Donating School Supplies in San Lorenzo, Bolivia
In December 2011 we received a request from a teacher who works at a school in San Lorenzo, Bolivia. Profesor Nahir Justiniano de Ticona asked if we could help supply them with the most basic items – pencils, pens, paper, notebooks, markers, books – which are in great need:
The children only have one notebook. What we teachers do is have them write everything in pencil and when all twenty or fifty pages of their notebooks are full – that’s ALL they get ALL YEAR – we begin to erase the first page and they write there, then the second page, and so on. We do this so they’ll have somewhere to write, because if didn’t, they wouldn’t have anywhere to do it.
Recently Mano a Mano made a donation of school supplies to his school.
Mano a Mano staff and volunteers donate school supplies to teachers in San Lorenzo
We are happy that we were able to make this small contribution to San Lorenzo! Profesor Justiniano de Ticona talks more about his school and community here: Interview with San Lorenzo Teacher_2_2012; check out more pictures from San Lorenzo here.
Vote for Caterpillar Video Highlighting Mano a Mano
The Caterpillar Foundation has been a strong supporter of Mano a Mano for a few years now, and last year they put together a great video highlighting our partnership:
This video has currently been entered in the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship 2012 Film Festival. The film festival showcases companies’ projects with nonprofits that are making a difference in the world; the ten companies who receive the most votes will receive special recognition at the 2012 International Corporate Citizenship Conference, March 25-27, in Phoenix, AZ.
Please take a moment to vote for Caterpillar (scroll down the list of companies listed on the right-hand side of the screen, under the red box “Film Festival 2012″) to show thanks for their support of Mano a Mano. Having this video recognized also helps spread the word about Mano a Mano and our projects, so we really hope that you vote for this video. Public voting will take place from February 14 – March 3, 2012.
Vote Here:
Here’s the link to vote again.
Good luck Caterpillar Foundation, and thanks for your support!
EMT Training Courses to Improve our Aviation Program
This week we are hosting our first course to provide training to our staff and volunteers in the aviation program to improve their skills when transporting patients. With the recent expansion of our aviation program, with new planes and more emergency air rescues each year, we wanted to improve the medical training of our pilots, staff, and volunteers so that we can ensure that patients being flown in our planes are provided the best care that we can give.
Partnership with A Tu Lado
To do this training, Mano a Mano has partnered with A Tu Lado, an organization that has provided formal EMT training and other emergency medical education training in Venezuela. This week A Tu Lado founders Ethan Forsgren and Terence Steinberg traveled to Bolivia to learn more about Mano a Mano and lay the groundwork for more formal EMT training later this year. Mary Ann McNeil, the director of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Minnesota, also traveled to Bolivia as part of the team.
Training course with A Tu Lado on Wednesday, Feb 8
Training Course with SAR and Mano a Mano
Here is a brief description of the training course this week, taken from A Tu Lado’s website (you can read the full update here):
A Tu Lado coordinated an afternoon of training for Mano a Mano volunteers and SAR Bolivia (Search and Rescue), a volunteer EMS service in Cochabamba, who will serve as EMTs in Apoyo Aereo’s evacuation services. It was a brief introduction for these individuals to the full-length training program we will launch in June. The curricula included a presentation on flight physiology, presented by Mary Ann McNeil, who has over 25 years of experience as a flight paramedic; airway adjunct training, including King Airway; backboarding, patient assessment & extrication; intubation of cow trachea and disection of cow hearts and lungs to cover basic anatomy; and intraosseous training conducted on turkey legs.
Mano a Mano is always trying to provide the best possible programs in Bolivia, and we are really excited about this collaboration with A Tu Lado to improve our aviation program! A Tu Lado will be posting updates during their trip on their website if you’re interested in what they are working on.
Photos from the Training Course
Check out more photos from this weeks’ course here.
Mano a Mano Air Provided 301 Emergency Flights in Bolivia in 2011
Our aviation program has been busy! Besides adding 2 twin-engine planes to our program in the last 2 months, in 2011 we:
- Flew volunteer medical professionals from Mano a Mano Bolivia to provide 20 weekend health clinics in rural areas of Bolivia that have no access to healthcare
- Provided 301 emergency air rescues (compared to 266 in 2010)
Transporting a patient with a heart condition in July 2011
A large majority of our emergency flights take place in the Amazon Jungle areas of eastern Bolivia. Many of these communities have very poor roads and nonexistent public transportation, which is especially difficult in times of emergency. It can take days sometimes to get from their communities to a hospital where they can receive care; with an emergency flight they can be at a hospital in a few hours.
A typical situation for a tropical community - a small airstrip cut out of the jungle is their main connection to the rest of the world (this pic is taken from our plane as it is landing)
Weekend health clinics and emergency flights are the two main services of our aviation program, but it is also a crucial asset in supporting Mano a Mano’s other programs. Staff from Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo shared this recent story about transporting a motor for our heavy equipment that needed repairs:
We sent the starter motor for the D6M dozer to Cochabamba for repair via TAM (Bolivian airline) several days ago. We hardly knew how to get it there because Tarija is paralyzed by road blockades. Now everything from Tarija is blocked, all roads and air transport from there, so we decided to call for the Apoyo Aereo aircraft. AA flew the repaired starter motor to the landing strip in El Palmar and our personnel rode on horseback to get it. This transport was well coordinated via radio communication. Aviation for some may just be for comfort but for us it is of great utility. Travel by land is impossible with everything blockaded. We have gained 6 – 7 days of work by investing in 2 hours of flight. We know of others who are still parked in Tarija and cannot return to work.
We are looking to another great year for our aviation program in 2012. We are having a Festival 2012 to support the aviation program in April, after successful Festivals the past 2 years to build a clinic and water reservoir. Members of the Apoyo Aereo board are excited for 2012 as well:
“We believe that 2012 will be a year of much satisfaction, many challenges, goals and progress for this program. We want to work responsibly and with energy in this year 2012. Thank you for providing us with opportunities to serve Bolivia’s most needy. ”
New 10-kilometer Road Dedicated in Santa Rosa
We recently completed and dedicated a 10-kilometer road connecting the communities of Malcastaca and Santa Rosa. These are two small communities located in the municipality of Camargo, department of Chuquisaca. To widen the path, we had to cut through solid rock on the side of the mountain, which required a large quantity of explosives and a lot of effort by our workers and community volunteers (check out photos of the construction process here).
Santa Rosa residents walking on the path that would become the road
Driving on the newly-completed road
At the dedication ceremony, the mayor of Santa Rosa said that this road is the best road in the entire municipality, even better than the trunk highway that goes to Argentina. During the dedication, Mano a Mano distributed canes and crutches donated from the US to people that needed them and school supplies to the children.
Santa Rosa mayor speaking to community at dedication celebration of the road
This road project was a lot of work. Our staff at Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo in Bolivia said, “Thanks for the support of Mano a Mano USA, the volunteers in the USA, and the workers in Bolivia.”