They don’t have fences either…
They get their water from about 15 different wells (more like holes in the ground) and have to carry it back to their house. The women usually make three or more trips per day, each trip taking 5-30 minutes depending on how far away the well is from their house. During the dry season they wake up at 4 am to go to the well to get water before it dries up. This can take hours because all the women are there at the same time trying to get water.
At the urging of a Rotary Club from Minnesota that visited Buena Vista for a medical brigade last year, Agua Pura installed filters in the community. In early December the Agua Pura team went to Buena Vista for the week to do monitoring of the filters and train Community Agents from El Carmen and Buena Vista.
Mauricio teaching about the three steps of water treatment
Nineth teaching filter installation
Proud graduates
It was wonderful to find that the health of the community has improved greatly since they started using water but they still have a serious lack of water. Luckily the same Minnesota Rotary Club that visited last year is hoping to fund the installation of a water system in the community to provide everyone with running water. Therefore Katie Strass, a Peace Corps Volunteer who works as a Water & Sanitation engineer, also went to Buena Vista for the week to collect data for the water system. Meanwhile, Allison, the Peace Corps Volunteer that works with Agua Pura, went door-to-door conducting a needs assessment for the application to Rotary International for the funding for the water system. Everyone in the community was happy to see us and thanked us for visiting.
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