Centro Educativo Betania

August 23rd – Fellowship and lunch with Padre Maxi

The Agua Viva team began their journey with a reunion in Cobán. Here, volunteers from the United States were introduced to the dedicated Guatemalan Agua Viva trainers, and all attended church with their gracious host for the week, Padre Maxi. Padre is a pillar of his community, preaching at multiple churches in the surrounding community and responsible for several initiatives that support health, learning, entrepreneurship and the empowerment of women. The Agua Viva team visited a nearby hospital started by Padre Maxi and the Centro de Promocion Comunitaria Betania (CEPROCOBE) to serve people who cannot afford – or sometimes even access – healthcare. Hospital Betania offers many services for the community, including surgery, dental care, a pharmacy, and preventative care. After viewing the hospital, everyone shared a lunch and some laughs before embarking on the project.

August 24th – Introductions with the trainees and project kickoff

The first day of the project began with introduction and orientation from Guatemalan In Country Coordinator, Marisol to kick things off.

The education team began with their first day of lessons focusing on what germs are, how they make people sick, and how to avoid them, and how prioritize the Agua Viva bottled water.

Meanwhile, the construction team began the initial preparations for the water purification system, including moving the water tanks onto the roof of the water room, hanging the plywood board that the system will be attached to, and constructing the churn, which will be a vital part of the ozonation purification process.

This was a nice day to embody the most important rule of Agua Viva: make friends first.

August 25th – The filtration and purification system

The education team shared lessons about what filters are and how the Agua Viva system purifies the local water source. These lessons are important to connect the education team with the construction team, who spend most of the week working separately.

When the education team visited the water room while under construction, they found the construction team assembling the major components of the water system, including connecting the water tanks to the filtration and purification system. By working alongside the Agua Viva trainers, these students at Centro Educativo Betania now have a better understanding of how each piece of the system works together.

August 26th – “Training the trainer” with the education team

The education team continued to build on lessons of germ theory with activities that teach good handwashing technique and hygiene practices, such as washing your hands with soap. Every day during the project week, the education team embodies another key Agua Viva strategy: train the trainer. For every lesson that these teachers at Centro Educativo Betania learn, they soon have the opportunity to practice these new lessons with students at the school. Now these newly trained teachers are ready to be trainers themselves!

The construction team completed the water filtration and purification system and began connecting the system to the bottling station, one of the final steps of the project! This provided a prime opportunity to begin record keeping training. These students will soon be selling water to the nearby community , which will include a bit of bookkeeping.

August 27th – First handprints and last day of work

On the last day of construction before the celebration, the team began the day with a successful leak test! This was the first time that they opened the valves and allowed water to flow through the system to check for leaks. There weren’t any on the very first try, an incredible accomplishment. This left plenty of time to continue to practice the accounting and record keeping skills needed to successfully sell the water. This school intends to charge 7 Guatemalan Quetzales, or about $1 for a 5 gallon bottle of water.

The education team finished their final lessons on dental hygiene and invited the entire team, including Padre Maxi, to begin placing their hands on a banner which will be displayed prominently at the next day’s celebration.

A very long 4 days of hard work had paid off! The Agua Viva team shared a celebratory dinner with their new friends, and new Agua Viva trainers, from Centro Betania, including a little dancing.

August 28th – Celebrating with new friends

On the 5th day of every project, we celebrate! Padre Maxi invited the students and parents at Centro Educativo Betania to bless the water room and share in the first drink of water together. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, all 6 classrooms at the school now have water dispensers so the students can enjoy a healthy drink of water whenever they want.

During the celebration, the new educators and new operators were recognized with certificates, and the Agua Viva team were presented with gifts of local fruit baskets, friendship bracelets, and coffee mugs to remember their time together. The leaders at Centro Educativo Betania planned an incredible event, including inviting everyone to add their handprints to the banner and practice good handwashing technique before sharing a delicious lunch of tamales and yucca together.

You can see more photos of the water room and the celebration at their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KHS9Ha1Kk/?mibextid=wwXIfr