By Doug Jacobson
In the highlands of Guatemala people washing their clothes in a stream is a daily task. As is carrying water in buckets from the same stream, sometimes for several miles, then gathering firewood to boil the water before it might be safe to drink. Disease from waterborne contaminants is widespread, and in some cases patients in hospitals are forced to bring their own water because the local hospital does not have clean water. Clean, safe water, a commodity we take for granted, is unknown for thousands of the proud, hard-working people of Guatemala.
Elmbrook Rotary Club is stepping to help. Our International Services Committee will be leading a project in 2025 to bring clean, safe water to two communities in the Guatemalan highlands. Cruz Chich and Chumisa are home to 3700 indigenous Mayan people who have never had access to clean water. Partnering with the people of these two communities, as well as the local Vista Hermosa Rotary Club, the Marquette University chapter of Engineers without Borders, the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, and other potential Rotary clubs in Wisconsin and elsewhere, we are on our way to raising the funds for this exciting $260,000 project.
The initial phase of this project has already begun through the efforts of the people in the communities. The task is significant. Trenches must be dug, and pipelines constructed to bring clean water to the villages from a spring seven kilometers away. Storage tanks and treatment facilities will be constructed, and more than 400 connections will be made to individual homes. The people of these two communities, who are supplying some of the funding and all the labor, purchased the spring several years ago and now, with help from Vista Hermosa Rotary Club and Elmbrook Rotary Club, look forward to a day very soon when they will finally have clean, safe water available in their homes.
As indicated above, we are still in the process of raising all the necessary funding for this project and donations of any size will be greatly appreciated. Contact Harry Farchmin or Doug Jacobson if you want to help.
Thank you, Harry Farchmin and Doug Jacobson, for spearheading this multi-club initiative.
