Mountaintop Rotary Installs Water Filtration System in a Remote Bolivian Village By Merritt N. Shaw

Mountaintop Rotary Installs Water Filtration System in a Remote Bolivian Village

By Merritt N. Shaw

Can you imagine life without clean drinking water?

This is what life was like in Villa Amboro, Bolivia, a remote village located in Amboro National Park, with no electricity that had no modern filtration system for clean water…until now.

Supported by an International Rotary Grant, some members of The Rotary Club of Highlands Mountaintop along with other dedicated volunteers in Highlands made a trip there, in May, to install a water pump and filtration system, to educate the local community on how to maintain the system and how it can provide clean water for drinking, preparing and cooking food, teeth brushing, bathing and caring for infants for 47 families in Villa Amboro with the potential to help up to 130 village families in the area.

The Rotary Club of Highlands Mountaintop is providing advice, maintenance and support for at least three years to give the villagers time to build a small fund for system maintenance by selling water at less than market rates to other communities in the area.

Immediate Past President, Skip Taylor said, “We came away with a great sense of accomplishment, knowing that the people of Villa Amboro will now have access to clean water. But we also came away knowing that so much more could be done to improve the health and sanitation of the village.”

2013-14 President, Hillrie Quin, who coordinated material delivery, said, “The Rotary motto is, ‘Service Above Self.’ Serving does not mean doing for someone what they can do for themselves, it means truly partnering with the community with all partners contributing what they can.”

Highlands Mountaintop Rotarians involved were Skip Taylor, Hillrie Quin, Dr. John Baumrucker, Rev Dr. Lee Bowman, and Ann Greenlee.  Non-Rotarians who contributed were Marty Boone, Joe Mangum, Eva Montano, Ebert Montano, Mary Ann Sloan and Willis Willey. German Landivar from the Rotary Club of Montero, Bolivia also worked with the group on several occasions.   

For trip details visit www.mountaintoprotary.blogspot.com or to learn more about Rotary visit www.mountaintoproatry.net.