Dalebrun and his team installed 2 chlorinators in two water towers of 1,200 gallons in the neighborhood of Bel Air. Bel Air, a slum area with a population of about 13,000 people, is located in Port-au-Prince and has much gang violence.
Another area that International Action and Dalebrun have become interested in is Bois Neuf, a slum in Cité Soleil. Dalebrun discovered that they had 4 water towers, each with a capacity of 1,200 gallons. They need 4 chlorinators. According to our coordinator, Bois Neuf is the biggest of 7 zones in Cité Soleil. The community is the oldest of all of the communities in Cité Soleil. It was created in 1914 by two families, the Dessources and Alexis Families. An international organization “Doctors Without Borders” made a report on Bois Neuf’s population in 1998. They counted 25,000 people, where 43% of the population were children (primary school age) and 35% were women and babies. This community has had a rather bloody and violent past. It was under the control of a Gang leader Dried Wilme. During the week of November 26th Dalebrun and his team installed 4 chlorinators in Bois Neuf and are confident that the population is now drinking safe, clean, and disease-free water.
The following week, they got community’s approval and installed 4 more chlorinators in the area of Drouillard. Drouillard has a population of about 9,000 people and it is one of the oldest housing projects in Cité Soleil. It was created under the Duvalier government in 1982. Currently this area has no basic infrastructure. There are 4 water towers of 1,200 gallons each but the population declared that the water was not drinkable. According to the residents the water has a very bad taste and a very strong and unpleasant smell. Drouillard is supplied by Port-au-Prince water agency and is on the same line that supplies the Cité Soleil water tower.
On November 28th, Dalebrun and his team installed 2 chlorinators in Villa Rosa, a shantytown located in the Mount Canape Vert area not far from President Rene Preval’s home. This community has 3 water towers and their water system is built with zinc-coated pipes.
On Friday November 30th they installed 1 chlorinator in Cité Militaire. Dalebrun also participated in a State sponsored forum on the reform sector. His report was greatly praised by the NGO’s that were present: CICR, GRET, MTPTC.