Got my shots for the trip - OUCH! And not only because it feels like I've been punched really hard in each shoulder and can barely lift my arms, but also because they cost almost $300!

On a more serious note, the CDC recommends that travelers to Haiti get vaccinated for Hepatitis A and Typhoid - both are diseases that can be transmitted by ingestion of contaminated food and water. And clean water in Haiti can be hard to come by.

According to the CDC, even before the January 2010 earthquake devastated much of Port-au-Prince, many Haitians lived without access to basic water and sanitation services. According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program, only 71% of Haitians living in urban settings had access to an improved drinking water source—household connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected dug well, protected spring, or rainwater collection. Access for rural Haitians was even lower –only 55%. 

In addition, Haitians had limited access to resources that could turn any of these water sources into safe drinking water. Haitians' access to improved sanitation—connection to a public sewer or septic system, pour-flush latrine, simple pit latrine or ventilated improved pit latrine—was even more limited. Only 24% of urban Haitians had access to improved sanitation. Of Haitians living in rural Haiti (53% of the total population), only 51% had any type of sanitation coverage; an estimated 49% of rural Haitians rely on open defecation.

Around the world, thousands of children die every day of water-related diseases. Your gift to support my mission trip to Haiti can help save children from parasites, worms, dysentery, cholera and other life threatening diseases that they can get from contaminated water. Help us to provide life saving education on how to clean water and water purification techniques that can be used everywhere.


Thanks,
Ealena