Efficient Stoves

The project “Promotion of efficient use of natural resources” is geared towards the creation of nurseries and the planting of woods composed of trees of rapid growth and high calorific value, thus improving on the efficiency in the use of natural resources and reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.
Another very important part of this project is the installation of fuel-efficient stoves which reduce (wood) fuel consumption by half and which come with exhaust pipes to carry the fumes outside of the home where they are installed, resulting in improved living conditions and better health for the beneficiaries.

This project has a budget of 85,000 EUROS with the largest part (70,000) coming out of of  a donation from the Alliance of Energy and Natural Resources from Finland, while the local counterpart (EUR 15000) is being supplied by the Guatemalan Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Energy and Mines, National Forestry Institute, local communities and our Rotary Club Guatemala East and is being administered by the latter.

Spina Bífida

Spina Bifida is a Neural Tube Defect and sadly, Guatemala has one of the highest incidences worldwide in newborns with roughly 5,000 cases per year. It is important that the Spina Bifida gets operated on immediately after birth. This also reduces the probability that the child develops hydrocephalus later on. However, if the child does develop hydrocephalus, it should be operated on as soon as possible as well. Two methods exist for this procedure: the insertion of a shunt (a special valve), or a neuroendoscopic procedure known as “third ventriculostomy” – both procedures will lead to the drainage of cerebrospinal fluid from the head (this fluid causes the head to swell when it cannot drain when the natural drainage paths are obstructed). The shunts pose certain risks of infection, especially since manytimes they need to be replaced in patients. Therefore, the third ventriculostomy is the better choice for many patients, but not all of them qualify for this procedure because of medical reasons.

What we have done so far, and what are our future plans:
1) We started working in this area in 2004 with a shunt bank which made it possible that many children who had developed hydrocephalus and whose parents could not afford to purchase the shunts, could be operated on.

2) Since March 2005, we have executed 4 Matching Grants totaling more than  $150,000.--. These funds were invested in valves, operations, prostheses, special wheelchairs, and a neuroendoscope (used for the third ventriculostomy mentioned above),  etc., but also in education and prevention seminars focusing on a balanced diet and the importance of the intake of folic acid by girls and women of childbearing age. The beneficiaries of all these efforts number in the thousands.

3) Our own club contributes heavily to this cause. The proceeds from our major fundraiser, the “Festival Gastronómico”, 2007, 2008 and 2009 editions, totaling more than $ 100,000,  were earmarked for the Spina Bifida project, and with these funds we were able to build a brandnew Spina Bifida wing in the Hospital General San Juan de Dios in Guatemala-City, which was inaugurated in the second half of 2010 by the Secretary of Health of Guatemala and the hospital director. A good part of the equipment and furniture of this SB wing was donated by the local “Asociación de Damas Diplomáticas”  and we are very thankful for this cooperation.

4) Our Spina Bifida project was voted “The most transcendent project in Central America” at the Rotary Fair held in Antigua at the beginning of 2010.

5)  We will continue our efforts to help bring down the numbers of newborns with Spina Bifida, reducing the suffering – both emotionally and financially - for the families in particular and for society as a whole. Therefore, we want to do more in the area of prevention, continuing with the education/prevention seminars on a wider scale, but adding also a widespread distribution of multivitamin pills including folic acid especially in the areas with the highest incidence of newborns with SB. At the same time, we need to continue to help the babies who are born with SB. A second, different neuroendoscope will be required in the Hospital San Juan de Dios so a wider range of operations can be performed. Prostheses and special wheelchairs will also to be needed in the future, and older patients with SB may need different operations. If possible, we would also like to assist people with SB financially with job training etc. so they can become more independent and useful for their families and society.

We are very thankful for all the help received over the years for this project, especially from the Rotary Foundation, but also from many clubs and districts (to name the most important ones: Leavenworth/WA, Portland/OR, Utah, and many others). Without them, it would have been impossible to achieve what we have been able to do.

Delivery Neuroendoscopio to Hospital San Juan de Dios - October 2008

Hearing Aids

The funds from 3 issues of our major yearly fundraiser (Festival Gastronomico, which in nearly 15 years has provided our club with funds of more than $ 200K) were earmarked for this important project.
Thanks to the patrons of said Festival and the many sponsors, including INGUAT,  the Restaurant Association of the local Chamber of Industry,  INTECAP, ANACAFE, Rafael Landivar University, and many Chefs of the best restaurants and hotels in Guatemala, we have been able to donate more than 500 hearing aids, mainly to children from poor families. Many of them were able to hear for the first time in their lives after the hearing aids have been installed, and we have witnessed very special moments (for beneficiaries and donors alike) during deliveries of these devices. After the speech therapy which forms an integral part of the project, the beneficiaries are able to lead a normal life which otherwise would not have been possible for them.

