Spanish and Guatemalan Rotarians create bonds through Water and Sanitation Project 
Rotary Clubs in Spain and Guatemala are working together to construct a water well in the village of Patzún, Guatemala. The well will be 1,200 feet deep. It will require a pump, distribution tank, chlorination system, pumping system for distribution and distribution network. Its estimated cost is $114,000 USD. Maintenance has been coordinated with the municipality.
This water system will benefit 500 families (approximately 3,000 people) who live on their crops of broccoli, peas and sweet pea, corn and fruit trees such as peaches, apples and plums.
The clubs are using a Global Grant from The Rotary Foundation to undertake this important project in an underserved area of Guatemala.
Rotarians Create Bonds of Friendship between Spain and Guatemala through Water and Sanitation project
By Juan Jesús Suárez, PDG and WASRAG Ambassador
Two years ago, on a cool spring afternoon, the former president of my Rotary club, Alejandro F. García, as well as the honorary consul of Guatemala in Las Palmas, organized a meeting with a special guest: Sandra Pruckmyer, an Austrian national and senior manager of the TUI company in the Canary Islands.
Sandra one day decided to travel to Guatemala to get to know the country and was impressed with the beauty of its landscapes, the attractiveness of its culture and ... the poverty of some of its villages in the center of the country. He was surprised to see that many families in the villages of the country had to travel many kilometres daily to access drinking water. Boys and girls carrying buckets of water, giving up education and training, games, and family life. He allocated money he had saved in his work to raise funds to buy water filters in Spain and take them to the villages in Guatemala. Each filter helped families to "purify" unsanitary waters, for at least two years.
While filters solved an immediate need, it was soon realized that a well was required. So the Rotary Club Ciudad de Arucas, in Spain, began the efforts to endow a village with a water well through a Global grant from The Rotary Foundation.
The construction of the water well will be in Patzún Village in Las Camelias, located in the municipality of Patzicía, Chimaltenango in Guatemala. The well will be 1,200 feet deep. It will require a pump, distribution tank, chlorination system, pumping system for distribution and distribution network. Its estimated cost is $114,000 USD. Maintenance has been coordinated with the municipality.
This water system will benefit 500 families (approximately 3,000 people) who live on their crops of broccoli, peas and sweet pea, corn and fruit trees such as peaches, apples and plums.
The first objective with the construction of the well is to reduce mortality rates among the children of this village since we realized that if basic needs are not met, it is difficult to focus on education.
Water pollution is causing severe diarrhoea in its inhabitants and is one of the main causes of infant death in that rural area (more than 30% in children under 5 years old).
The Global Grant, whose sponsors will be the Rotary Club of Guatemala (Guatemala), the Rotary Club of the City of Arucas (Spain), the Rotary Club of Vitoria (Spain), the Rotary Districts 4250 of Guatemala and 2201 of Spain, as well as the Asociación Yolihuani, a non-profit association based in Gran Canaria whose main objective is the implementation of infrastructure in the most disadvantaged and inaccessible indigenous villages in Guatemala.