Jan 15, 2011 / 11:13 am
It’s not enough that Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake last January that killed 300,000 people and left another 1.5 million homeless. Now, because of unsanitary conditions, the island nation is enduring the ravages of cholera that so far has claimed 1,400 lives and sickened nearly 57,000 people.
Members of St. Mary Parish in Milford, Conn. are battling back by installing a clean water system at their sister parish, St. Theresa’s, in the rural mountain town of Marbial – a project they initiated last August before the cholera outbreak.
After months of planning, fund-raising and working through internal red tape of importing and transporting products – and helped by a generous, anonymous donation – St. Mary’s delivered 150 water filtration and purification systems in late December – enough to provide clean water for 1,000 people.
"It’s a basic two-bucket system," said Michael Mercurio, chair of the St. Mary twinning committee, which sent a medical mission of 14 doctors, nurses and volunteers to care for more than 1,500 people for a week last March.