School in Chilasco, Baja Verapaz

This project is part of the “Ripple Effect Program” which is a cooperation of Canadian Rotary Clubs and the CRCID with local Rotary Clubs and strives to improve education.  In this specific case, the RC of Winnipeg West was involved with the project which was coordinated by Clark McDonald of our club. The school in Chilascó in the department of Baja Verapaz received help for the construction of additional schoolrooms, additional teachers were hired and paid in order to teach more classes to more children, and a very significant number of computers was purchased and installed and the teachers and pupils were instructed in the use of them, thus improving their possibilities for a better future.

More Photographs

Don Pancho

…..is a community of about 50 families which have been displaced by the civil war. The land they live on now was purchased through a loan guaranteed by the Guatemalan government but which is being repaid by the villagers. Our club has accompanied this community for some years with the goal to improve their living conditions. We installed a waterwheel (financed by a Matching Grant)  which supplies water to their fields and have organized workshops which taught them how to improve their methods of growing coffee and raising chicken and tilapia.
As a next project, we envision a Matching Grant which would enable them to set up a community-run-and-owned meat production (pigs).

ERCOSI (Solar Cooking, Efficient Stoves)

During October, 2008, our club and the RC of Gualan, Guatemala, organized – through a Rotary Service Grant and in cooperation with Rotarians from Fresno, California and – a weeklong seminar to teach rural dwellers the benefits of cooking with solar as well as efficient woodstoves,  thereby reducing not only the impact on natural resources but at the same time also improving the financial situation of the population.
Given the importance of such a project and taking into account the enthusiasm with which the first course was received, we decided to set up ERCOSI which stands for Escuela Rotaria de Cocinas Solares Integradas = Rotary School for Integrated Solar Kitchens and which will start working formally in 2009 under the leadership of Carlos Galvez from our club.
The use of the following devices will be demonstrated and building plans for them will be distributed:

Members of Rotary Club of Fresno on a trip to Guatemala to teach Integrated Solar Cooking to the women in the area of Gualan, Guatemala, October, 2008.

Water Filters:

Although this is one of the newer projects of our club, we are already working on two Matching Grants, one authorized and in the process of being executed and the second one to follow very soon. These filters, which consist of two buckets – one of them equipped with ceramic filters – will be distributed to rural families with no access to safe drinking water – mainly poor subsistence farmers.  Each filter costs $ 50  and can convert water from basically any source to clean drinking water for a family of 8 for up to two years, thus improving their overall health tremendously.
The filters come with instructions for care and maintenance, and we distribute them in different communities in the country.

Cancuen Water Project:

Thanks to Rotarian Gunnar Trollnas, we had the opportunity to learn about the Cancuén Archaeological Project on a presentation by distinguished American Archeologist Professor Dr. Arthur Demarest.  Doctor Demarest began his presentation by describing that Cancuén does not have high buildings and visible temples, being more an area of sacred caves, with the exception of the King’s Tanach Palace a palace of high and pretentious structures ,considered one of the largest of the Mayan World.  Cancuén was a remarkably affluent and influential commercial hub in the late Maya classic period (650-810 AD).

The archaeological project has had the support from Vanderbilt University, The Mesoamerican Archaeology Institute, National Geographic and the Embassies of Finland and Sweden and focuses in sustained ecotourism as a way of protecting the rich Maya history, interacting through 3 important actions:

The site can only be protected from looters and other menaces with the support of local communities that should have a stake in the site, benefitting from the archaeological tourism that is starting to happen, attracted by the historical importance of Cancuén, once considered a minor Maya site. It was clear, based on experiences from other Maya sites, that a sustainable ecotourism effort was required to strengthen the self sustainability of the communities, mostly from Maya descendants. 

Club Rotario Guatemala del Este, with funds raised in Finland, decided to provide a solution to the water needs of Cancuén communities by installing rain-water collection systems for every household.  The system provides fresh water in hygienic conditions, saving time and labor to housewives and children who are in charge of collecting their daily water needs, usually having to walk long distances to the river.