Community Corner

Shoeman's Haiti Mission Provides Clean Water

Haitian teenagers learning about their new water purification system made possible by donations of used and new shoes to Shoeman Water Projects.

Fourteen members of Shoeman Water Projects Haiti 2011 Team returned from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, last month after installing five water purification systems and repairing hand pumps in areas where the only water available was contaminated or completely non-existent.

Tim Borrson, director of warehouse operations for the Fenton-based Shoeman Water Projects, led the mission. He and his team brought pumps, purifiers, solar panels, batteries and other supplies needed to install, maintain and repair water systems. Each system purifies 55 gallons of water per minute - about 10,000 gallons a day and is placed in locations that will serve the most people, usually schools, churches or other public centers that serve an entire community. All it takes to generate the power for the system is a car battery.

“Even before the 2010 earthquake, 40 percent of all water was contaminated,” Borrson said, “These people face extreme health risks every day of their lives. Beyond installing the purifying systems, our goal is to insure sustainable change by working with interpreters and training local members of the community to keep the water systems running and to follow basic sanitation and hygiene steps to stay healthy."

The first water system was installed at The Kids Vision Orphanage School in the Sarthe 55 district of Port au Prince. The school has four classrooms plus an office and will hold 100 elementary students. Future plans to offer secondary education for 100 additional students after the elementary students are dismissed will increase the capacity to 200.

During the week, the group experienced a mechanical breakdown as it traveled to Gonaives, a city north of Port-au-Prince that typically takes about four hours to travel by truck. Undaunted by the heat or three-hour delay for repairs, they were able to push through to Gonaive where they set up three purifiers in one day.

After setting up the purification systems and training two people who are responsible for the system and all components at each site, the group goes back to do retraining on another day. If there have any problems at a later date, they contact the water minister or the interpreters who are also trained to set up the system.

The success in bringing clean water throughout the world is accomplished by people who run shoe drives and donate shoes to raise money for the equipment, people like Jason Hughes, a science teacher at Francis Howell middle school in St. Charles, and Angela Hagans, a teacher at MICDS in Ladue, who both initially got involved with Shoeman Water Projects when they organized shoe drives at their respective schools. Both served as trained volunteers on 2011 Haiti water mission team.

“This trip changed my life,” Hughes said. “I teach for a living so it’s not a strange thing for me to get in front of kids or a group of parents to teach a lesson. But when I was explaining about the health threats of bacteria in their water and how they can stop that threat by boiling water in their home or only drinking from the purified tank – you can see in their faces that they are starting to understand. It’s hard to put words to lessons like this that carry such urgency." 

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"Seeing the circumstances first hand is humbling when you realize just how little they have and how grateful they are for the blessing of clean water,” said Hughes, who videotaped the team’s work in Haiti and is putting together material for a documentary at a later date.

Other members of the Haiti team included Jim Shelton of Chesterfield; Karl Johnson, who is starting a Shoeman Hub in Denver, CO; Jim Keagy of St. Peters; Hugh McCulloch of Lake St. Louis; Bennie Hedden of Dardenne Prairie; Terry and Bryce Moore of O'Fallon; Beckham and Chris Allen, Thomas Hankins and Clay Baker, of Little Rock, AK who organize drives for Shoeman Water Projects.

Shoeman Water Projects not-for-profit program receives shoes collected from shoe drives led by businesses, churches, organizations and individuals, which are then exported to countries where affordable shoes are rare. The proceeds from the sale of the shoes go toward purchasing water well drilling equipment and purification systems for people who thirst for clean water. In addition, reusing the shoes keeps them from going into landfills. The clean water and the wearing of shoes help prevent the spread of disease.

Businesses, organizations, schools, faith communities and individuals who wish to organize a shoe drive can find more information and organizing resources on Shoeman Water Project’s website, www.shoeman.org. Anyone wanting to drop off new or used shoes can find a collection site on the website by typing a zip code. Shoes should have no rips or holes and be tied together.


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