I decided to sit down today and do the edits to our website that I had been putting off. Some of them were just text and photo edits that needed to be refreshed, but others were due to all of the changes we’ve had at Clean Water for Haiti in recent months.
When I came to the blog page on the site and saw Chris’ last post, dated the first week of October, I couldn’t help but think that we had no idea that we’d be making the decisions we did just over 10 days later. The decision to move our family out of Haiti. The initial belief that we’d have to shut everything down and walk away, then the decisions that needed to be made as we realized we didn’t have to go that route and could pivot. All of the decisions that needed to be made as we wrapped up 20 years of living and life, figuring out what would stay and what would go. Decisions about how to restructure and what would stay and go within our programs. So many decisions.
I wish that I could share that Haiti is in a better place than when we left in November, but I’m sadly not able to do that. What I CAN share is that Alexandre has done an AMAZING job as our new Director in Haiti. He stepped into big shoes, and in really challenging times. He was able to finish off the year even stronger than we had expected by enabling our team to install another 150 or so filters, brining our total for 2022 to 4149 filters! Coming into the new year our staff had a slow start because of the lack of fuel, but after they were able to a good supply, Alexandre got them working on catching up on follow up visits and getting back to filter deliveries. They’ve only been back to work for 7 weeks, but they’re already a quarter of the way to our goal we had set for 2023.
So, some things stay the same. Our team is still doing the work of getting filters to families who need and want them, and we’re really proud of that. Daily the challenges in Haiti are increasing, and they’re still plugging away figuring out how to make it all work. In many ways things also look SO different.
Today as I was doing those website updates I adjusted my job title and contact info along with Alexandre’s. My day to day work is still in many ways the same as it was in Haiti, but I’m doing it in a different place. What isn’t the same, and what hit me hard today, is that for the past 17 years I’ve done all of it side by side with Chris, and I’ve done it in the midst of our staff coming and going all day long. Part of the edits I had to do today involved updating our staff page, and our contact page, taking Chris off both. My heart broke a bit, and I can feel the grief deeply, knowing that chapter of our lives is over and we’ve moved into new territory.
It’s exciting to see that everything we’ve built is continuing on. The foundation we built is strong. It’s helped us weather these adjustments and so far we’ve come out on the other side and are still doing what we’re called to do. I’m really proud of what we did, and what is continuing to be done. So many have had to leave Haiti and we’ve seen so many organizations cease operations in the wake of all that’s happening. We’re hoping and praying that won’t be the case for CWH down the road and are happy that so far Alexandre seems to be holding strong.
If you think of us, throw up some good thoughts or prayers for all of us – Alexandre and our team in Haiti, Chris and I and our family in the US, and our Board team scattered in Canada and the US. We’re all feeling a lot of things, a mash up of hope and grief, gratitude and sadness. Our hearts hurt deeply for Haiti as a nation and the suffering that is happening there, but we are also so incredibly grateful that Clean Water for Haiti is still able to be a support and presence there, helping provide much needed resources in devastating times.
If you’d like to encourage Alexandre and our team in Haiti, and ensure they have the resources they need to keep getting filters out to families, you can donate by going to our Donate page and choosing the option for your country, or just click this link: www.cleanwaterforhaiti.org/donate.
~Leslie
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