We Built a Well in Haiti

In which Hank continues the story of Savann Tabak, a village in Haiti where a bunch of cool people live. And the story, at this point, has a happy ending.

LiveStreaming all day at http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers

Vote on Water.org at http://www.projectforawesome.com

Check out the charity auctions at
http://dft.ba/-p4aebay

Get John's Zombie Story with at $10 donation
http://dft.ba/zombies

Get at TFIOS Sharpie at
http://dft.ba/sharpies

Hanklerfishes!!
http://dft.ba/fishes

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• haiti
• well
• water.org
• poverty
• charity
• P4A
• #p4a2011
• p4a2011
• water
• sanitation
• giving

[CaesarBonaparte]

who the F#%k would dislike this? Seriously, who the hell are these people? 

[AppelbyArrow]

@msungs I'm not. You must be an asshole.

[854pearl]

really,? 33 dislikes? what kind of asshole do you have to be to dislike this? This is how we save the world. one well at a time, one house at a time, one school at a time. I believe that if you want to live on this planet you should be willing to make it a better place to live.

[Herringsmakegoodaxes]

Ah youtube, the land of pointless and comlicated arguments over something GOOD and CONSTRUCTIVE. We should be HAPPY for these people, together, instead of all this stupid bickering. that's what nerdfighteria is all about. Come on internet. DFTBA

[KellanLikeWhoa]

I'm done trying to argue with someone when everyone else is doing the same.

[KellanLikeWhoa]

@kovona Yet you still try. My mother's side of the family fled to Taiwan to escape China when my grandmother was a baby. Had this been a different situation, I'd think that's pretty cool that we have that sort of thing in common. I just wish you'd let people be happy for Hank and what he helped do, instead coming over and raining on everyone's parade. I'm not going to try and say I've done any hard labour as a child, as I haven't, but that doesn't change how I feel about Haiti.

[MilwiththeEna]

You have no idea how incredibly happy this video makes me.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona Sorry for the short and choppy replies, YT is only allowing me 200 characters for some reason.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona Plus, deforestation has completely destroyed the environment so there is less water to get. So yes, you may be able to dig a hole in other places, but there are other serious factors in Haiti.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona From the statistics I've seen 60% of the population live on under $2 a day (the definition of extreme poverty) which means they don't have money for food, much less the money to build a well.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona I understand your need to relate this to what you know, but there is a lot else to consider. In the instance of Haiti, you're not only dealing with extreme poverty but massive deforestation.

[kovona]

@Nanishilarh From what I'm hearing, it sounds like a well is some amazing high tech product that Apple came out with last year. Wells have been around for a thousands of years, older than the invention of the wheel. But then again I seen people today who can't even put a hammer to a nail properly. If the well doesn't hit anything, you dig another one. And you don't need fancy reverse osmosis, you just boil it. It isn't magic, that's my point. Its just effort on part of the man

[kovona]

@Nanishilarh Haiti is in the Caribbean, not Africa. But yea, cholera is pretty bad, so I guess these people did need help. There was an outbreak in some small town near where I live a couple years, and people were depending on bottled water because the whole town drew its water from the ground. Of course, you can't expect these chaps to afford a supply of Aquafina, so I apologize for that. Still, I'm pondering why this village doesn't have a well in the first place? Newly bult?

[kovona]

@chlsyrhd Back in the country, a guy from the village would get drop down into our village well on a hemp rope, and he'll scrub everything clean and patch up any wear. So yea, you need maintenance, but it don't take a specialist in a hard hat to do it. Our oldest village well was built 300 years ago, and the water you get is cleaner than the municipal tap from the local town.

[kovona]

@chlsyrhd Yes, you're right about that, there is some prior technical experience when it comes to building wells. But I always thought it was knowledge that was part of the local tradition in the area, something that has endured for at least centuries as in China. But now that I think about, most of the Haitian population was descended from the African slave population, so I guess they probably don't have that tradition in place after being taken from their homeland :\. My bad.

