I truly believe that nobody can help and take care of a person the way that individual can take care of himself, but in order to be able to perform this monumental task an individual must be physically well. I want to enable people to help themselves by making sure that they are healthy. The most fundamental need in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to have basic and decent housing with a proper sewage and sanitation system. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake which occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010 left over 1.3 million people without a proper place to call home. This led to an even more tremendous strain on the country’s already deficient water and sewage system resulting in a furious cholera outbreak in a country which had not had a documented case of the disease in decades. In addition to newsworthy cholera, there are many other infectious diseases that the people of Haiti have become susceptible to due to over-crowding, inadequate housing, and improper sanitation.
The work I will be doing in Haiti will give displaced families the opportunity to live in decent and affordable housing. This is not a hand-out, but a hand-up to help them regain a proper home and a healthy lifestyle; this is truly the first step in making sure that the people of Haiti can become self-sufficient so that they are able to take care of themselves in the future.
Add comment