(Photo courtesy of Mick Shea) Libby Rotarians are at the forefront of a collaborative humanitarian project in Guatemala that is providing one of life’s basic needs — clean water.
The Rotary Club of the Kootenai Valley has been involved in helping communities in the Central America country get access to clean water since Libby Rotarian George Gerard got the ball rolling in 2006.
“What’s gratifying is the people; they’re so appreciative.” Gerard and fellow Libby Rotarian Mick Shea, along with Sandy Carlson of the Kalispell Daybreak Rotary Club and Pat Murtagh with Engineers Without Borders recently returned from a trip to Guatemala to gather the final information and documentation needed for the Rotary International grant application for the Guatemala coalition’s water project for the community of El Progreso.
Eight Rotary clubs in Northwest Montana, along with the Missoula Sunrise Rotary Club, pool their financial resources to help fund the Guatemala water projects, Gerard explained.
Rotarians in Northwest Montana work in tandem with Rotarians of the Mazatenango Club on water projects that have been completed through the years.
“The way Rotary operates, before a Rotary club in the U.S. can go into a country to do any work, you need to be invited by another Rotary club, a host club,” Shea explained.
Later in the week they met with leaders of the community of Pezac and the organization Fundazucar, and with the townspeople of La Vega, home of a future water project.
Shea, who has traveled to Guatemala seven times for Rotary projects, said there’s a great need for clean water in many parts of the country, particularly in rural villages.
Most villages simply don’t have the money to cover the cost of materials, design and engineering work and the skilled labor for building the concrete water tanks, he added.
While many of the projects have been completed in mountainous terrain, the Rotarians now are working in Guatemala’s coastal plains, helping to provide funding for new water wells.