Category: Ecuador
Updates on our work in Ecuador.
San Gerardo, Ecuador
In September 2019, during the install week of Galte’s system in Ecuador, Agua Viva had the opportunity to visit the school of San Gerardo. This school was brought to our attention by the Director of the Water Laboratory of San Gerardo’s parent city government.
It’s a community that’s literally close to Mario Ahkras’s home, about 10 minutes by bus from his hometown. This helped us work closely with the School during the preparations of the water room.
After testing the water samples that were shipped out to the United States, San Gerardo was blessed with the chance to receive their own water purification system. A system was installed in April 2021, even as the international travel restrictions (resulting from the pandemic) were peaking.
This was Mario’s first time leading an install, and he anticipated challenges during the installation week. As it turned out, the biggest challenge would in fact be the sheer patience required to get the equipment through customs.
The Water System suitcases wound up being delayed almost two months because of a clerical error made by customs. In short, this added only a handful of extra steps during clearance, but each and every step required more time and approvals!! Unfortunately, every step added several days and even weeks of waiting. And, to add salt to the wound, Agua Viva had to pay a fine. Ouch!
But, it was all SO worthwhile, when we inaugurated the San Gerardo Wate, joined by the political leaders of the community and state, who helped us all along the way. The actual week of the installation went very smoothly because of how well prepared everything was in the crate. And we just had ONE leak….or, maybe two!
AVI Honored by Battle of the Brains Contestants
Agua Viva was honored to share our vision for water with a group of 5th grade students at Harmony Elementary School in Overland Park who entered the Battle of the Brains Contest. During our discussion and presentation students asked Agua Viva what problems are encountered when installing purification systems in developing countries. After exploring several options, they decided to focus their research on the problem of transporting water from the purification site to a home, school, or kiosk. When a 5 gallon bottle of water weighs 40 pounds, and many communities do not have motorized vehicles to deliver water, the students brainstormed ways to carry heavy bottles of water.
The design prototype they created is a cart that can be pulled by a child, and best of all can be disassembled and packed into a suitcase. The Harmony kids thought of everything!!
Agua Viva plans to use their prototype to build a cart to take to Ecuador in April. Way to go 5th graders. We are so thankful you chose Agua Viva for your project!!
Agua Viva International is a non-profit faith based organization that takes and installs water filtration systems to communities around the world that need clean water. The founders noticed sick kids on a mission trip and commented to a doctor “they need more doctors down there!” And the doctor commented- “what they really need is clean water so they don’t get sick”…so began this local organization about 15 years ago…
Red Sox at 7:15 pm, on June 19, 2017. Please watch us on TV! Or, better yet, come to the Royals Stadium and watch us on the big screen! Curt Mader and Agua Viva International have installed 15 water purification systems in poor indigenous communities of Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Tanzania, Africa. Each system serves a community of about 2,000 people. More than three million people die each year from water related illnesses and nearly one billion people in our world have no access to clean drinking water. Agua Viva also brings health and hygiene education and dental serves to these communities touching the lives of thousands. Curt Mader, in addition to his full time employment at Olsson and Associates, has worked tirelessly to build this Kansas City based humanitarian organization from scratch to lift up and embrace the needy people of our thirsty world.
Agua Viva arrived in Flores to find our water purification system fully operative and our new operating partners doing fantastic. This was especially satisfying to our team considering how this all came about.
Then, at Jipongato, our Operator Moises, said when we arrived, “Did my friends bring us some water-based O-ring lubricant?” Oooops! We have never carried water-based lubricant jelly before. How does an indigenous mountain-man know what a “water based O-ring lubricant” is??? After a lengthy “Bull Pen” session, we came up with a plan. Oh, why didn’t we pack some “water based O-ring lubricant”?
At Promesa Divina, our operator Jonathon Guaman, asked, “Why is water backing up into my Ozonator?”. After a quick look, we noticed that this installation by Agua Viva pre-dated the addition of a manual shutoff valves in the Ozonator tubing which prevents this phenomenon.
But, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Our team also included Mario Mejia from Quetzaltengo, Guatemala. Mario is an excellent translator but he is much more than that. Mario knows our purification system inside and out. He also understands the rest of the program: Health and Hygiene Education, Covenants, Micro-Economy strategies, and (most importantly) water diplomacy. And, he speaks very fluent English and Spanish.
So altogether we had seven, but that is still only the beginning. What about our constituents back in the United States that make it all possible? What about the preachers, teachers, school principals, system operators, and others who have come before us, like Pastor Truesdale and Don Pablo Poz Pom? Yes, by no less than divine appointment, we have assembled quite a team!
Today we completed follow-up trips for all of our Agua Viva Water Sites in central Ecuador. Site after site, we heard and observed first-hand, the same thing from our friends, “The water system is working great. Thank you so much”. Without exception, all our sites were 100% operative, clean, and cranking out water.
Our proudest moment was when two our school projects, Pomachaca and Flores, both with about 500 students, exclaimed that absenteeism had dropped to a new amazing low level, beyond what either of the principals ever thought possible.