Our Story
From a small group ministry to a committed, growing organization
Christ in the Caribbean (CitC) started as a small group mission team out of the Broomfield United Methodist Church in Broomfield, CO. Our founder Michael Rowley had been on mission teams to Romania 1996, southern Haiti in 2004 and Puerto Rico in 2019. But in 2012 he joined a team and traveled to Ouanaminthe, Haiti, on the Dominican Republic border.
On that trip one of our side projects was to distribute and replace a few ceramic (0.2micron) water filters to outlying villages. At the end of the week, our Haitian leader from the medical clinic asked us, “How many filters can you bring next year? 150 filters were not enough.” Michael turned and looked to team leader, John Neill and said, “I guess we are coming back next year.”
Over the next six years we have helped to distribute over 2,600 filters. Now that Covid is over, we are committed to picking up where we left off. Focusing on bringing clean water to the underserved communities or rural Haiti.
CitCwater is an independent Mission Partner with Rinn UMC in Frederick, CO. We work directly with the Ouanaminthe Rotary Club. We also are building a base of Philanthropist or Foundations which are assisting us as we grow.
What is the Water Situation in Haiti
A lack of water infrastructure leaves few solutions for clean water
Due to a lack of water and sanitation infrastructure in Haiti, the majority of over 11 million people do not have access to potable water. Surface water, shallow wells, and rain capture systems team with microscopic contaminates (both biological and micro plastics). The use and ingestion of these waters lead to prolonged battles with illnesses and GI tract issues. Water borne illnesses such as chronic diarrhea, typhoid and cholera lead to more than half of all deaths each year. The country’s infant mortality rate was 57 per 1000.
We distribute water filter systems in an effort to help people in outlying villages clean the water they have available.
What difference are we seeing?
In 2017 we had a medical team from Cleveland staying at the same facility, during our week in Haiti. We had the opportunity to cross-pollinate within our teams. One day, several of their nurses came to the field for filter distribution. Several of our team members went to the clinic and helped where they could.
The nurses, using one of our translators, interviewed people who were coming to get a replacement for their old ceramic filter. These filters only lasted 1 to 2 years and all of the disease ladened mass was caked onto the outside of the filters. While we replaced their old filters, the nurses had time to talk to the people about what differences they had noticed since using filtered water.
#1 Their families were not getting sick much at all. They were saving the cost and time of going to the doctor and buying medicine. They weren't missing work as much and their children, if they were in school, were not missing as much.
#2 When asked what they were doing with the money that they weren't spending on doctors and medicine, we thought the most common answer would be the purchase of more food for their family. Surprisingly the top two answers were...
a) They could afford to send their children to school for the first time. Even the public schools in Haiti have tuition.
b) Starting a little side business of their own, to help the family get ahead financially.
The people interviewed had so may great stories about how clean water was changing their lives.
Mike's Story - according to Mike
Where do you like to go on vacation?
My first mission trip was to Arad, Romania in 1996. The communist had been overthrown 5 year earlier. People from our church were going to work in the orphanages and several of them had adopted children from there. Walking down the street one evening after dinner, our minister started a conversation about what it would take to buy a piece of property or a house, get house parents from our partner church, and bring children out of orphanages and into a loving home environment. Global Hope was born out of that conversation, and now serves children on three continents. I saw the power of one person's commitment to an idea.
In 2004 I traveled through Port-au-Prince to work on the south side of the island. It was a trip that I "just knew" I needed to be on. When I got home I told people "I'm not sure what I saw, experienced, did that was so important, but even then I knew I had gone for a reason.
It wasn't until my trip to Ouanaminthe, Haiti in 2012, that I discovered my reason for experiencing Haiti. During the 2012 trip, I fell in love with the people I met and the work we did down there. After returning for the fourth time, my friends came across the school yard to welcome me back. I think they need to see that you aren't coming for the one-and-done visit.
I have had the opportunity to work side-by-side with some amazing people, to listen to their stories about life in Haiti, and their dreams for their families and their country.
I know the value of the work I have been doing with our CitC teams. But it did not soak in until the last day of our 2017 trip. I woke up the day we were flying home. I didn't feel good and had no appetite. I knew I was getting sick. I drank very little water and hardly ate all the way home. My team was waiting for me to catch up as we worked our way through the airports and customs.
By Sunday night I felt bad enough, so my wife drove me to urgent care. The medical staff was amazed that I was able to walk in by myself, as my blood pressure was so low. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital and spent the next two day in the ICU and everyone helping me wearing hazmat suits. I had contracted Campylobacter. I was on multiple antibiotics until I was released. I woke up Monday morning, and my first thought was that if I was a Haitian and still in Haiti, I would probably be dead now. But I was blessed to have a flight home and great medical care available to me when I got there. The doctors confirmed that I would not have woke up to have an appointment on Monday. Going Sunday night saved my life.
I had many family members, friends, and customers stated, "I'll bet that's the last time you will go to Haiti!" My response was that in my opinion, God had took me that close, that quickly, to the edge of death to show me what we are fighting for with our water program. I was more committed than ever to try to keep other people from contracting such diseases.
By the way, I touched a used filter with my bare hands, as I left the bus, where we were staying. I did not wash my hands or put hand sanitizer on them until dinner time. I had probably just scratched the corner of my mouth or something thoughtless. Our hosts were always so careful to prepare all of our meals with our safety in mind. Trust me, I tell people constantly to put more sanitizer on your hands if you don't know the last time you did.
People are always talking about where they like to vacation. When I tell them Haiti, they laugh. They don't know how much I love my time with my teams and friends down there.
