All reports say that it’s potential is of epidemic proportions. The death toll is growing hourly and all of it can be stopped by providing clean water and basic hygiene education. I’m gutted by the reports I’ve gotten by close personal friends of mine that are there.

Once again this is another example of how dire the situation is down there… Cholera is preventable, treatable, and manageable and that’s why it is such a shame to see all of these senseless deaths happening. This all stems from lack of clean water and basic hygiene education. This means the work we have been doing down there has never been more important. That said, we have a good plan in place with the UN & Ministry of Health to get a bunch (2500-3000) of filters to the regions in question. I am flying down to PAP tomorrow with my Father to put this plan in motion.

But there ARE winks from the universe that are encouraging and serve as inspiration for us to stay the course. For example, we learned two days ago from the filter manufacturer that there is a stockpile of (unclaimed) filters already in a warehouse in PAP. Half the battle of the work we do is the logistics of getting the filters in country and with the urgency of this outbreak we weren’t sure what to do – nothing seems fast enough in this type of situation. So, all these filters are now going to our UN partners… and together we’ll be distributing them to the outbreak areas by mid-week. The fact that those filters are already there directly translates into lives saved. Period!

Lastly, I’d like to briefly speak about a revelation I had earlier… I was scheduled to be on a plane to Indonesia at this very moment. I woke up this morning feeling heavy and anxious.. and didn’t know why. Once I reached into my gut it became clear – I needed to be in Haiti. That was my truth…end of discussion. The significance of this story for me is the realization that we always know the right thing to do if we just slow down and listen. Listen to our hearts… our bodies. The physical symptoms alone, that I felt, were enough to stop anyone in their tracks. Simply put, when we have a choice in front of us and the physical feeling we have towards it feels light, the answer is YES – if it feels heavy, NO.

Obviously this was a decision that is specific to my personal journey, but I am encouraging all of you to dig into your gut and get in touch with your truth… with your light. It’s these choices that define who we are and where we’re going…

Please help me spread the word about this Cholera situation so we get an influx of the resources needed to help nip this thing in the bud.

More from the road…
Thanks!
Jon

W4W HAITI Oct 2010 from Waves For Water on Vimeo.

Waves For Water founder, Jon Rose and Surfing icon, Rob Machado team up in Haiti to bring people clean drinking water.

W4W video teaser from Jon & Rob’s trip – filmed & edited by Tom Aiello (Hurley International).

Rob & Jon with recipient (wearing coolest hat we've ever seen) of filtration system.

The Haitian people are the strongest people I’ve ever met.

Their strife goes back so many years that it’s impossible for someone like myself to ever truly relate. We arrived back here in PAP two days ago and happened to come in the morning after the worst storm of the season. Apparently it was only intense for about 15 minutes… it was a flurry of 100mph gusts of wind that came in quick and left even quicker. The damage was isolated to very specific areas, almost as if the universe had intention… pointing its finger down, shooting volts of fury. The base camp of operations for JPHRO (Org that I have been affiliated with since day one) was almost completely wiped out. The steel frame of the big white tent that served as shelter over all the volunteer tents collapsed and buckled like it was made from tin foil. Their “MASH” Hospital was taken out too… patients had to be rushed into the old gymnasium of the nearby Petionville Club. This hospital serves as the premiere medical facility for the IDP tent camp below (that JP manages), which is still around 50,000 people large. Miraculously NO ONE from JP was hurt… there were acts of heroism left and right, as volunteers helped each other evacuate the collapsing steel frame. But as thankful as I am for the safety of my comrades, my heart is gutted thinking about all the displaced families in rickety tents all over the city. How do they do it? Day in and day out… they are beaten down by elements beyond their control. They need everything and as soon as they overcome one thing, they get cut off at the knees by another – storm, robbery, sickness, etc… Their resilience and strength is humbling beyond description.

As of yesterday there have been 5 recorded deaths related to the storm… all of which were in IDP tent camps.

I’m traveling this time with friends, Rob Machado and Tom Aiello… and we sure picked a day to arrive. We went straight from the airport to JP to lend a hand. We helped them disassemble the warped frame of their wind torn hospital, and clear away debris so that they could start to rebuild. All plans change here in Haiti and this is a perfect example of such. As my good friend, Fritz, always says when something goes awry… “Hey, it’s Haiti!”.

