Clean Water for Haiti

A couple from our church are going to Haiti in January to work with Clean Water for Haiti. Their primary goal is the distribution of biosand filters. The picture is a cutaway version on display in the lobby. It seems like a reasonable thing to do. We had a sand filter on our pool in Phoenix. Of course we also used chlorine, so it's not exactly the same.

A quick Google turned up a couple other outfits working on the same problem, some have bigger goals, like city water supplies, some are more specialized, like water for a hospital. It's funny much of the world is having trouble getting clean water. With Haiti I can kind of understand it, the place has been a rathole forever. Why is that? What is it with these third world countries that they cannot take care of themselves?

Update March 2016 replaced missing picture.