Kansans Bring Clean Water Systems to Haiti

“Water is basic,” explained Texie Randle, a retired Wichita school teacher who just returned from her second mission trip to Haiti last month. “Pure water is one of the best ways to help eliminate disease so people can get healthy and get a job. I’ve been on other mission trips, but this one gets to the basics.”

Randle and six other Presbyterian Church volunteers returned from a week in Haiti after installing a water purification system which will provide water for the Casa Major orphanage, located about 100 miles (or six hours) from Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince.

But Randle and the others don’t just give one week, they are part of a program started by Living Waters for the World (LWW) which partners with many churches and charitable groups. To volunteer, you must attend Clean Water U., located in Oxford, Mississippi since 2004. Each volunteer is trained in one of three jobs–installation, logistics, or training the people who will maintain and use the system.

The idea began with Wil Howie, a Presbyterian minister, in the early 1990s. The group has partnered with mission teams to install and operate over 500 clean-water systems in many parts of the world. Each system costs only $15,000.

“I got involved,” remembers Skip Johnson, “following the Haiti earthquake in 2010.” Johnson, a retired Presbyterian minister from Hutchinson, was part of a group taking supplies for the survivors to a staging area in Arkansas. “We heard about the project, and decided to bring it back to the Presbytery of Southern Kansas. In 2011, they raised $100,000 to fund Kansas’ part. Since then, volunteers have installed six purification systems in Haiti.

“Cholera is a huge issue in Haiti,” said Johnson. “This program lets people help with clean water and clean energy, one village at a time. That’s great, but it’s the people who keep bringing us back. The people are incredible! They have faith and hope.”

The water systems are solar powered by Solar Under the Sun, another Presbyterian mission group. The cost for each volunteer was $1,500 for their travel to Haiti. The systems produce 300 gallons of clean water per hour and are installed to provide water for a particular need. Extra water is sold to fund maintenance.

By Cathy Feemster. Published in the May, 2013 issue of East Wichita News.

Photo by David Becker on Unsplash – downloaded October 18, 2026.