Macon Magazine

8 | MACON MAGAZINE DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017 I always had a call to serve others. It played a role in my decision to become a physician, but I frequently felt like I served insurance companies and the electronic medical record, not my patients. In February 2006, with the hope of filling that void, I found myself in a small cinder block building with no electricity that served as a clinic to a village with no name in the southwest Dominican Republic. This small village, designated Batey 7, is surrounded by sugar cane for miles in every direction, and the Haitian people who lived here are undocumented workers who service the sugar cane industry. Their homes have dirt floors, and most of the children run around without shoes and the little ones frequently without any clothes at all. Almost every patient I saw was complaining of abdominal pain, diarrhea or both, and almost all of these complaints were the result of no access to safe water. I could treat the parasites, but without access to safe water the reinfection rate would approach 100 percent. I made a promise that day that I would provide safe water for Batey 7. I knew nothing about working in developing countries and solving water issues, but I felt a solution was within my grasp. I spent the next few months researching the issues. After a lot of dead ends, I partnered with some like-minded folks in Atlanta with similar interests and connections to the southwest DR. With this collaboration, World Water Relief was formed and by February 2009, three years to the day after I first visited Batey 7, we had safe water flowing. Within a few months, visiting medical teams were reporting a fraction of the parasitic cases in Batey 7 compared with neighboring communities. With that evidence we had proof of concept. And since 2009 we have completed over 20 projects in the DR, providing safe water for tens of thousands of people. January 2010 changed everything with the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti. The earthquake convinced us that being in Haiti was the next logical step. We had connections with Mirebalais, a small town on the central plateau, and it was here that we began expanding our efforts from just providing safe water to a more holistic approach by implementing a UNICEF- based program called WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene education) in schools. We would install our water systems, upgrade existing sanitation infrastructure and begin a hygiene education curriculum. The reasoning was that we would use kids as vectors for change because they are eager to learn and are the real hope for Haiti. A water system can only reach so many people. Education spreads like ripples in the water and leads to changes far from our direct sphere of influence. This was never clearer than during a trip to Mirebalais in 2013 when one of our hygiene students took me to his home to show me that for the past year he had been saving his money and building his family a latrine. He had learned the importance of the latrine through one of our hygiene clubs. Nothing we have done has made me prouder, because ultimately Haiti will have to fix its own problems and this young man convinced me that it can happen with the right guidance and support. WWR continues its work in the southwest DR and throughout Haiti. Prior to Hurricane Matthew, we had completed an installation on the west coast of Haiti in Cotes de Fer that was designed to serve 150 families. The storm devastated this area, and the population around the church that houses our system has grown as people seek refuge. Our water system is now serving more than 450 families, and there have been no reported cases of cholera. We continue to assist our communities in the maintenance of these systems and with educational programs to create real, sustainable change. But we need more partnerships. We feel that we've created a scalable model that works and hope we can interest church groups, Rotary Clubs and others to work with us to continue to bring change to Hispaniola. Dr. Kevin Fussell and his wife Jennifer are both from Macon and now reside in St. Simons. Kevin is an honor graduate of Central High School and earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. BE A PART OF THE RIPPLE EFFECT… We welcome the opportunity to speak to churches, service clubs, Rotaries and schools. For information, please contact: Christie.Crane@worldwaterrelief.org. To donate, please visit www.worldwaterrelief.org and click on the "Donate" button. Credit cards and PayPal available. By mail, World Water Relief, 931 Monroe Drive, Suite 102-593, Atlanta Ga 30308 The ripple effect World Water Relief mission making a difference By Dr. Kevin Fussell Editorial

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