Project
Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Totolyá
Project Complete!
The Totolyá Primary School is located in the very rural community of Totolyá in the municipality of San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala. The population is roughly 300 people, from a total of 58 families, who primarily speak the local Mayan language Kakchiquel. Most community members rely on coffee and banana production as their sources of income, working on nearby plantations for very low wages. The town’s only water source is a natural spring about 3-4 kilometers away. Unfortunately, the spring has been drying up, causing frequent cuts to the water supply. The Totolyá Primary School was also supported by Pueblo a Pueblo through our Organic School Gardens project, but full project implementation was hindered by the town water shortage issues.
The original water source for the school has been a public connection that supplies the entire community. The public connection comes from the nearby natural spring that has been drying up recently. During the 2016 academic year, frequent water cuts have been made in the community. On average, the Totolyá Primary School has only been having running water two days a week for 3 to 4 hours at a time. Sometimes those hours do not match the class period, so one of the teachers had to open the valve after school in order to store water for the following day. The school has two different deposit tanks, one for the kitchen and one for the bathrooms. As sometimes there is not enough water to fill both deposits, the teachers have to manage water distribution in order to direct water supply to both deposits.
Description of the project: construction of a gutter system that channels the rainwater collected in the roof, purchase and installation of a water storage tank (2500 L), connection of the bathroom deposit tank and the rainwater storage tank via pumping system, construction of cement base and drainage pipe for the water storage tank, training of teaching staff on how to operate the pumping system and how and when to do maintenance.
H2O for Life is not a WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) project implementer. We have partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) implementing WASH in Schools projects around the world. Our NGO partners match funds needed for each school project. We also have a generous donor that provides us with an interest-free loan that, along with matching funds, allows for many projects to be started or possibly even completed before total funds have been raised. In rare situations we reserve the right to reallocate funds to alternate project(s).
Questions? Ask us at 651-756-7577 or info@h2oforlifeschools.org.
