World Water Day Celebration
On World Water Day, Medwater is officially inaugurating a new installation in the community of San Pedro. Located in the Amazon next to the Napo River, this community has been waiting for over 3 years for government support of a chlorination system from Medwater. Community members decided to do what Medwater has been encouraging: community empowerment. They found their own support for all aspects of the project that were accessible locally. They tapped the township for donations of cement, amongst community members they gathered other building supplies and two large water tanks. With this the community went ahead and built a water purification and distribution area outside of their community center. They fixed piping and plumbing to bring water to the site, and once all preparation were completed, they came to request technical assistance from Fundación Medwater.
Trainings, health education, and followup is handled by the foundation... and through connections with other organizations Fundación Medwater was able to find monetary support for the last elusive piece of the puzzle.. the actual chlorination and filtration system. Teaming up with Amazon Learning and their spring break service trip from Williams College, eight students arrived to take part in the completion of the project. They laid a rock foundation, mixed and poured cement flooring, painted, and help put up the roofing and fencing to protect the new water station.
Over 50 people were in attendance, representatives from the Ministry of Health, Police, neighboring communities, Amazon Learning, and the Institute for Regional Amazonian Development. We went around the room for introductions and people all got a chance to say a little something. Today was a day of celebration...water demonstration, health chat, ribbon cutting, music, food, dancing, soccer, laughs and tears, a toast to a job well done, new friends – the successful completion of a long awaited dream.