Yesterday we visited one of my networks in the mountain village of Mirebalais to see how the filters have been working out for them. The man running point up the is a guy named Manahem and he is a perfect example of what I am looking for in a local network – well known in his community and completely understanding of the value in liberating his people with our program. He has distributed over 200 filters throughout the area and was eager to show us all of his hard work. He took us into schools and individual homes that he’s given filters to. All of them were thriving with their new systems and their only complaint was that they wanted more so they could give them to their relatives in neighboring villages. But the most significant thing that I saw was how much this new system has been adapted into the fabric of their everyday life… it seemed as if they had been using these systems for years… it was second nature. And the trickle effect is astounding – if one family has a system they end up becoming clean water hubs for their neighbors and then the education process organically follows. Now, even families that don’t have systems, are learning that the water they have been drinking is not clean… most of them aren’t aware of this simple knowledge and can’t understand why their kids keep getting sick.
That said, I’m even more clear that our job is to work tirelessly until we can get every last one of them filters… and we will.

Attached are a couple pics from Mirebalais… The first of Rob and I with a group of kids (and Manahem, directly to the left of me) that followed us as we toured through some rural villages, and the second is of us with a Voodoo mama rocking the best hat we’ve ever seen!

Signing off…

JR

Rob & Jon (w/ Manahem directly left of Jon) and kids.

W4W / Nike – GameChanger Kit from Waves For Water on Vimeo.

Well… back in Haiti and since I was here just a week ago its safe to say everything is a bit blurry.

It’s weird now though, I’m starting to feel more relaxed here than at home. I have felt a lot of things since my first mission here, but relaxed has never been one of them. I think because when I’m here I am focused on just one goal and at home I am coordinating more like ten. This last week at home was extra intense due to our recent commitment to launch a project for the flood victims in Pakistan. It’s a beast of a project and on top of our ongoing Haitian and Indonesian initiatives it is a lot to handle. That said we have great individuals stepping up to help… and frankly the result will be a lot of people, in a lot of places, getting access to potable water.
This trip down here is an exciting one… For months now, I’ve been working on a few projects for Haiti that are all seeming to climax now. This one in particular is a pilot project that I started to develop with Nike a few months after the quake. They sent down a few delegates to scout out some programs that they could potentially get behind. Because of my Hurley partnership (Hurley is part of Nike Inc), the delegates were pointed in my direction as a resource once they were here. Short story long, one of the delegates, Tom De Blasis, and I began talking about a way to combine my water program and their interest in sport based community programs. We felt that the bare essentials for survival were health & happiness, i.e. water & sport. The result is a concept called the “Game Changer Kit” – a first response kit (combining our filtration system with a sport element) that we intend to pilot in Haiti, and then implement around the world. The kit is based off our existing two-bucket filtration system that normally includes one filter/spigot/sock… but now also includes, a tarp & rope for catching rain, a soccer ball (deflated), cones (to mark the field), and a ball pump. To top it off, the ball pump also doubles as a pressurization tool for the filter… it mounts to a little hose on the filter bucket to create manual pressure that triples the flow rate of the existing gravity fed method.
So Tom and I worked on this concept for the past few months are finally bringing it to life on this trip! We made 30 sample kits and will be distributing them this week to two small communities in Leogane (quake epicenter)… through one of my existing networks – Thank you Fritz!!
By the time we actually give a filter system to a family in need there is so much that has gone into getting it there. So many steps and hurdles to overcome just to get this simple solution into their hands and I really want to take this moment to thank the special individuals along the way that help to make this a reality. At the end of the day we can all stand together and say that we contributed towards giving the greatest gifts of all – Health & Happiness!
Attached are a few pics from of the kit’s just after we assembled them and also the logo that Tom came up with for the project.

The Nike Game Changer Kit

What is the definition of a game changer?

For me, it is the moment when a significant shift is made in what seemed to be a certain fate. It is a new direction… a new path.

We just finished the distributions of our sample Game Changer Kits to two small villages in Leogane. The first one we went to was a little refugee outpost on the beach… and the second was a little mountain village that was only accessible by driving up a riverbed (pending rain of course!) with a 4×4 vehicle.

