Things are Getting REALLY difficult

This is my third attempt in three weeks at writing a blog post. The first two tries needed to be recycled because they veered into politics. Politics are inappropriate for Clean Water for Haiti’s blog, and it would be unwise to discuss politics in a country with a recent presidential assassination.

Haiti has a cement plant located about 25 miles from here. All of our cement normally comes from there. It’s nice that one of our main inputs is locally produced. However, there has been a supply interruption caused by the extreme criminal activity Haiti has been experiencing. Today I was surprised to find that the latest load of cement we bought came originally from Turkey! So now we can’t get cement from 25 miles away but we can, fortunately, get it from halfway around the world. It’s more expensive, but not as bad as you would think.

This morning I was surprised to find our workers mixing concrete on the ground with shovels instead of using our big, electric mortar mixer. Mixing cement by hand is exhausting work, especially since we have been pouring 35+ molds each day. The issue is that since we are no longer able to purchase the correct size of gravel from the aggregate plant, we have been buying gravel from guys on the side of the road who take limestone rocks and break them up by hand with a hammer. The gravel is all different sizes and shapes, and it blocks up the mortar mixer and keeps it from turning properly. Until we can get properly sized gravel again, we’ll be mixing concrete by hand.

We have managed to work through all of our supply issues so far, but the problem we can’t overcome may end up being fuel. Stations haven’t sold fuel in over a month now, and it was intermittent before that. We have been out of gasoline for some time, but we have enough diesel to keep deliveries going for perhaps another two weeks. Black market diesel is available at just under $20/gallon, but I really don’t want so much money going to the criminal network that is supplying fuel now.

I really want to keep Clean Water for Haiti running. We have 25 workers with salaries that go to feed their families and pay for their kids’ school. More importantly, though, the continuing crisis means that potable water is no longer available for purchase. Demand for filters is HUGE right now, since now more than ever, there are few safe water options available. The news this morning is that cholera cases have started being detected again. Time will tell if cholera will remain limited or rage out of control.

What can be done about Haiti’s continuing crisis? Nothing short of another international intervention will work, but in today’s world the will does not exist to step in and help. People keep saying that things cannot possibly get any worse, but I fear they are mistaken.