Conclusion of EORM Paraje Choyer-Kabal Water Project – Guatemala

This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Monica Echavarria.

To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.

The project was originally designed to build three individual tanks for storage to provide for the water needs of the school. It evolved to a better solution to use one larger tank, and pipe the water to individual sinks.

Monica reports:

On behalf of the community and the school Choyer-Kabal of Santa Ana, we want to say thank you for all of your help. We successfully finished the project on the 12 of March 2012.

We changed the original plan to make it a better fit for the school and community. We decided to have one single deposit of water. Built above the kitchen, the water now flows by gravity to two separate ‘pilas’ (large sinks) located on the sides of the teachers’ classrooms. This was done to enable hand washing and teeth brushing to be more accessible to the students.

Project funds were used to pay for materials, including iron, tubes, and cement, and to pay for the work of the local mason and his assistant.

At the beginning of the project we had to get the school and the community to come to an agreement as to how we were going to implement the project. We developed a schedule of the materials we would need, and called the hardware store to get price quotes. We then went to the center of town, bought the materials, and scheduled the delivery to the school.

The next week we delivered all of the materials. The families of the community came out to help unload the truck.

The local mason and his assistant then worked on the tower for the deposit. They then ran the piping from the water source to the tank and from the tank to the pilas.

On March 12 we were able to declare the project a success. As a community we celebrated by washing our hands before eating delicious tamalitos.

Again, thank you very much Water Charity for all of your help. Now over 400 people will be able to practice healthy habits.

We wish to thank Monica for completing this project, and again extend our gratitude to The Soneva SLOW LIFE Trust for providing the funding.