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Creating Partnerships With Impoverished Bolivian Communities that Improve Health and Increase Economic Well-Being. |
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TESTIMONIALS |
The Latest |
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We were living
like animals in the jungle and Mano a Mano has opened the doors to the corral
and set us free.
"Our water runs away and the corn produces little or dies of thirst. We know that
an atajada (water reservoir) would hold rain water to channel to fields as our
ancestors did. Please help us again. You know we have ganas (motivation) and
will work every day if you bring your machines and build with us. Then we could
feed our children and sell the rest in the city.”
"We
have learned how to work with Mano a Mano and we know that Mano a Mano
delivers...the road from Cochabamba to Sucre is sowed with Mano a Mano projects…Todo
el camino entre Cochabamba y Sucre esta sembrado con proyectos de Mano a Mano..."
“We are responsible to give teachers a place to live.
But we can barely afford houses for our own families. Our teachers have been
living in little sheds that should be for animals but we just didn’t
have any other place for them, so they would come here for a week or two
and then go back to Santa Cruz. Who would teach our children? We were so
ashamed, but what could we do. After we built the clinic with Mano a Mano, we
asked for help with housing for our teachers. Now we have eight teachers. They
stay in our community and teach our children.”
"I
heard from her (a nurse friend) that there is no problem in getting supplies to
use in treating patients, that the personnel in the Cochabamba office are
available by phone every day to help with difficult cases, and that doctors
receive more training from Dr. Ortuño who is very supportive. In most clinics in
Bolivia, you can’t get supplies, the building starts to fall apart and nobody
responds; you are totally on your own. I have found everything that my friend
said about Mano a Mano to be true and am very happy to be working in this
clinic. I travel to Cochabamba to the office once each month and feel that I am
part of a big family that is Mano a Mano."
For several years, midwife Nora traveled the 90 miles from Cochabamba to her original home in Chullpa K’asa to deliver babies and bring medications. She approached Mano a Mano, asking them to talk with Chullpa K’asa villagers about building a clinic there. When Mano a Mano’s volunteer team first visited the village to discuss building a clinic, the town officials had already prepared agreements on what they would contribute. But a vocal, skeptical member scoffed,“You’re nothing but ch’amas!” (in Quechua - noisemakers who promise everything but do nothing). He had often heard politicians make promises to his community, never to be seen or heard from again. When plans took shape, cynicism gave way to enthusiasm. The villagers chipped in and hired the only truck in town to drive to Cochabamba to pick up bricks. They wanted real bricks, not adobe (mud bricks) which crumble. The truck returned home over the twisty, rocky roads - only 90 miles, but a grueling 6 hour trek over a 16,000 foot pass. When the loaded truck could not reach the construction site, villagers grabbed their burden cloths, filled them with bricks and sand, and carried the heavy loads the last 200 yards on their backs. When the Chullpa K’asa clinic opened, the skeptic spoke passionately of Mano a Mano’s staff and volunteers as the only group who keeps its promises. This leader continued by encouraging his compañeros to use clinic services, adding with conviction that “now our wives and children won’t die”.
“After the ribbon-cutting I walked into the women’s bathroom along with a group
of shy, giggly high school girls. They seemed to be standing back, waiting to
see what I would do…so I turned on the water in the sink, splashed a bit on my
face, then combed my hair in front of the mirror. They all watched me,
fascinated, animated interchanges voicing their surprise and delight. Then
each, in turn, retrieved a comb from her pocket, turned on the water and began
to wet and comb her long, black hair. I fought back tears as they thanked me
for this gift – because I was there and they needed to thank someone for the
miracle of warm running water
–
a place in which they could get clean and feel
good about themselves. I left the village sensing that their lives had just
taken a major step forward.”
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New Mano a Mano projects that were dedicated in May 2009:
Click picture to see full image
Click picture to see full image
Local Community Arrives for Dedication on April 20, 2009
The Clinic's New Doctor Speaks to the Group Click picture to see full image
Our 2008 Annual Report is now available.
Mano a Mano co-founder Joan Velasquez is featured in the March-April 2009 edition of Minnesota Magazine. You can read the article here. Mano a Mano recently completed work on the second phase of its water project in Laguna Sulti, Bolivia, adding a pump that will allow irrigation of fields that lie above the reservoir. The reservoir covers 150 acres and provides water for over 3,000 people.
Don Primitivo, Community Leader of Laguna Sulti, raises his hands in amazement as the water begins to flow, and is grateful that his community can now thrive on their own land.
A group of Bolivian volunteers from Search and Rescue (SAR) trains for air rescue missions with flight hours donated by Mano a Mano's air program. You can see a video of the SAR team jumping from the plane here.
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DONORS Generous donors who have helped to save and improve the lives of people living in poverty.
Alternative Gifts International
Wagner Foundation Sundance Family Foundation
Lennox Foundation
Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation
Lored Foundation
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