Headed to Guatemala to Build Stoves for Villagers
You may think that if you’re not a doctor, nurse or dentist, you won’t be of much service to an organization like Medical Teams International, but it turns out this organization benefit from all types of help.
Serving Ojo de Agua in Guatemala
So my 20-year-old son, Gabe, and I are going to celebrate spring break this year by traveling to a small village in the Chicaman region of Guatemala called Ojo de Agua. Our mission there is to build cooking stoves for the 74 families that comprise the village. The 320 people who live have electricity, although it is often limited and unreliable. The residents of Ojo de Agua don’t have running water, though. They store rain water collected from rooftop runoff for household use. When they don’t get rain, these people walk about an hour to collect water from a river.
Providing cook stoves for families
Gabe and I will be part of a team of 10-15 people who spend 10 days on this project. They told me that if you can put an erector set together, you can build one of these cook stoves. These stoves will provide a way for the people to cook that is safer for them and the environment. The people won’t be reliant on wood fires for cooking any more.
I have always enjoyed traveling and being in service to others, so this is an amazing opportunity to do both – as well as bond with my son. Gabe is equally excited for such a rare opportunity. Because we basically “adopt” Ojo de Agua for three years, my wife, Dana, may be able to travel with me to this village on another trip.
A fellow attorney told me about the opportunity to serve with Medical Teams International and what a great organization it is. In my next post, I will share some basics about it in case you may like to volunteer as well.
