difference in the lives of almost one million people!
September 2024: GT Water Honduras Visit - Transforming Lives with Clean Water
Flying into Tegucigalpa, Honduras, you're greeted by a sea of green breaking through the cloud cover. Below lies a sprawling co-capital city, surrounded by loosely organized slums that stretch into the hills. The higher you go, the more impoverished the people become.
Groups of 30-50 people organize and elect a leader. They then move to the edge of public land bordering the last squatter settlement, measure out plots, and start building makeshift shelters from tin and tarp. Over the years, these structures evolve with rebar, cinder blocks, concrete, and even steel, gradually becoming more permanent.
In the beginning, these new homes lack basic utilities. Private water tanker trucks arrive first, charging $2 for 5 gallons of water of uncertain origin—a significant expense in a community where many earn $150 a month or less. Residents often resort to collecting rainwater or hiking miles to gather water rather than pay for it. After about three years, electricity reaches the homes. Ten to fifteen years later, local officials may survey the plots and issue land titles, allowing for the connection of running water and paved streets. While municipal water is generally free from major pathogens, many report skin rashes from drinking the untreated tap water.
This cycle of squatting continues up the steep dirt roads of the city hills, and this is where GT Water Honduras does some of its most impactful work.
On our first day in the field, we hosted an instruction and distribution event at a local church, far up the steep dirt roads. We typically distribute 10-30 water filter systems to the many women who attend, often with their children in tow. The children are excited and joyful to see visitors, while the women are focused on securing the welfare of their families.
These women understand that with a GT Water filter system, they can protect their families from chronic diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, parasites, and other waterborne diseases. They know they can save time by not having to collect water from remote locations and save money that can go towards food, healthcare, and education by no longer relying on expensive water tanker trucks. Additionally, each family at the event received a bag of beans, a bag of rice, and a Smile kit (dental hygiene supplies).
The recipients left this event in good spirits, full of gratitude, and proud that they are taking steps to improve their families' welfare. Our local team received warm handshakes and hugs, with promises to return in the coming months to ensure the systems are functioning properly and being regularly used.
On the second day of our visit, we conducted a follow-up mission in a different location—a lower, older slum. Some of the recipients we visited have had their systems for as long as three years. They expressed their gratitude for the clean water that keeps their families healthy and saves them money.
With regular cleaning, the filter systems can last up to 25 years. Our local team always asks how often the recipients clean their filters, which is a simple process of reversing water through the filter with a provided syringe. Some clean the filter daily (a bit excessive), most every 7-14 days (the recommended schedule), and one household mentioned cleaning every 3-4 weeks. The GT Water Honduras team reviewed the laminated instruction card attached to the bucket with the client and suggested more frequent cleanings.
While field visits are the highlight of the trip, we also spent valuable time with our local team discussing current operations and future plans. We inspected the warehouse and workshop and were pleased to see the most recent shipments of materials filling the warehouse to the rafters, knowing that these systems will soon be deployed to new families in need.
In the end, this endeavor is about people—whether our many clients or our local team and suppliers, we are making a difference in their lives and the lives of their families. They are growing up healthier, living safer, and their children are receiving an education—all because of regular access to clean water (~$1.89 per person for a lifetime of water).
They are living better lives because of you, our supporters, and our local team members.
The outstanding memories from this recent trip are the smiles and laughter of the children. Watching them at the event, I couldn’t help but think that they now have a better chance in life because of clean water. Hopefully, they will break the cycle of poverty and make it out of the slums. While we can’t guarantee this will happen, we know that access to clean water has greatly improved their odds.
GT Water Project is a small, lean non-profit that has provided clean water to over 935,000 people in Honduras and Haiti since 2016. We work through fairly paid local teams and have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the local community by paying salaries, procuring services, and buying supplies. While we are constantly striving to do more and serve more, we are content knowing that for the clients we have served, the clean water filter system has made a significant and tangible difference in their lives.
Highlights: On the Ground
This week GT Water helped a school with a new tarp roof.
GT Water distribution of Coloring books, pencils and water filters at the Primary School of Prophecy in the locality of Thaïvan.
Haitian Families Impacted by Earthquake
The Haitian GT Water Ground Team continues to move mountains. . . and tarps, water filtration systems, and other critical supplies. Efforts continue to deliver relief to the hardest hit areas in Southern Haiti. The picture below is from La Borde (population 12,000.)
Good news — Our supplies are flowing right now. About 2,000 tarps were recently delivered and distributed. Next up, another 2,000 clean water filtration systems are inbound.
