Stopping the clock

Nine year old Sarah is alive today because she was late for a shower. She is one of around 30 disadvantaged children who were staying at a children’s home/boarding school in Leogane (west of Port-au-Prince).  Typically they receive an education until at least 6th grade and this means residing at the home  for two or three years before returning home with additional support there.

When the earthquake struck, a clock at the home came down and the battery  fell out.  The hands stopped at 4.54pm.  Seconds later the shower block collapsed ...on to no-one.  Thanks to everything running late on that day, the children were not where they should have been at that time – in the shower block.  A small delay with life-saving consequences…..
 

Since then, Samaritan's Purse has been able to help Sarah and the rest of her schoolfriends by installing a water filtration unit within the grounds of the church next door. It is now the main point of clean water for the local community immediately around the church itself, enabling people to drink and wash, and thus stay healthier in very dire circumstances.