Travel industry can deliver clean water to Haiti

Following last week’s disaster, hundreds of survivors have died without access to clean, safe water supplies, while half the people currently in hospitals in Haiti are there due to dirty water.

Clean water charity Just a Drop is appealing to the travel and tourism industry to raise funds to supply clean, safe water facilities to Haiti following the recent disaster. Just a Drop will send in teams as soon as the initial relief period is over to help rebuild water and sanitation infrastructure and encourage displaced communities back to their villages and homes.

There are many ways for companies and individual alike to become involved and donate money to Just a Drop. Companies wishing to support the appeal can submit donations online via Just a Drop’s website, or send checks made payable to Just a Drop, to the attention of Ana Sustelo – Just a Drop Coordinator, Gateway House, 28 The Quadrant, Richmond TW9 1DN.

“Whether it is for business or pleasure, the very nature of the travel and tourism industry is that it brings people together from across the world,” said Fiona Jeffery, founder and chairman of Just a Drop and chairman of World Travel Market. “We must face up to the enormous challenges in Haiti and as an industry should rally together and lend our support to its people.

“With all disasters of this kind, water shortage is a major problem and fresh supplies are being urgently dispatched to the island. But once immediate needs are met, it is vital that support is ongoing so that the recovery process is sustained. That means rebuilding the water and sanitation infrastructure. Just a Drop’s “JUST HELP HAITI” appeal to the travel and tourism industry is a small part of a global response to this world disaster. But clean, fresh water is a life-giving commodity, and the charity has a vital role to play. I urge everyone to lend their support because every little bit adds up to making a huge difference.”

Fixing problems, building solutions

In over ten years, Just a Drop has helped more than one million children and their families from 29 countries with building protected wells, installing piping and providing sanitation, including successful missions following the 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Mitch in Grenada in 1998. After these disasters occurred, the international water charity ran appeals to raise funds to rebuild sustainable water supplies and encouraged displaced communities to return home.

In the case of Haiti, while its biggest problems are being addressed by charities from across the globe, the causes of such problem are going untouched.

“You do not cure hunger effectively in a country so awash in oceans by giving them fish, but, rather, fishing poles,” commented Mike Spinelli, past president of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and assistant chairman of the Haitian League. “Delivery of boatloads of fresh clean water to Haiti is analogous to this, as obviously, water gets used up. Since 50 percent of all hospital beds in Haiti are filled with people suffering from the effects of dirty water, and one in every 10 children die before age five due to unclean water, Just a Drop’s project is a Godsend to Haiti. The creation of wells and other ongoing sources of clean water is truly a blessing to a land that is accustomed to walking five miles for this basic need, and Just a Drop is to be applauded.”

To learn more, visit www.justadrop.org.