By Kate Schecter

News Americas, PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Weds. Feb. 21, 2024: Haiti continues to be challenged by government instability and gang violence.  Basic services such as municipal electricity, clean water and sanitation are not available to communities in rural areas.  The breakdown of water and sanitation can result in disease outbreaks, like the cholera infections that swept the island several times over the past decade.

As a result, communities often need to step in and provide their own clean water.

The good news is clean water can be obtained using inexpensive and easy-to-build innovations like bio-sand filters.

A bio-sand filter is a container the size of an office water cooler or larger.    It has an inset plastic pipe and is filled with layers of sand and gravel. Dirty water is poured into the top of a filter, where a diffuser plate evenly distributes the water over the sand bed layer. The water travels down through the sand bed, passes through multiple layers of gravel, and collects in the plastic pipe at the bottom of the filter. The clean water then exits through the plastic piping for a family to collect. 

Savius Sinclair attended a workshop held by World Neighbors and its local partners on how to build a bio-sand filter.   Due to a lack of reliable clean water, his wife suffered frequently from diarrhea, vomiting and stomach aches.   While less threatening than cholera, these “normal” gastrointestinal illnesses transmitted through unsafe water cause immense personal suffering.   The constant illness prevented Savius’s wife and other members of his village from earning money by farming vegetables and selling them in local markets.  Ill health causes people to be unable to work and in turn can perpetuate poverty.

With their bio-sand filter, Savius wife is much healthier.  He and his wife now drink clean water and can engage in regular work and other normal activities. Savius can monitor and clean the filter on a regular basis to insure a sustainable supply of clean water. Their income is stable.  They and other farmers in their community are also learning simple organic farming techniques to increase output and quality and cut input costs. All 17,000 people in Savius’s farming community have expressed a desire for bio-sand filters.  

Haiti has many needs.   Even with its current challenges, providing access to clean water to reduce illness and facilitate economic activity is entirely possible.   Inexpensive innovations like bio-sand filters are one way to do it. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kate Shecter is President and CEO of World Neighbors.

News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Weds. Feb. 14, 2024: Former Premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Andrew Fahie has been convicted in Miami Federal Court for his involvement in a conspiracy to facilitate the transportation of large quantities of cocaine through the archipelago in 2022.

Andrew Fahie, from premier to US federal inmate.

After more than four hours of deliberation, a jury unanimously found Fahie guilty on four counts related to conspiracy and money laundering. He now faces a potential life sentence in prison and a $10 million fine specifically for the cocaine conspiracy charge.

Fahie was found to have collaborated with undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who posed as drug dealers, intending to traffic a significant cocaine shipment through territorial waters.

Previously serving as both the BVI’s premier and tourism minister, Fahie was convicted after a week-long trial. His alleged co-conspirator, Oleanvine Maynard, who held the position of managing director of the British Virgin Islands’ port authority at the time, was arrested alongside Fahie. Maynard provided extensive testimony against Fahie during the trial.

Court documents indicate that Fahie anticipated receiving an initial payment of $500,000 in cash, along with future proceeds from drug sales, in exchange for facilitating the shipment. Fahie, who had been free on bail, was subsequently handcuffed and taken into custody.

Maynard, who pleaded guilty last June to participating in the conspiracy, is set to be sentenced on February 22 by Judge Williams. Reports suggest she is seeking leniency for her cooperation. Fahie has consistently denied all charges against him.

The incident unfolded when Fahie and Maynard, attending the Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Miami in April 2022, decided to investigate a purported $700,000 shipment aboard an airplane they believed was destined for the BVI.

News Americas, PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Thurs. Feb. 1, 2024: A Trinidad and Tobago police officer took the oath to protect and serve. Instead he will now spend 15 years in jail for raping his own daughter.

The officer, whose name was not released in order to protect the identity of the victim, pleaded guilty to seven sexual offences in April, last year but was only sentenced by High Court Judge Hayden St Clair-Douglas earlier this week.

He admitted to raping his 12-year-old daughter several times over a three-year period – more than a decade ago. According to court documents, the officer’s wife discovered that he had been abusing their daughter in July 2010 – after she found a DVD in their bedroom containing a video of one of the attacks while cleaning their bedroom.

