Greetings all,
This is our first blog of Agua del Pueblo’s (AdP’s) 2025 Summit. We intend to publish daily blogs about the Summit.
Vista Hermosa means ‘beautiful view’ in English. Indeed, the town is blessed with incredibly beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and volcano. If only their water and sanitation systems were as beautiful.
Kudos to the Rotary Club of Annapolis, MD (RCA). RCA and Agua del Pueblo became acquainted during the Rotary convention in Atlanta in 2017. Representatives of Vista Hermosa contacted Agua del Pueblo for help in 2021. It’s taken us that long to get our act together:-).
RCA has been incredibly persistent since 2017. The club wanted to find the best project for a Global Grant. RCA representatives first saw Vista Hermosa during a previous Summit. At the time, Agua del Pueblo (AdP) had ranked the rehabilitation of the town of Panimaquip (San Lucas Toliman) as their number one priority. Vista Hermosa was way down on the list, until resurrected by the RCA.
The Summiteers plan to return to visit to Vista Hermosa in a couple of days. Since the Atlanta Rotary convention, Vista Hermosa residents’ only water source has deteriorated such that water flows for a few hours a day. The existing system pumps water to 26 homes and the school. Currently the community has a total of 40 families and a regional school with 34 students.
The community encourged the Rotary Club of Lake Atitlan to visit... and the rest is history.
We already began Rotary’s Community Assessment for the project. Rotary has solid reasons for requiring Community Assessments before approving any Global Grant. Past projects had not focused on topics of community interest, but rather projects supported by individual Rotarians. Community Assessments ensure that the community chooses what Rotary can do. It is an important step to ensure that the community leads in all phases.
In many of our projects, our most significant contribution is improving sanitation in the school. Young girl students find it extremely difficult to continue school through grade school without adequate toilet and sanitation facilities..
Here is the map of the preliminary design of the project:
We have tons more to do this week, ranging from learning about life on a coffee plantation to participating in community-wide meetings. Stay tuned…
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