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Red Cross Brings Water to Guatemala Community
Virginia Caivano, with the American Red Cross Field Delegation in Guatemala
Friday, July 18, 2003 — In Chiqui Rocja Setaņa, Guatemala, distance is not measured in miles but in time. How far away is the nearest road, the nearest doctor? A 30 minute walk on a narrow footpath, across two streams and a rutted track that only a four-wheel drive can cross on a dry day. From there, bounce 15 minutes down the rough path to the "Centro de Convergencia," before traveling another hour to reach pavement again. But even then, the town of Coban, Guatemala, is still 45 minutes away.
American Red Cross delegates on the road to Sentaņa, Guatemala
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As we arrive in Sentaņa, women speed downhill balancing baskets of food on their heads in preparation for the big day. It's Sunday, July 13, 2003, and this community of 27 families is inaugurating its first ever potable water system and set of latrines. This water and sanitation project is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan Red Cross and the American Red Cross, with funds donated by the Chlorine Chemistry Council.
Festivities began with a friendly soccer game, between the community members in Setaņa and Guatemalan Red Cross staff and volunteers. Players from the GRC's Coban Chapter began traveling at 4:00 AM in order to arrive for the festivities.
As the men play soccer, the busy women, wearing gray gathered skirts and their best "huipil" or blouse, are speaking in their native Q'eqchi, one of twenty indigenous languages still used in Guatemala. Meanwhile, the children raise the flag in front of their one-room plank school building.
From the school, it's a 40 minute uphill walk to reach the spring that feeds the potable water system. The men dug the trenches for the system by hand and carried the pipe in on their backs. The footpath is so muddy that wheelbarrows could not move through the path and the 'bridge' is actually a small log. Under these conditions the Setaņa men and women packed in tons of material to build their water storage tank and 30 latrines. Out here, distance is also measured in effort.
Community members celebrate with Red Cross delegates at the inauguration ceremony.
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When speeches begin at the inauguration, a lone schoolteacher translates between Spanish and Q'eqchi, while guests sweat in the tropical midday heat. As a young woman climbs onto the wooden platform, the rest of the women moved in closer because she has been selected to speak for them at the inauguration ceremony.
The families are grateful for the water faucet each of them now has outside of their home, before there was never enough water in the house. Water had to be carried from the river, which was a difficult task that left the women was tired by the end of the day. However, there was still never enough water.
Also as part of the project, a Red Cross facilitator made multiple trips to Setaņa to teach basic hygiene: the benefits of chlorinating water, using latrines, and hand-washing to reduce childhood diarrhea. The facilitator speaks Q'eqchi and is an example of one of the great strengths of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In 178 countries around the world, the Red Cross provides help directly to the most vulnerable, using local staff and volunteers who know the area and language.
At the end of the day, the Setaņa soccer team had been victorious, the children had eaten their meal of soup and corn tortillas, and the Red Cross guests enjoyed a special meal-turkey sacrificed in their honor. At the conclusion of the meal, large leaves were passed around the table and guests were invited to make a "shell," a leaf-wrapped package of leftovers, to carry on the long journey home.
What You Can Do to Help
To continue assisting the people of Guatemala, Central America and around the globe, the American Red Cross needs additional financial assistance to expand its programs, initiatives, emergency food distributions and long-term recovery programs. American Red Cross financial assistance will concentrate on building the capacity of Red Cross societies and branches to help local people to get the safe water and food they need to survive and assist them in finding lasting solutions to the problems of water, hunger and poverty.
Donations to the International Response Fund can be mailed to your local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Secure online credit card donations can be made by visiting www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-REDCROSS (1-800-733-2767) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives.
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