[kovona]

@KellanLikeWhoa My family came out from China during the 80s when it was still communist, manage to get everyone to Canada legally despite the fact they were just collective pig farmers in the countryside of Guangdong. When they got here, they worked for 2 dollars an hour, 7 days a week in sweat shops. My dad started his trade and I started working for him at 13, picking up near a ton of shingles each day during my summer breaks. I don't need to prove anything to you.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona More importantly, these villages need to be properly trained and educated so they can run things by themselves and achieve independence from NGOs. But that training and knowledge isn't going to come from out of no where,

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona It's not just digging a hole in the ground, there is a ton of science and technique that needs to be applied. I understand where you're coming from and that it would be much more beneficial to a society if they were to dig their own wells, but in most places the education and technology doesn't exist. In a perfect world people would be able to make and maintain their own water, but for now most villages need help.

[chlsyrhd]

@kovona Building a well is in no way a DIY project. There needs to be a great deal of testing the soil and the water itself before a well can be properly made. UNICEF built wells in the 90s in Bangladesh and because the soil around it wasn't tested properly, 40,000 people were poisoned with naturally occurring arsenic in the soil. Plus, there's a ton a maintenance involved in keeping a well clean. If that maintenance doesn't happen, wells can be irreparably destroyed.

[Nanishilarh]

@kovona I've dug a well, I've walked for 2hrs to get to the nearest water and there r some scammers out there, but most of these people genuinally need a help. Watch the first vid, Hank said that people in that village were dying from cholera - a disease you get from drinking dirty water. Are these villagers so desperate to scam someone that they're willing to let the people they love die? I suggest you go to Africa for a year, build a well, then maybe you'll understand a bit better.

[Nanishilarh]

@kovona Resources are scares in Haiti and cost a lot of money. Do you know what needs to go into buliding a well? Can you guarentee that where you dig will hit water when you're in a dried up land? Can you stop the well collasping before you get the bricks in place? Once done how can you purify the water so it's safe to drink? You are approaching the situation in a very first-world way and seem to think that if they get up and dig a bit everything will magically be done.

[Nanishilarh]

@kovona I've checked the vids you linked. Very inspiring. But you're saying that everyone can do that and anyone who argues with you is a kid who's spolit by first-world living. Just because you're from a diy family does not mean you understand what's happening in these countries - building a well takes time, money, experience and equipment - the mexicans who bulit the well knew what they were doing and had access to the proper equipment.

[KellanLikeWhoa]

@kovona My family has often chosen to do things themselves. I know what it's like to be in a "diy" family. But many members of my family have been in the military, and they've visited other third world countries. Sometimes, people need help. These people got it. Don't make it seem like you have such a great worldly vision because you have a different opinion.

[KellanLikeWhoa]

@kovona Don't call us kids, that's just an attempt to seem superior on your part. Go to Haiti, live their lives exactly as they do, understand them and their situation, then say how simple it is to just "dig a well" and they're just "lazy" and I'd really love it if you used a couple of videos to back yourself up.

[kovona]

@KellanLikeWhoa Look I apologize for that. But here's what I'm trying to tell you kids, things can be done without having a guy in a company uniform do it for you. People have been doing stuff like this themselves for a long long time. I think the problem is that the good life in first-world countries have robbed most of you of that knowledge, knowing a person can be independent and not tied down to a larger system. It is possible, especially digging a well for yourselves.

[kovona]

@KellanLikeWhoa I think I know the issue here....

You kids have all this wonderful market-economy services to tend to your or your parents' needs; whenever a water pipe burst or you need to put up a fence in your backyard. I was born in a DIY family, my dad's a handyman/roofer, my uncle's a landscaper, and my grandfather pretty much did everything else. I was taught if you can do something yourself, why pay someone else to do it. I guess others just don't see this the way I do.

[kovona]

@ruthiee265 I'm trying to show people the truth...damn it man, why am I the bad guy? ?v=4CbZ6NATSpE < watch this please! Why can't this little village in Haiti do what these guys did? LOOK! The truth is this village just scammed their benefactors into paying for something they could had done themselves! Its like the shaking lady begger who makes 200 grand a year!