The state of things in Haiti is still as bad as ever. It doesn’t matter where I go – the center of Port-au-Prince or a rural village in the North that was virtually untouched by the quake… It’s all incredibly gut wrenching. The sheer magnitude of despair is mind boggling. People are existing under such extreme circumstances and bearing witness to it always dwarfs any sense of strength I may think I have. The truth is, I can only feel an emotion related to what I see. I have no real clue what it’s like to experience this way of life. My decisions are more like WHAT am I going to eat, not IF I’m going to eat. When I’m thirsty I reach into my bag at will and grab my water bottle. They are huddled around a broken pipe that is spurting water that they think is clean… what they don’t realize is that all the pipes are fractured under ground, including the sewer lines. You do the math! Their kids are malnourished and riddled with skin disease because they can’t properly bathe. To top things off, the rains have come… and are relentless… everyday, they soak the makeshift tents that these people call home. Overall sanitation challenges are incomprehensible.

Really, I could go on and on about the everyday challenges with their basic survival. I will spare you. I am just very impacted with all of this, yet again. I have felt all of these things in past trips but over the last few months down here I have been in development mode, with projects such as this GameChanger Kit concept, and my tunnel vision has kept my emotions somewhat at bey. But this trip was climactic, in that we were able to give two small communities the gift of water and sport. It feels obsolete to think that we only gave a few hundred people these things but I also guarantee each of them would disagree with me. It is this math that tends to stifle any sense of accomplishment I have… it has been this way for me since day one.

Contents inside the Game Changer Kit.

So, back to the game changer… I had a breakthrough on this trip that changed my path down here. I know that bringing people water is an incredible gift… a true game changer. But by adding the soccer element with these kits really changes the community dynamic. There is an innocent excitement that you just don’t get with giving water, food, or shelter. Those things are SO needed but they are still reminders of how challenging their lives are. The soccer is a step through the doorway of their shattered existence, to a new place where the weight of the world is not on their shoulders. It is a much needed departure filled with camaraderie, union, and laughter.

I come from a sport background… and that foundation has always been and continues to be my north star. So even though I am most likely the worst soccer player on earth, I can very much relate with their passion. And though food, water, and shelter is the obvious framework for survival, I honestly believe that a community based activity such as sport is the vehicle that will pull them through the hard times.

We need something to bring us together… and sometimes we just need a healthy distraction from the everyday challenges we face.

I’m so proud of this project… and I have a new found respect for ANYONE who can play soccer well!!

Jon

Touring Peruvian base in border town, Malpasse.

Just finished a day and a half with URAMAR (Uragauyan Navy) and once again my expectations were exceeded. This project really is set up for success. Here’s the brief synopsis of how it works following my existing model for distribution, the military units I visit introduce me to the key leaders in their area. People running schools, church’s, hospitals, local (Haitian) NGO’s, youth groups, etc. Then I do a demonstration for them and gauge their response. Usually they are very receptive and I give them each a small amount of filters for a test.

Demonstration at Nepalese military base in Mirebalais

My goal is to never have the general population see me that is not the point! The leaders that I teach know their communities and where the needs are most desperate they know how to navigate the web of local politics they know what is fair. I’ve always said that this is an empowerment project first and the fact that they get clean drinking water from it in the end is a wonderful by-product.

After distro at Nepalese military base in city of Hinche.

After a few weeks pass the UN officers then go and visit each of the prospects we tested out. It’s always very clear which one (or two), rose to the occasion and distributed the filters to the right people in the right manner. Those that shined then become our formal distribution network for the region. They will always be the one to empower their communities, we (W4W & UN troops) will just facilitate the process from the shadows.

Jon & Peruvian UN military officer

As I’ve said before, there are many great byproducts with this program beyond just giving people access to clean water. But really, all sides have virtually everything to gain and nothing to lose. The UN gets a REAL reason to have ongoing relations with those leaders we selected and it builds a rapport around a sustainable solution that ultimately supports the growth and development of these regions for years to come. Obviously, Waves for Water gains from this partnership because it allows us to get filters to regions we didn’t know about or didn’t have the resources to visit. Lastly, the local people get the real gold at the end of the rainbow . . . clean water! So as you see, this is no different than what we have been doing on our own down here since day one, it is just allowing us to scale our operations to the next level.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the UN reps who helped make this project a reality MAJ Brian Woolworth (US), MAJ Brian Roach (Canada), and our newest addition MAJ Ashish Upadhyay (Nepal). Thanks boys!!

Jon with local leaders after demo at Uraguayan Base in Port Salut.

