The Gift of Water meets Marbial

This a wonderful correspondence to Mike Mercurio from Pete Murphy of Gift of Water. If you have a heart and soul then this is a must read...

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From: Pete Murphy
To: Mike Mercurio
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 1:19 PM

Subject: Re: Gift of Water in Marbial Haiti

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the note and thank you for the continued support. I will get you the update cost in the next day or so. I wanted to share with you a passage from our Country Liaison Lamothe Lormier's recent trip report. It has to do with his recent visit to Marbial. I found it enlightening and it really gives you a good flavor of how tough things are at the minute.

Please feel free to share this with the rest of your team if you feel it is warranted.
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Text from Lamothe Lormier, Gift of Water Country Liaison trip report to Marbial December 2, 2010:

"After taking two units for demonstration purposes, we left Port-au-Prince at 12: 30 p.m. and we made it to Marbial at 6:00 pm. To our great surprise, we already knew the pastor of Marbial, Fr Bertrand. We met him many years ago while he was a seminarian in Thiotte (Sacred Heart Parish twinned with a sister parish in Baraboo Wisconsin) which is in the same diocese.

Fr Bertrand is very familiar with the GOW system since it is a close parish in Bodarie ( Bodarie is twinned with a sister parish in Illinois). We did a presentation for the workers at the rectory about how the system works and went to bed in order to be ready for the next meeting with the community.

On December 3rd at 9:00 am, around five hundred people were present at the church for the meeting on water that was broadcasted live on two local radio stations in the community.

Like we did in our presentation in Plaine Mapou we explained: the functioning of the two bucket system, the rapid growth of microorganisms in a country like Haiti, the formation of a water committee to oversee the program, the training of a Water Technician, the selection of the families, and finally we talked about the cholera that raised a big fear in the community of Marbial.

When we opened the microphone for the public to ask questions, we were amazed to see how smart some kids from the schools in the area were with their questions. The best moment of the discussion was when a mother confronted us with the following question. She asked “What kind of hygienic precautions should I take for my 15 month old ( and for many mothers like me in this room) baby with no cement floor, no diapers, no clean water and no latrines in the context of cholera?

With deep and profound emotion in his voice Fr Bertrand decided to share his thoughts in reaction to such a question. He could not hold his tears and said that the elite treated the people like trash. He continued to say, Jesus would have reacted the same way I am feeling today, you deserve a better life

Finally we took the microphone back because Fr Bertrand could not stop crying. As we understood Fr Bertrand’s frustrations, we told the people that this is unfortunately a systemic problem that will require a holistic approach.

We finally concluded our mission in Marbial with an interview on one of the local radio station about clean water, hygiene and cholera.

We left Marbial at 1:30 pm to get to Port-au-Prince at 6:00 pm because of busy traffic."

Let me know if you have any questions. I will be back in touch with costs shortly.

Pete Murphy

Best Dinner Value on the Planet - Lets Go!!

GOOD CAUSE ALERT!

Greetings!

I will wander off the beaten path at times on this blog especially for a good cause. This is one .

What if I were to tell you that on an otherwise blah day at the end of January you could go out for a fun, casual dinner and have a great meal at a very reasonable price?

At a price so low that you would invite your kids, grand kids, parents, brothers, sisters and their families and dare I say it? The INLAWS! Acckkkk! (at least moi)

Such a dinner exists!!


It is the 4th Degree Knights of Columbus Dinner on January 22nd


The Scoop!
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It is Saturday , Jan. 22nd 2011.

The menu is salad , bread , ziti, meatballs and dessert.

The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children under 8 .

There will be raffles, a kids auction and a silent auction.

Beer & Wine will be available at $3.

I can get tickets through Bob Lessard the Chair of our Community Outreach and Support Ministry. Please let me know if you are interested.

I'm sure if you would like to go Bob might even arrange for the Haiti Twinning Committe Members and their respective families to have our own table.
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I hope that you will consider attending. It is a great night. It is a lot of fun in a great atmosphere and it goes for a great cause the 4th Degree Knights. The 4th Degree Knights do a lot of work in our community, with veterans and veteran groups among others.


Bye for now,
Andy

More Water Systems for Marbial Proposed

Hi Everyone,

As indicated recently, I would like for us to consider increasing our order for purifier systems from 150 to 225.

Based on the attached Order Form this will cost $3,000/$3,500 which includes the cost of transporting all of the 225 systems from Port Au Prince.

We can cover this expense without using any of the Medical Mission Monies or the remainder of the large anonymous donation. There is $1,989.82 currently in the committee's general fund and there will be $1,138.00, or more, in the clean water fund as of this Friday, with contributions continuing to come in.

Domo is very excited to hear we are considering this increase as he knows this system works. Lastly, we are very fortunate that these systems are sitting in Port Au Prince.

Please let me know your thoughts as I would like to move on this before the end of the week.

Thank you.
Best regards,
Mike

Time to Re-ENERGIZE!

Greetings!

I spoke to Chair Mike Mercurio earlier this week.

The topic of discussion was what we should do to keep the momentum moving forward that we've worked so hard to create in the last three years---in light of our having to cancel the 2011 Medical Mission.

We came up with a loose outline of a plan that will keep the Twinning Committee active, everyone involved as well as keep our work in front of the parish.

Look for details soon!

Best,
Andy

New Flash!! Update from the Chair!

Hello Everyone,

It is with very much sadness and disappointment that I advise you that the 2011 St. Mary Medical Mission to Marbial, Haiti has been cancelled.

The continued spread of Cholera, which has not affected Marbial as of this time, puts our Medical Team Members at undue risk.

A number of factors including the aftermath of the earthquake, the spread of cholera, and the climate of the political elections, has made travel in Haiti much less safe than it was when we last visited the country.
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In the meantime, I would like to suggest that we consider increasing the number of clean water systems we are providing Ste. Therese.

We can cover some, or much, of the additional cost with contributions received due to the newspaper articles, our committee's General Fund, and any contributions received from either committee members or members of the Medical Team.

I will obtain updated statements of our various accounts from Meg tomorrow and I have asked Pete Murphy for an updated cost appraisal for an increased number of clean water systems.
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Lastly, I have a conflict with tomorrow nights meeting and, having covered the meeting's anticipated agenda in this e-mail, we will not be meeting again until January 11, 2011.

Wishing everyone and your families a safe and blessed Christmas Holiday.

Best regards and Merry Christmas,
Mike