El Porvenir Water Project

El Porvenir, the coffee cooperative we closely work with, is trying to finish up the water project that the Bucknell engineers started. They have been waiting for this water project to be completed for a year now.

They have a well at the bottom of their mountain. In the dry season after all the water that was caught from their roofs during the rains and stored in tanks is used up, the beaten up tractor goes down the treacherous road around 3:30AM and loads up the trailer with water to haul back up the mountain around 4:30 and that is the water for the day…somewhere between 1-2 gallons of water/day/person. With the water project, the water is pumped up the mountain in small, but consistent amounts to give people not running water but way more water than they have now. As one who gives out medicines, many of their conditions can be treated with water…urinary tract infections…so many skin disorders that can be eliminated with clean water.

So as the water project is nearing its completion, last week their original pump on the well broke…well, I can’t imagine how disheartening that had to have been. The water project goes on hold as they round up money to get the pump fixed. This is the life of poor people…something seems to be going right and then something else breaks or someone gets sick and then it is back to square one and square one is a hard place to live. -- Kathleen