If the ultimate goal is to get every person in Haiti access to clean water then partnerships such as these, are the framework to do so. Our mission will have many players, over a long period of time, but in the end I feel the goal is attainable.

I have eight more UN military units to visit across Haiti before this project is done. I look forward to every last one!

Jon & MAJ Ashish, our new UN project rep, in chopper.

It is invigorating to feel like you are a part of REAL change. That’s what’s happening here.

Humble & grateful,

JR

Please see links below to view more posts of UN Missions:

Port-Au-Prince & Cap Hatien Mission

Port Salut Mission

View form chopper of city, Jeremie, in Southern Haiti.

On my way to the South, a place called Port Salut… to connect with the Uraguayan Navy battalion of the UN Minustah Military for what will be the second trip of our water filter pilot project. The first, if you recall, was in the North (Cap Hatien) with the Chilean battalion last month. We have 8 more locations until this project is complete and its safe to say that by then, I will be well versed in Haitian geography… and in global military culture. For 2-3 days I get to live with the troops of each battalion and see what their approach is to relatively the same topics. It’s a crash course in human nature, organization, methodology, and of course humor. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity and proud that our partnership will result in getting clean water to communities that I would have never even known existed. In my opinion, this is the true definition of a partnership – multiple entities coming together and sharing their resources for the greater good.

I am tired from the very movement that I so desire… and right now, it is perfect.

Inside UN Chopper in route to Port Salut.

I need movement. I’ve realized this about myself… and especially regarding my work down here. There is so much to be done and it kills me when there are viable solutions just idling as a result of bureaucratic protocol. High level organizations having meetings about meetings and so on and so forth. It f$%#ing kills me! Not coming from a traditional humanitarian background has served me well. It allows me to look at existing models with a fresh eye and a sort of naive intelligence… which is where my best ideas have come from. And it has also been the source of my biggest challenges. But, this is how I see it – people are dying. Kids are dying… and we have a way to stop that. Period! We can talk about it all we want, but in that time more senseless deaths will have occurred, that could have been prevented. There is certain information out there in the world that is so simple, yet so powerful, that once you’ve been exposed to it – you have a responsibility to it. You are accountable. This work is that way for me… We go into a villages where one out of two babies die from waterborne diseases, then we do our program, and they stop dying… it is as simple as that. This is the information that in my opinion will keep you up at night once you know it. That said, people can do with it what they want. There are so many ways for people to help… even if it’s just a shift in their personal consciousness that organically begins to inspire those around them.
- Jon Rose

Jon Rose with two lucky recipients of a W4W filter system.

I arrived back into PAP on the 19th… and yesterday marked the day the Government was to announce who they are allowing to participate in the upcoming Presidential elections in Nov.

The vibe in the streets of PAP seemed to be pretty even keeled, especially on Thurs. It was different then times past. There is visible progress in the local communities… still so much to do, but as i drove around it really felt like there has been some movement since my last visit. Even if that progress just consists of rubble removal, that is huge! The piles of rubble around the city are paralyzing. They represent so much… not only a constant visual reminder of the devastation and loss incurred by the quake, they are a physical barriers that inhibit any chance of rebuilding these communities. People are at a stand still, just hoping that someone will come along and clear their street, or damaged property. No one can afford to pay for the removal of debris themselves so it is nothing more than a hope or dream, that with each passing day, becomes more and more faint. The last time I was here JP HRO had started to remove rubble in Demas 32. They’ve since cleared almost everything and in doing so, revitalized the neighborhood. The community there no has a real chance at rebuilding. Only, now the org’s with new shelter concepts, or sanitation ideas, can start talking about a real timeline. In my opinion, JP’s philosophy was fairly simple – rent heavy machinery, pick a neighborhood, and just do the damn thing…! It really can be that simple, people… Obviously they engineered a plan for the area but, quickly. They are, and continue to be, a shining example of an org that is DOING something and not just talking about it. I have said this before, but I am very proud to have contributed towards the growth of this incredible org… but what makes me more proud, is not what we did in the early stages, but what they continue to do today. And though my Waves For Water work down here at this point are mostly projects involving other partners, JP is my backbone… it is my family here and we have nurtured each other from infantile stages. I will gladly stand side by side, on the front lines of any battle with them.

