Guatamala Update #4 Tablitas - More eco toilets
Submitted by International Service Chair Gene Medina
More Eco Toilets for Tablitas
Tablitas is a small 250 family village in the hills overlooking Lake Izabel in eastern Guatemala, about 30 miles from the Caribbean. Most of the men work either in the sugar cane fields below or on the road construction project in the area. The women take care of the children and maintain their homes. Microfinance has not evolved here as yet.
For the past several years, our Rotary partners (Sequim and Bainbridge Island) have been installing working to improve the living and sanitation conditions in Tablitas. Twenty five (25) eco toilets have been installed and 15 more are currently under construction as part of the 2nd global to this area. Here are the old and new toilets...
You can see in the new eco toilet photo that it is 80% complete and need the front door which is currently being built by village carpenters.
This 2nd grant also funds the installation of eco toilets in Aqua Caliente and Cuarto Cayos. As a follow-up, our five club partnership (BI, Sequim, Poulsbo, Kingston and Tumwater) will be writing a 3rd global grant for additional eco toilets.. When the grant is approved, we will work to complete installation of eco toilets in both Aqua Caliente and Cuarto Cayos. In support of this work, a group from Engineers Without Borders has recently completed a three classroom school building for primary grades, K-3 for the village.
As a follow up, we (our Rotary clubs partnership and the Vista Hermosa Rotary Club), plans to develop a “master plan” for the Lake Izabel/Rio Dulce area (adding at least five more villages for a total of nine) expanding efforts for improving and sustaining clean water, sanitation, basic education and economic/community development for the area.
Here are a photos of the kids and how tortilla flour is milled. Enjoy.
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