Thank you for all your support. Please share this effort with your friends and family. Dollars donated translate into relief on the ground for earthquake victim families.
Haitian Families Impacted by Earthquake
This week we have delivered materials to hundreds of families in some of the hardest hit and least supported areas outside Les Cayes. The local GT Hattian Team has trained recipients of the clean water filter systems on how to use them properly to provide safe water to their families and neighbors.
Now the next phase of our relief operation starts as the Les Cayes airport is severely bottlenecked. We are in the process of delivering over 250 cases of materials through the main Port of Prince Airport. The good news is we can land bigger planes there. The bad news is we need to transport the materials by truck about 100 miles over damaged and unsecured roads. Towards that end, we have contracted with a transportation company and a security firm to ensure the safe passage of our Team Members and materials.
Tens of thousands of homeless families are still in need of clean water, tarps, and basic sanitary supplies. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Please spread the word. Tell your friends, family, and colleagues. Thank you.
Founder's Notes - January
January 18, 2018
Dear Friends,
I just returned from Les Cayes last week. Delightful warm sunny days in the tropical climate. We had a health clinic where we saw roughly 92 families and distributed 120 smile kits. Smile kits contain the Haitian luxury items of toothbrushes and toothpaste. We give one to each family that participates in the health clinic and several for church members who provided us space for the clinic. The ongoing major health themes remain consistent—malnutrition, stomach issues (worms, digestive tract infections, etc.), cooking burns and respiratory infections. Our health team, a local doctor and four nurses, treat most of the identifiable short-term illnesses and refer more serious cases to the local hospital.
A thank you for the Quad District Professional Development Day on January 15th at Northern Highlands Regional High School n Allendale. The on-site professional collected for a packed over 700 smile kits. Also laminated over 300 Creole Water Filter instruction boletes during their day of Service…. Many Thanks for all your efforts.
The local GT Water team continues to distribute 50 to 100 water filters per week. During my trip, we spent an afternoon distributing filters and educating recipients on how to use them. There is an overwhelming positive feeling of gratitude from the filter recipients. Realizing that you have just changed over 50 families lives forever by giving them the ability to have clean water brings a true sense of giving back and making a difference.
We will post the upcoming water filter distribution location schedule on our blog www.gtwater.org during the next week. Our next trip is scheduled for February 26th, please let us know if you would like to come?
Thank you for your continued support of this life-changing project.
Carl
Founder's Notes - December 2017
Dear Friends of GT Water,
First and foremost, THANK YOU for your continued support of GT Water. As we approach our first formal year together, we have had many successes and overcome numerous challenges. After returning from Haiti this evening, I continue to maintain an optimistic view of the positive outcomes that the team is creating. During this trip we met with a few potential “institutional” funding sources in Port au Prince (PAP). Based on their feedback, there is an interest for future investment in our program.
We will continue our efforts forging ahead with next year’s plans. This is our 2018 Q – 1 Haitian Visit Schedule:
· January 16 – 20, 2018
· February 26 – March 1, 2018
· March 12 – 15, 2018
We will have a health clinic the second day of each trip. After determining the area of need, our local health clinic consists of several nurses with a local physician taking vitals, diagnosing why the clients come to the clinic, and then everyone sees the doctor. We purchase the medication locally. Most cases we treat are for malnutrition, numerous stomach issues (lack of clean water) and cooking burns. We attempt to recognize any life-threatening health issues then recommend additional medical follow up. At each clinic costing ~$1200, we serve several hundred people. At the end of the health clinic we also provide “Smile Kits” that have toothpaste and toothbrushes for each participant. Both are local luxury items. For the balance of each trip we will have our weekly distributions of water filters.
If you are interested in helping or observing, please let me know. We can/will arrange ground transportation for you from the PAP airport to the Les Cayes area.
Also during early 2018, we are planning to conduct a local needs survey in some potential new locations. Honduras and PR are at the top of list. We plan to visit several local sites and interview some promising new team members. If you have any other Northern Hemisphere locations that we should explore, please drop me an email or give us a call.
We are wishing you and your family a meaningful holiday season. It is never too late to support GT Water either through our website www.gtwater.org or GT Water Inc, PO Box 626, Ramsey, NJ 07466.
Thank you for your ongoing support. With your help, we are making a measurable difference in thousands of peoples’ lives!
All the best,
Carl D Glaeser
Founder
Did you know?
Our work doesn’t end with clean water. We pride ourselves on being a part of the community and bringing access to medical clinics and medicine to those in need.
GT Water Vlogs
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