While the face of the man in the video was not visible, the woman recognised her husband by his genitals. The woman admitted that she made several copies of the DVD and gave one to her pastor for safekeeping before she confronted her husband.

The officer reportedly denied any wrongdoing before reluctantly admitting to it and claiming that “he did not mean to hurt anybody.” The wife then forced the officer to move out of their home and then made a report to a now retired Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Raymond Craig.

The victim was interviewed and told investigators her father began having sex with her when she was nine-years-old. She said the attacks happened three times weekly in her parents’ bedroom – while her mother was not home. The victim was medically examined and shown the video in her mother’s presence to identify herself.

The officer was slapped with five charges for having sex with a minor, one for grievous sexual assault, and another for serious indecency.

Justice St Clair-Douglas sentenced the officer to 15 years in prison for each of the statutory rape charges and for grievous sexual assault. He was also sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for serious indecency. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently meaning that the officer will be released after serving 15 years in prison.

The officer has already served nine months of his sentence as he was remanded after pleading guilty to the offences, last year.

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 26, 2024: The Archbishop of Haiti, Max Leroy Mésidor, has announced the release of the nuns who were kidnapped last week, along with two others. The revelation came late Wednesday in a statement from the archbishop.

A man armed with a machete runs in a street of Solino, a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 18, 2024. (Photo by RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Last Friday, Jan. 19th, armed gunmen hijacked a bus in Port-au-Prince, taking all of the passengers hostage, including six nuns from the order of the Sisters of Saint Anne.

“The archdiocese of Port-au-Prince thanks the Lord for the liberation of the six religious sisters and the others who were kidnapped on Jan. 19,” said Mesidor. “This traumatising event has, once more, tested our faith, but it remains unbreakable.”

This latest high-profile kidnapping prompted religious leaders to issue a scathing letter criticizing the government for its inaction in addressing Haiti’s surge in gang-related violence.

The statement did not disclose whether a ransom had been paid or provide details about those responsible.

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s official news outlet welcomed the announcement on Thursday, stating, “This marks a sigh of relief for the Haitian church.”

On Sunday, Pope Francis called for the release of hostages and expressed his prayers for an end to the violence in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state. The United Nations estimates that over 4,700 people have been killed in Haiti in the past year due to the ongoing violence.

News Americas, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Fri. Jan. 12, 2024: Guyana Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira has announced that the Irfaan Ally government is exploring ways to enhance the documentation process for all Venezuelan migrants entering the country.

Minister Teixeira addressed concerns raised by the APNU and AFC Oppositions regarding the influx of migrants from neighboring Venezuela. according to iNews Guyana, and strongly refuted allegations that the government was granting citizenship to numerous Venezuelan migrants for political gain in the upcoming 2025 General and Regional Elections, characterizing such claims as unfounded and illogical.

Teixeira emphasized that there had not been a sudden surge in Venezuelan migrants in recent months; rather, there had been a consistent flow of individuals from Venezuela. She provided a detailed explanation of the citizenship acquisition process in Guyana, highlighting the requirement of five consecutive years of residency to become a citizen and the option of marriage to a Guyanese citizen, subject to scrutiny to prevent marriages of convenience.

The minister also acknowledged the need to review the existing citizenship procedures related to marriage, suggesting that couples should spend one year living together before applying. She clarified that even without this criterion, applicants for citizenship in Guyana must undergo background checks and community visits, a process that typically takes about one year to complete.

Teixeira stressed that gaining citizenship in Guyana was not an expedited process and emphasized that Venezuelans, upon becoming naturalized citizens, were granted voting rights—a privilege also extended to Commonwealth citizens residing in Guyana for one year.

The Minister highlighted the government’s compassionate approach toward Venezuelan migrants, noting the presence of Guyanese-born citizens returning and individuals with Guyanese heritage coming to the country. Approximately 30,000 Venezuelan migrants reside in Guyana, with a significant portion having Guyanese connections. This comes amid tensions between Venezuela and Guyana as the Nicholas Maduro government makes claims to Essequibo.