As the weeks go by since the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, clean water and medical treatment continue to be crucial elements for survival. A grant of US$50,000 from The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) will help provide a two-week supply of bottled water for 42,000 people; distribute purification sachets to produce 13 million gallons of potable water to communities where none is available; and distribute oral rehydration solution and salts (ORS) to treat 125,000 children and adults at risk of severe dehydration and water-borne illnesses.

The AmeriCares Foundation, recipient of the grant, has developed a three-pronged initiative to address the water crisis during the acute phase of disaster response, six to eight weeks after the quake. As clean running water is scarce due to the breakdown of water mains, bottled water is being delivered to shelters, camps and medical facilities.

The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) gave US $25,000 to sponsor multi-day eye clinics in seven cities December 2009 through January 2010 that provided eye care free of charge to over 13,500 people in India.

Almost 10,000 people received prescription glasses, over 10,500 were given eye drops for infections, and more than 1,700 were diagnosed with cataracts and referred to hospitals for further treatment.

In 2007, the Health Ministry of India estimated that 1.1% of the population suffered from blindness, 80% of which was preventable. Yet millions are unable to receive the care that could preserve their eyesight.

Less than twenty-four hours after the Haiti earthquake, The Prem Rawat Foundation began an ongoing fundraising campaign to help the survivors. The response from all over the world was immediate and heartfelt.

Three days after the quake, the Foundation was able to make a grant of $50,000 to Friends of the World Food Program to help bring immediate aid to the survivors. Because the World Food Program (WFP) has long run a food-aid program in Haiti, they were in a position to begin food distribution in the first twenty-four hours of the crisis. See press release here.

This is just the beginning. TPRF is planning to provide ongoing essential aid as people in Haiti begin their long road to recovery. People all over the world are joining in — making donations by mail, through the TPRF Website, and via the Foundation’s custom campaign on Facebook. It is heartwarming to see the response from all those who support the Foundation’s efforts to help provide those in need with the essentials of life.

WFP Haiti photo credit: WFP/Alejandro Chicheri

The Prem Rawat Foundation gave a grant in August 2009 for food aid to families displaced by the internal conflict in the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, one of the poorest areas in the country. The grant of US$30,000 provided food for one month to over 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were forced to find a way to survive outside the overcrowded refugee camps.

Most of these were being hosted by strangers who had generously offered to take them in, but did so at the expense of their own family’s wellbeing. Soon both the IDPs and their host families had become vulnerable to the competition for severely limited resources. TPRF’s grant provided food packages containing rice, three kinds of legumes, tea, oil, and flour to over 700 families. TPRF’s partner, the Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre handled need assessments, food purchases, and distribution, giving particular care to respect the dignity and special requirements of the recipients, most of whom were women and children.