A few weeks ago we reported the activities of our health program for the first half of 2013. In that post we mentioned a few projects that were slated to be completed in September 2013, which have now been completed and dedicated by our counterpart organization Mano a Mano Bolivia:
School Project in Santa Fe
Santa Fe School Project
The Santa Fe school project consists of 6 classrooms, 4 teacher housing units, community bathrooms with 2 showers and 4 bathrooms, laundry station, and complete furnishings. The project was a collaboration between Mano a Mano Bolivia, Mano a Mano International, the community of Santa Fe, the Gobierno Autonomo Municipal de Puerto Villarroel, and Students Offering Support S.O.S. – Canada. Santa Fe is a small community of 1,250 residents (and 165 school-age children) located 240 kilometers east of Cochabamba in the Carrasco Province in the Department of Cochabamba. Their principal industry is growing bananas.
Clinic in Korka
Korka Clinic Project
Korka is a small community of 1,263 residents located 120 kilometers south of Potosi. The extreme isolation of this community limited access to medical care. Before this new clinic was built, the closest clinic was a 3-hour drive over a very narrow, poorly-maintained, and dangerous road with steep dropoffs. The vast majority of the time, people seeking medical attention or medical staff coming to visit had no access to a car and had to walk.
Driving on the road to Korka
This new clinic provides immediate access to medical attention, and as with all of our clinic projects, provides ongoing training, equipment, and support to ensure that the clinics provide high-quality care for a long time. The Korka clinic was a collaboration between Mano a Mano Bolivia, Mano a Mano International, the community of Korka, the Gobierno Autonomo Municipal de Tomave, and a very generous contribution from a US donor. The clinic is Mano a Mano’s 139th clinic project.
Clinic in Tarana
Tarana Clinic Project
Tarana is a community of 882 people in the same municipality as Korka.
Communities of Tarana and Korka
Tarana previously had a clinic, unlike Korka, but it was in poor condition and did not have bathrooms or a birthing room, which made it very hard to retain medical staff. Mano a Mano’s new clinic provides good facilities, along with equipment, training, and living quarters on-site for medical staff, that make it possible for Mano a Mano to retain doctors and nurses, even in extremely isolated communities. We currently have 459 medical professionals working in our 140 health clinics.
The Tarana clinic was a collaboration between Mano a Mano Bolivia, Mano a Mano International, the community of Tarana, the Gobierno Autonomo Municipal de Tomave, and a very generous contribution from a US donor. The clinic is Mano a Mano’s 140th clinic project.
Watch the video below to hear from some of the medical staff working in our clinics:
148 Communities on our Waiting List
Since 1998, Mano a Mano has built 140 community health clinics throughout Bolivia. But there is a HUGE backlog; we have 148 communities that are currently on our waiting list for a clinic project (there are similar numbers on our waiting lists for schools, roads, and water projects as well). Every project that we do begins with a request from the community, but we can only complete new projects with donations that are the seed money to make the project happen.
Each of these projects in Santa Fe, Korka, and Tarana were made possible by donations that started the process.
You can help support a project in another community on our waiting list by donating here.
Interested in starting a campaign for a specific project (clinic, school, road project, water project, aviation, distribute donated supplies)? Please contact us.