I have said since the very beginning that the filters we’ve been using down here are nothing short of incredible. They are a blessing in the form of a ceramic bulb… Simply put, they have stopped people, specifically kids, from dying. It is that clear and easy to quantify. But these incredible little life savers are still fighting an uphill battle… there is more & more need around every corner we explore. On of my ultimate goals here is and has always been trying to turn what we are providing into a sustainable solution. One of the concepts, is to build a filter manufacturing plant here in Haiti. Right now the only factory is in China, which means that every Western Hemisphere project we work on has to get filters shipped all the way from China. So for months we have explored the possibilities of this here. For me, it is simple… Haiti is a clean slate, this is the perfect place to develop such a product. First and foremost, it could supply the desperate and immediate needs of this country. That alone seems worth it to me… but then you start looking at the other benefits – creates jobs, supports local economies, etc.. but the biggie is in creating a legitimate export business that would become the source for all Western Hemisphere operations based around these filters. That means that in the future, if we give a dying family in Honduras a filter system, it will have come from
Haiti – a place that everyone said had no hope. So, chew on that… if that ain’t a symbol of hope and prosperity – a devastated nation, supplying its own needs from the inside out…. and simultaneously, directly supporting the growth of other surrounding nations. This is a REAL solution.

With each trip down here, this concept is becoming more and more of a reality… This trip in particular, we have a few meetings scheduled that could catapult it into the next steps…

Wish us luck!

Keep you posted…
JR

Waves For Water at the U.S. Open of Surfing, Huntington Beach, California

The U.S. Open of Surfing, Huntington Beach, California

Bob Hurley & Jon Rose at the U.S. Open of Surfing, Huntington Beach, California

Turning contaminated water into safe water, turning death into life

Can see Hurley/W4W exhibit @ the U.S. Open all week

To the question, “What can I do?” . . . we have the answer.

By carrying a bunch of filters when traveling to remote areas of the world, one person can bring people a new source of clean drinking water.

ONE PERSON CAN CHANGE THE WORLD FOR AN ENTIRE VILLAGE.

Save a family for an entire year for only $20!

Imagine millions of travelers doing this. Now we’re changing history.

Fast forward – I’ve spent the last two days living with the Chilean battalion of the UN Minustah Military (Minustah is the name for the UN’s Haiti operation). The Chileans are in charge of patrolling and securing the North section of Haiti. My stay here is part of a preliminary mission to start laying the foundation for a collaboration/partnership between the UN Minustah operation here and my water program. The idea is to utilize the Minustah Military’s knowledge of this area to help us establish and operate our program. It is an exciting step towards our goal of getting everyone in Haiti clean water; this kind of support is the very backbone of such a goal. The Chilean soldiers are hospitible and genuine people. They have let me in to their world and I will never forget it. Especially their cook, who insists on calling me “California!”

It’s been nice to be away from the intensity of PAP. However, the day before I came up here to the North I visited two camps in Cite Soleil – Haiti’s most desperate and crime-ridden area. There is a project going on there, spearheaded by Patricia Arquette, that involves our filtration systems. She has created a testing facility in one of the tent camps to try a few different sustainability concepts. Patricia and her team have mainly been addressing the sanitation challenges of this area – human waste, trash, etc., all of which are on the verge of creating a secondary disease-driven epidemic. She is incorporating our filter model into her program to combat the potable water challenges, but her main focues have been on composting, recycling, and bio-digesting. It was an incredible project to see and I’m honored to be a part of it.

I really believe that there is such enormous opportunity in Haiti right now. We have a chance not only as foreigners, but as humans, to try aggressive solutions here, solutions that in the future could end up being benchmarks for the global community. There are amazing people here doing amazing things, and once again I feel confident in our ability, as a species, to collectively change our destiny.

More to come…

Humbled and grateful,
Jon

Yesterday I went to some villages only accessible by a 4 wheel drive up a riverbed. In each mud/stick hut there was our filter systems… Operating perfectly! One mother said that her baby had severe diarrhea and now with the filter, it has stopped. It really is that black and white…. They say the differences in their health are nothing short of extreme.

There has been more civil unrest in PAP. Organized crime is getting more organized… And there are more and more reports of kidnappings and killings. Some aid workers have now been victimized. Which, is unsettling since I have been out in the thick of it almost everyday. I am relying on trust and quick wit… Psychologically, that’s all I have.

About to crack into my trusty Jack Daniels stash. I’m banking on it to make the bags under my eyes feel less heavy.

Signing off cause this update is now making me sweat more….

Jon