|
Dear friends,
My apologies for the delay with this update. Thank you for your recent emails and letters requesting news on our humanitarian efforts at Critical Path Foundation. Your compassion and concern for our mission is greatly appreciated.
Over the past 6 years our humanitarian efforts have been focused on the Caribbean Region where millions of children struggle to survive each day in filthy, violent conditions without physical protection, healthy food, clean water and the basic necessities of life. We believe that every child struggling to survive in extreme poverty deserves a chance at life.
Since the devastating 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010 we have provided ongoing support for several hundred orphans in Port au Prince and other locations throughout the country. We use our limited financial resources to provide healthy food, clean water, shelter and education for many children who have been lost and forgotten in the chaos that has overwhelmed the entire country.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in government-to-government and large NGO humanitarian aid continues to flow into Haiti each year. However, pervasive corruption and lack of financial transparency within these international government agencies and institutional charities has produced a seemingly irreversible humanitarian condition of abject poverty, despair and suffering. More than 80% of the Haitian people live in the worst poverty in the western hemisphere with no hope of escape.
Critical Path Foundation is an independent, non-aligned, humanitarian organization operated by volunteers who receive no compensation. We are legally recognized in the United States as a 501(c)3 tax exempt charity. Our work is funded exclusively by private donations. 100% of your contributions go directly to support the children. The limited overhead and administrative expenses of Critical Path are funded by our business partner PureH2O Caribbean, Ltd., a leading water treatment technologies company based in The Bahamas (www.pureh2ocaribbean.com).
As we continue to support the orphans and abandoned children of Haiti, we are also now focusing our humanitarian efforts on the care and support for suffering children in our home country of The Bahamas.
There are an estimated 60-70,000 undocumented immigrants in The Bahamas. The largest percentage of the immigrants are Haitian refugees living in shanty towns and tent camps that are indistinguishable from the worst slums of Haiti. The Haitian refugees come by boat to the islands of The Bahamas in search for work and a better life. The majority of the boat refugees have no formal identity documents. They are alone, afraid and desperate. They speak Creole, not English. Most of them are kind, gentle, and humble. They construct shanty dwellings with no electricity or running water. They have no health care, education or means of financial support. The flood of undocumented immigrants into The Bahamas has produced a chaotic tipping point with rapidly escalating social disorder throughout the country. In the midst of this daunting humanitarian challenge, Critical Path Foundation is dedicated to caring for the children in greatest need.
In addition to the expanding undocumented immigrant population of The Bahamas, tens of thousands of native Bahamians are living in extreme poverty. The cost of living in The Bahamas is among the highest in the western hemisphere. Most of our food and consumer products are imported and subject to the government customs taxes and VAT that reach 80%. The working poor of our society live in a state of constant deprivation and financial anxiety, barely managing to survive. This extreme human suffering in our beautiful island nation is mostly hidden from the view of tourists and the many privileged Bahamians who live in gated communities and wealthy enclaves far removed from the large ghettos of Nassau.
Critical Path Foundation is presently supplying water treatment systems to poor working families in Nassau who do not have access to clean drinking water. Last weekend our friends at PureH2O and Critical Path volunteers installed a new $6,000.00 reverse osmosis drinking water system for a Bahamian family of 6 living in one of Nassau's many ghettos. The parents have been married 18 years and are both employed full time, one as a construction laborer and the other in a fast food restaurant. They are devoted, loving parents who are working hard to give their children a better life. The family has never had running water or an operating in-door toilet. The children bath with cold water carried in 5 gallon buckets from an open well. The water is highly contaminated with bacteria and other hazardous material. The new complete water purification system donated by PureH2O will give this family clean water for drinking, bathing and food preparation for the first time.
We will keep you posted on our ongoing efforts to protect and care for children in need. We are humbled and most grateful for your continued financial support and prayers for our mission at Critical Path Foundation.
Warm regards,
Charles P. Beall
Founder & Chairman
Critical Path Foundation
Nassau, The Bahamas
www.criticalpathinternational.org
Previous News: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
|
