New Clinic Dedicated in Jatun Mayu, Bolivia

New Clinic Dedicated in Jatun Mayu, Bolivia

Mano a Mano recently completed a new health clinic in Jatun Mayu, Bolivia. The clinic was dedicated on May 29, 2018, and is our 163rd clinic project.

Jatun Mayu Clinic

Jatun Mayu is a rural community in the Zudanez province, department of Chuquisaca – about a 3-hour drive southeast of Sucre, and about 9 hours by car from Cochabamba (30% of Mano a Mano’s clinics are between a 3 and 10-hour drive away from Cochabamba).

The Jatun Mayu clinic joins Mano a Mano’s network of 163 clinics throughout Bolivia. Mano a Mano’s network of clinics average nearly 1 million patient visits each year.

Providing Access to Health Care for 3,300 People

With the new clinic, medical professionals working in the community will have a much more comfortable working environment (which is very important for retaining staff in isolated rural communities), and community residents will have regular access to quality health care services provided through the Bolivian Health Ministry. The new clinic has space for a doctor, nurse, and dentist, and includes a pharmacy, patient beds, birthing room, and offices to provide comprehensive basic medical services.

Our clinic program’s approach is that health outcomes can be dramatically improved with simple yet effective interventions, beginning with the basic ability to consistently access quality services in their own communities.

As a Mano a Mano clinic, it will have Volunteer Health Promoter Training and Continuing Health Education workshops provided through our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia; it will also receive equipment and supplies to ensure that it is fully-furnished, and is connected with Mano a Mano Bolivia medical staff via radio for help with any difficult cases or issues.

Working Together to Make These Projects Possible

Every project that Mano a Mano does, including this clinic in Jatun Mayu, depends on many people working together (read more about our partnership model here). We are very grateful to everyone that has been involved in this project in some way!

The Jatun Mayu clinic project was a collaboration with:

• our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia (who oversees and manages the project from inception to completion)
• Municipal Government of Icla
• Many Rotary Clubs:
  • D5580 Rotary District 5580 World Community Service
  • Harbortown Rotary
  • Fargo Moorhead FM AM Rotary
  • Detroit Lakes Noon Rotary
  • Nipigon Rotary
  • International Falls Rotary
  • Thunder Bay Fort William Rotary
  • Duluth Club 25 Rotary
  • Duluth Skyline Rotary
  • Chanhassen Rotary Club
  • Karl & Kerry Everett
• Segundo & Joan Velasquez
• The Communities of Jatun Mayu
• Mano a Mano International

June 2018 Teacher’s Trip to Bolivia

June 2018 Teacher’s Trip to Bolivia

Over the past few days, teachers from Minnesota and teachers from the tropical regions of Bolivia (department of Beni) have been meeting together at Mano a Mano’s offices in Cochabamba to discuss teaching methods, develop curriculum, learn how they keep parents involved, and have an opportunity to interact in informal as well as classroom settings.

We approach these trips with a deep appreciation for the dedication of teachers in both countries, for the similarities and differences in our life experiences, and for the gifts that teachers from each country can bring to the other. This is Mano a Mano’s 6th year of hosting these teacher trips, with more than 40 Minnesota travelers taking part to date.

Previous Minnesota Teacher Trips

Click here for information and pictures from teacher trips in previous years.

Building Water Wells in Bolivia

Building Water Wells in Bolivia

Rural community leaders approach us regularly with requests to help them access water. Extensive discussions lay the groundwork for developing formal agreements among the elected community leaders, municipal officials and Mano a Mano, and define, prior to initiating the project, the contributions and responsibilities of each participating entity.

Mano a Mano provides required machinery and raises partial funding for construction and skilled labor.  Community residents contribute the unskilled labor, any locally available building materials such as sand, gravel, or stone, and a portion of the funds. Local governments may also provide a portion of the funds, as well as engineering expertise.

Building Water Wells – Step by Step

Surface wells are designed to access water that flows underground near river banks. These wells provide the water access method of choice for communities that are close to a river. Mano a Mano constructs these wells by implementing the following steps:

1. Transport the excavator and other required equipment to the site.
2. Dig a wide hole for the well that will be 7 meters deep, using the excavator.
3. Place a stack of cement rings (each ring is about 1 meter high) into the hole up to ground level. The lower layer rings are designed to allow water into the stack. Mano a Mano manufactures these rings on site to reduce costs.
4. Fill the hole around the perimeter of the ring stack with river rock to about 1 meter wide on all sides and up to ground level.  Water will seep through the rock, through the cement rings and be retained in the interior of the stack.  When water is taken from the well, water that is held in the rock will re-fill the well. The wells will draw from below-surface water down to 24 feet below the river bed.
5. Farmers extract water from the well through a 2” diameter flexible hose.
6. Community residents, through their Association of Irrigators (Sindicato de Regantes), set fees and norms for use of water.

52 Water Wells Built to Date

To date, Mano a Mano has completed 52 water wells that provide Bolivian farm families with access to water for irrigation, livestock and household use.

Mano a Mano Speaker Series: Thomas Kenote on June 12th

Mano a Mano Speaker Series: Thomas Kenote on June 12th

Join Mano a Mano in our ongoing series of free talks and discussion on “indigenous peoples and their environments.” We at Mano a Mano want to engage with researchers and practitioners working with indigenous peoples on development and environmental issues. Our goal is to share and learn from each other and to support the indigenous peoples we serve.

Our speaker on June 12th is Tom Kenote. Tom is working towards his MS in Natural Resources Science & Management from UMN – Department of Forest Resources and is from the Omaeqnomenewok (Menominee Nation), and the Lac Courte Oreilles band of Anishinaabe in Wisconsin. Tom’s talk will be on “Indigenous Phenology.”

RSVP

Please email Carmen (carmen@manoamano.org or 651-457-3141) to RSVP, or with any questions. We hope to see you there!

• WHAT – Mano a Mano Speaker Series with Thomas Kenote
• WHEN – Tuesday, June 12th, 6:30-8:00pm
• WHERE – Mano a Mano, 925 Pierce Butler Route, St. Paul, MN

March 2018 Trip to Bolivia

March 2018 Trip to Bolivia

In March, a group of travelers from Florida and Minnesota went to Bolivia with Mano a Mano to get a firsthand look at our organization, our projects, and the communities that we partner with.

While there, they attended a distribution of medical supplies shipped from Minnesota, visited Mano a Mano’s water reservoir under construction in Maldonado, and visited a number of communities and Mano a Mano projects.

Our next trip to Bolivia is coming up in mid-June, with teachers from Minnesota traveling to visit rural Bolivian schools and view teaching methods, develop curriculum with their teachers, learn how they keep parents involved, and have an opportunity to interact with them in informal as well as classroom settings.