Guatemala Water & Sanitation Projects
17 District 7890 Rotary Clubs Join Together to Complete 7th Water Project in Guatemala
Seventeen Rotary Clubs in northern CT and Western MA (Rotary District 7890) have joined together to fund a project that will bring fresh drinking water to a needy community in Guatemala. Clubs from Bloomfield, Broad Brook, Danielson, E-Club, East Hartford, Farmington, Glastonbury, Manchester, Rockville, Torrington, Watertown, Wethersfield/Rocky Hill, Willimantic and Windsor/Windsor Locks, CT along with Massachusetts’ clubs in Southwick, West Springfield and Wilbraham/Hampden have raised $37,000 to build a complete gravity fed water system with gray water filters and vented pit latrines for the 75 families (450 people) that live in the rural community of El Pericon, Guatemala. This is the seventh funded project continuing the goal of Rotary International to have every Rotary Club support international water and sanitation project every year. By working together and pooling their resources, the Rotarians have been successful in adding size and strength to their chosen projects. Two Rotary clubs from neighboring Massachusetts/Rhode Island District 7950, East Greenwich and Wakefield, RI also contributed to the project thereby exceeding the original goal of $36,800. A recent article in the Hartford Courant outlined the history of the Guatemala initiatives.
At a recent meeting of the Manchester Rotary Club representatives from clubs contributing to the El Pericon, Guatemala water projects are as follows (L-R):
Front Row: Margaret Byrne – Broad Brook, Beth Stafford – Manchester, Peg Durkee – Watertown, Zoe Kopp – BPD Past Vice President, Kristin Kalar – E-Club, Sheryl Kempain – Danielson, Patty Strazzulla – Farmington and Rich Bansavich – Rockville.
Back Row: Manchester Rotarian & Project Chair Rick Lawrence, Steve Wasley – Farmington, David Condon & David Bonomi – West Springfield, Jeffrey Kane – Wilbraham/Hampton, Randy Kempain – Danielson, Conrad Sienkiewicz – Torrington, District Governor Sue Klock, Peter Klock – East Hartford.
District Water Committee Chair and Manchester Rotarian Rick Lawrence again spearheaded the drive to raise the necessary funds by making presentations about the project to the area clubs as well as several other Rotary clubs in Greater Hartford. In February he and his wife traveled to Guatemala to visit the village that was funded the previous year. While there, he photographically documented the improvements and expressions of gratitude displayed by the members of the village, utilizing these during his presentations and showing the Rotarians how important their past contributions were to these indigenous Mayans.
The project’s implementation will be coordinated through Behrhorst Partners for Development (BPD), a non-profit organization with ties to over 60 communities in Guatemala. Behrhorst helps train community-chosen people as traditional birth attendants, a health promoter, a village dispensary manager and someone to oversee use of medical emergency transportation funds. Behrhorst also provides extensive training in hygiene, maintenance of the water system components, micro loans, nutrition, including help in school and home vegetable gardens, as well as educational talks about family planning and birth spacing. In Guatemala over 50% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
This Rotary project will help address some of the basic causes of poor health in this area, and will help the villagers address basic sanitation – water systems, gray-water filters and latrines – in order to help prevent the constant illnesses that afflict the population, particularly children.