Thursday, December 29, 2011

CHILDREN OF THE ANDES - WATER PROJECT

This is a beautiful area. You can see the tops of the mountains and view the beautiful valley below. On a clear day they said you could see Quito, we haven´t been there on a clear day.




The pipe is not buried. A repair job, and the pipe running through the vegatation along the side of the road. The pipe is about 25 years old and does need to be replaced.



This is the holding tank for the schools water.


Looking up at the upper holding tank you can see where the pipe has disconnected. One pipe runs to the community and one runs to the school.


The source of water! The cement looking thing on the right is where the water tank for the community used to be, it was destroyed by a mud slide.


Across the valley and up the other mountain is the water source. This is looking up the mountain toward where the water is captured.


After leaving the area where the reservoir is we visited the school briefly. These are students working on a project. Seems like clay volcanos and animals are school projects all over the world.


Workers on the new buildings, love the ladder! I thought some of the men would enjoy seeing it.



The reservoir for storage of the water used by the school and a troth for the cattle.


From where the new buildings are further up is the reservoir for water storage.


There are two new buildings being constructed on the hill above the school. One will be administration offices and the other a cafeteria.


This is the school in the valley. There is an elementary school in the village but once the students reach 8th grade they have to go into Otavalo to school so many of the students drop out. Children of the Andes Foundation built and operates this school. There are 64 students that attend.


October 26, 2011

We received a request from a school 23 Km outside of Otavalo to help with a clean water project for the school and community. Today we traveled to take a look at the situation so we could send a report to Salt Lake. Clean water projects are huge and take a lot of time to start and complete. A specialist will need to be sent here to determine if this is a feasible project. Our visit was wonderful. The school is awesome and the area is so beautiful. The hike up to the water source was a bit of a challenge as the mountain is pretty much straight up. When we got there the pipe that brings water to the school had dislodged. The pipes are old and mended with tape in several places. The water is brought across the valley and stored in a reservoir above the school. We had to walk through the cow pasture to reach the reservoir.

1 comment:

Trudy said...

Good thing your country people and have a love of hiking! It make me a little sad to see these conditions. I take for granted the clean water provided for my family! I'm very grateful and humbled by what your doing for these people! How awesome and inspiring!