100 Days In, I Become a Missionary and Quench World Thirst
Earlier this week I passed the 100 day mark in my travels. Scrolling through my blog and reflecting back on the first journal I filled, I realized I've taken over 50 buses and slept in a new bed every three days. I started in wine country Argentina, drove deep into the desert in Chile, danced Tango in Buenos Aires, fell in love with Uruguay's pristine coasts, stood at the edge of the world at Iguazu Falls, stumbled into the slums in Rio de Janeiro, crawled through the mines of Potosí, and biked down the World's Most Dangerous Road. Naturally, it became time to slow down and regroup for a while.
I found a group in Bolivia that helps rural communities dig wells for potable drinking water. The work Agua : Yuka preforms seems to fit perfectly in line with the grassroots, infrastructure development planning work I was looking for. Although, a glaring social problem with the organization stood out, which could possibly jeopardize this current "Dream Job"; Agua : Yuka is full of Evangelical Missionaries. I reluctantly signed on to do "God's work."
In 2000, Bolivia water problems escalated to point of riots with the "Cochabamba Water Wars." To help Bolivia's lacking utilities infrastructure, the World Bank, with a massive loan loaded with neoliberal legislation, mandated that the country privatize and sell off it's public water company. The government passed Law 2029 to legalize a deal to sell Bolivian water services to Bechtel, under the Bolivian name Aguas del Tunari. The law included provisions that led to rainwater collected from rooftops to become property of Bechtel and led to rivers used for small scale irrigation and for rural community drinking water to be fenced off. City pipe water rates jumped 35% overnight, to costs doubling the prices to feed entire families. Aguas del Tunari and the World Bank maintained that these rate hikes were necessary to install pipes and dams in rural mountain towns. When riots ensued and a State of Emergency was declared, Bechtel pulled out of Bolivia (Bechtel later tried to sue the government for voiding the contract).
I found a group in Bolivia that helps rural communities dig wells for potable drinking water. The work Agua : Yuka preforms seems to fit perfectly in line with the grassroots, infrastructure development planning work I was looking for. Although, a glaring social problem with the organization stood out, which could possibly jeopardize this current "Dream Job"; Agua : Yuka is full of Evangelical Missionaries. I reluctantly signed on to do "God's work."
In 2000, Bolivia water problems escalated to point of riots with the "Cochabamba Water Wars." To help Bolivia's lacking utilities infrastructure, the World Bank, with a massive loan loaded with neoliberal legislation, mandated that the country privatize and sell off it's public water company. The government passed Law 2029 to legalize a deal to sell Bolivian water services to Bechtel, under the Bolivian name Aguas del Tunari. The law included provisions that led to rainwater collected from rooftops to become property of Bechtel and led to rivers used for small scale irrigation and for rural community drinking water to be fenced off. City pipe water rates jumped 35% overnight, to costs doubling the prices to feed entire families. Aguas del Tunari and the World Bank maintained that these rate hikes were necessary to install pipes and dams in rural mountain towns. When riots ensued and a State of Emergency was declared, Bechtel pulled out of Bolivia (Bechtel later tried to sue the government for voiding the contract).
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Unfortunately, none of the water problems prior to 2000 have been fixed. Half of the city of Cochabamba (Bolivia's third largest city) to this day, still doesn't have access to potable water. The New Yorker reported that, "those who are not on the network and who have no well, pay ten times as much for their water as the relatively wealthy residents who are hooked up."
Within my first few days of signing up with Agua : Yuka, I was assigned to a team that drove out to the pueblo Pedro Lorenzo to inspect and assess our first drill site. We spent the afternoon advising the property owners to move the spot of their proposed well -- the run off from the pig pens and latrines would contaminate any water well placed at the bottom of the hill, no matter how convenient the location.
Within my first few days of signing up with Agua : Yuka, I was assigned to a team that drove out to the pueblo Pedro Lorenzo to inspect and assess our first drill site. We spent the afternoon advising the property owners to move the spot of their proposed well -- the run off from the pig pens and latrines would contaminate any water well placed at the bottom of the hill, no matter how convenient the location.
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Back at our base camp ranch, our Colombian engineer gave me welding lessons as we prepared new drill bits. The Brazilian team leader explained the cost structure of installing wells: we provide the expertise, equipment, and as much volunteer labor as we can bring. The only costs passed onto the communities is the costs of materials (roughly 2,000 Bolivianos, just under $300). The hand pump wells we install cost only a fraction (10%) of what a private company would charge to install similar infrastructure.
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This is the work I want to be a part of, an ideal combination of infrastructure planning and hands on manual labor. Only one week into the job and my team is almost prepared to make our first on-site drill expedition. After fourteen, fourteen-hour days of non-stop drilling, we'll be able to see the direct results of our work and the people in rural communities Pailón and Pedro Lorenzo will no longer have to walk 20 kilometers to the nearest wells for their drinking water.
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