Guatemala Health Survey

It's been a while since I last posted on this blog, I usually try to focus on my current activities and projects. My wife Susan and I are leaving on Saturday, October 23 for Guatemala for a month of work. We are scheduled to meet with representatives of two organizations, Medical Teams International and Food for the Hungry. We'll be staying with them and helping do a health survey in a number of small communities is the central highlands of Guatemala.
Nearly two million children world wide die annually from drinking contaminated water. Most of my interest is is simple, low tech things families can do for themselves to make their water safe and protect their own health. Others can promote larger scale programs like wells and water systems, but I find that these projects are often expensive and complicated and a long time coming. Meanwhile children and families suffer from easily preventable diseases.
The kinds of questions I'll be asking include how many of the families have an adequate latrine or toilet. How is the drinking water in the community and has it been tested for contamination. How do families cook their meals, and what do they use, gas?, charcoal? wood? What is their overall health like.
The next questions are about what do the people there see as problems and what would they like to change? What are their priorities? Also, are there positive things about their communities and their lives that they want to preserve?
Then the question is what are their resources to make changes. Can the community help with money or labor? Is there leadership in the community to guide the work to completion? What about long term follow up?
I try not to impose my ideas on the people I'm working with, but try to understand their concerns and offer suggestions if asked. I'm hoping rather for discussions about their interests and their ideas about solutions. I can then perhaps offer different ideas that they could consider.
We'll see how all this will go! On top of all the logistical, cultural and language barriers there will only be a short amount of time to actually talk to people and listen to their ideas. I expect that I will get far more out of the visit than the people I meet. Hopefully I'll be able to bring back some ideas and perhaps develop some ideas for future projects.
In addition to working and report writing, I'll try to maintain this blog of my activities and I'll be happy to hear opinions from you about what I'm doing. You can also check out my Agua Pura website at http://aguapuraparaelpueblo.org/

watertestingTom