Evergreen Rotary

Berggren News from Haiti

Below is a note from Gretchen Berggren, emailing from Haiti.  As you may recall, we are trying to get a water project going there.  These Evergreen Rotary Ladies are incredible! — Dick Mund, President, Rotary Club of Evergreen

Here is a preliminary report from my visit with ROTARY-Jeremie, Haiti.

I safely arrived back in Port au Prince after a productive visit to Jeremie and their Rotary Club. I was warmly received and they insisted on paying my airfare from Port au Prince to Jeremie and back. Together we went to Gommier and met the young men and agricultural technician who would compose the village council for the water project. All the while women were walking past carrying heavy loads of water from the river. It takes a good part of their day! They have a bit of a dilemma here because there are three possibilities for the water project they need help with.

I went to the site and took pictures that will illustrate that they could pump river water directly to the village (cheapest way but not potable water). A Rotary “Haitian coalition” in Vancouver is pushing this; they would like us to partner with them to do this in Gommier in addition to the other villages they have chosen. However this involves a pump and ongoing need for fuel. The most expensive way but with least moving parts is to go into the hills above Gommier and capture a spring; this would be a gravity flow system but is several kilometers away; the PVC pipe will be expensive; the water quality will be excellent. There is also the possibility of digging a well: somewhere between 100 and 235 ft. All three methods will require building a cement reservoir above the village and constructing standpipes along the roads to so people have access to water.

On the way back we saw a new “solar cooker” designed by a Haitian engineer who decided to leave Germany and come home to Haiti. His model boils water in 3 to 6 minutes, and/or cooks vegetables.! It was hard for me to resist the temptation of plunging into the sea from the gorgeous pebble beach as we came back to Jeremie! I hope to have a presentation as I arrive at home. the Rotarians there will send us more details and a reworked budget.

Gretchen Berggren