Last night I received the Sad News from Haiti.....
Luc's father ....
Verilus Joseph ... died in Cholera outbreak that heavily affected the southern
Arbonite area and village of
Douin where he lived. We are sorry for the loss and ask
Luc to express our sorrow to his mother Anita Louis Joseph.
The village water supply is from the
Arbonite river and feeder canals that are used to flood the rice plain with water.
In early assessment it appears that the area affected follow this water source which at best is contaminated with parasites, and worse case spreading diseases like Cholera to the whole area of unsuspecting people.
Luc sent 1000 gals of water to the village yesterday to help with immediate problem.
Heaven will be rejoicing as he entered into the presence of Jesus and we do also, however we morn the loss with the family and friends please pray that Christ can be glorified in his passing.
He was a wonderful man of God!
Douin Church was the first church that
Luc started and we dedicated a nice new building back in 2005 however the water supply that runs by the front of the church needs to be replaced with a well, for this village to prevent this type of disease spreading.
This Photo of the Church and some of it's children was taken standing on the banks of this
polluted water supply, all are at risk.
news report.....
Haiti scrambles to contain cholera
Health officials warn the outbreak, which has killed at least 194 and infected about 2,300 others, could get worse. "We do know however that poor sanitation, poor infrastructure in terms of water provision, is one of the main ways that cholera does spread. Normally it spreads when feces gets back into the water system and people are forced to use water which hasn't been cleaned.
"Cholera has not been seen in Haiti for a long time, for about a century actually, so there is not a lot of experience on the part of the population and on the part of the the medical community within Haiti on how to treat this. So this is a big challenge in a number of ways."
Relief organisations were mobilising to ship medicine, water filtration units and other relief supplies to the
Artibonite region.
"We have been afraid of this since the earthquake," Robin
Mahfood, the president of Food for the Poor, said while the group was preparing to airlift donations of antibiotics, oral dehydration salts and other supplies.
The outbreak is being blamed on the
Artibonite river, an artery crossing Haiti's rural centre that thousands of people use for much of their daily activities from washing to cooking.
Charles Henry Baker, a presidential candidate, travelled to the stricken area and pleaded for help.
"The situation is terrible. Inside the hospital, they're overcrowded. They're not overcrowded, it's beyond
overcrowded," he said.
"They need some field hospitals put up as quickly as possible to be able to take in the amount of
people they have. They need doctors. They need nurses. People are all over, on the floor, the way it was after the 12
th of January [earth quake]. We need help; we need quick help."
Cholera is transmitted by water but also by food that has been in contact with unclean water contaminated by cholera bacteria.
It causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration. The disease is easily treatable by
rehydration and antibiotics, but with a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time.
The World Health Organisation defines cholera as "an extremely virulent disease. It affects both children and adults and can kill within hours".
Middle of Photo shows Orphanage Under Construction.
Gabe Wright, Pastor Paul Galbraith, Rose Lucie Joseph, & Chris Reason.
