FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Washington, DC – April 27, 2009 – The Salesian Fathers at the St. Jean Bosco School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti will open a new primary school for 1,000 students in the fall of this year. With the current secondary school, they will have 1,500 children.
International Action – a U.S.-based health group – just installed two chlorinators on St. Bosco’s 9,000-gallon concrete tanks to get ready for the reopening. St. Boscos’ is the church-related school where former President Aristide was educated and became a Salesian priest.
International Action has installed 110 chlorinators on public water tanks in Haiti’s capital city since 2006. These provide clean water to 400,000 Haitians.
The school is located in the Saline District of Port-au-Prince very near the city’s worst slum – Cité Soleil. Many of International Action’s chlorinators are in Cité Soleil and similar poor neighborhoods.
“It’s a privilege to work with people like the Salesian Fathers,” said Youngmin Chang, Associate Director of International Action, “Their willingness to work with the poor is a powerful example.”
The Port-au-Prince metro-area has 2.5 million residents, only 400,000 of whom get clean water. The rest get water delivered by truck, street vendors, and local wells. There is no treatment of water and no sewer system for city residents. As a result, cholera, typhoid, and chronic diarrhea remain the largest killers of children in Port-au-Prince and most other developing countries. The World Health Organization estimate 2.5 million children in poor countries die each year from these waterborne diseases.
About International Action
International Action is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on creating a healthy Haiti by providing clean water and other life-saving programs. Since 2006, International Action has worked with Haitian communities to provide training, education, and create sustainable water systems. International Action currently protects over 600,000 Haitians from waterborne diseases and improves their quality of life.
Contact
Youngmin Chang
ychang@haitiwater.org
International Action
819 L Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202) 488-0735
https://haitiwater.org/