Update: One of our Destra players lost her home to Isaac, but fortunately, her family had prepared by packing up their things, so they were able to save what small material possessions (cookware, toiletries, clothes) they had. Several other homes in the community of Destra were also destroyed. In Bausan, while no homes were destroyed, rising floodwater and mud swept away or ruined the belongings of several of our players. We'll follow up with more information soon. Hurricane Isaac has directly affected the communities in which we work here in Leogane, Haiti, but thankfully our teams, staff and their families and homes didn't experience too much damage.
In the days leading up to Isaac's arrival, our Regional Coordinator Emilio personally visited each of our sites to speak with our kids about keeping themselves safe. Flash floods, falling trees and even falling structures are serious dangers when a storm system visits Haiti. Rising flood waters and storm surges can wipe out entire villages. At the moment, we're all a little soggy from leaky roofs and flooded and debris-strewn streets, but that's about it.
As the flood waters are slowly starting to recede, the aftermath continues: standing water means an increased threat of both mosquito-borne illness and exposure to cholera, and ruined crops will threaten food security for months to come.
Destra Girls Team
For now, we're grateful that all of our teams are doing ok, and our kids are planning on playing soccer first thing Monday morning as usual, at least on the fields that aren't still under water!
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