Kampech

Population: 7,020 people	Partner: Partners in Health
GPS: 19.111833, -72.0581	Cost: $90,615
Intervention: Spring Protection. 50 latrines, 40 BioSand filters, 1 laundry station, and 1 animal trough.

e arrived in Kampech to find a hundred people waiting for us. The adults sat patiently on a grassy slope, watching as their children gathered water trickling from the roots of a large, weathered tree. This spring was located in a small valley off the main road. Community members took turns sharing their stories and struggles with us. Sickness and disease from the drinking water was a serious burden here, and many children got diarrhea and missed school. It was here that we met Louis Charles Mackenzie. The thin yet sturdy eight-year-old was gathering contaminated water shared by animals and people in a community of now 7,000 people. Today, Louis lives in Kanpech. Last week, he lived in Port-au-Prince.

He spoke in a monotone whisper, describing being at home when the quake hit. “I ran outside and was fine,” he says. “But my dad was out. And he didn't come back. I cried and cried and cried when my mom told me he died. Now I am living here with my mom's friends.”

“Actually, I am not a friend,” interjects a short, plump woman in her sixties. “I am Louis' mother's mother's cousin. My daughter went to Port-au-Prince to get him after the quake.” Louis' mother had stayed behind in Port-au-Prince to earn some money for the family, selling cookies in the street.

We ask Louis what the difference is between drinking water in Port-au-Prince and drinking water from the open source here. Again, the woman interrupts.

“Oh he is just helping me collect water, he doesn't drink this. Everyone in the village drinks this water, but because Louis is from the city and had piped water in his house, we know he can't tolerate this. I don't have any money, but my daughter's husband has bought him some bottled water.”

Trekking the steep hillside, we walk back with Louis to his new home. We learn that he is nervous to go to a new school on Monday but excited to be with his friend named Peter. Louis' favorite subject is Haitian history. He's obsessed with cars.

We tell Louis' new guardian that she must be a really caring person to take in a young boy she had never met. She merely shrugs and smiles. “I am just living through the Gospel. This boy needed to be cared for.”

charity: water plans to fund a new spring protection, complete with 50 latrines, 40 BioSand filters, 1 laundry station, and 1 animal trough. Kampech will also receive sanitation and hygiene education.

- story by: charity: water Programs Director, Becky Straw
- photos by: Esther Havens