Our long-time Engineering consultant Juan Carlos Villegas writes about his personal experiences working with three partner communities and the first hand impact 33 Buckets makes on the people that live there. As a father of two, he feels strongly for the parents in these communities.

1 in 4 people lack access to clean water globally, and by the time you finish reading this blog people will die from waterborne illness. These are powerful words and a sad reality in today's world where the lack of access to safe water is a risk factor for infectious diseases. This problem has many different solutions based on where in the world you stand, for me it started in 2016.

Batey Sabana Larga 

Mark Huerta, my professor at the time, showed us a pitch idea his team was working on and had implemented. That’s where I was captivated by the power of 33 Buckets, and by June of 2016 I was standing in Batey Sabana Larga in the Dominic Republic interviewing families and understanding their water situation. This team and the partners they make are amazing in action. Every team member has a purpose. They hold a key role in the projects and impact the success of the overall partnership. 

For the town of Batey Sabana Larga, it was an implementation of a distribution system in the middle of the community and several educational days where the team taught them how their system would work and why hygiene is an important part of the solution. 150 people affected by a small change in the community that this team was able to complete and implement in no time, under pressure, and with on site problems that were solved over a good dinner and great company. The smiles of the kids in the communities brought tears to my eyes as I saw the same smile back at home from my 3-year-old daughter that I would later tell these stories too and she would wow at every detail.

The key roles of these partnerships don’t start in the communities - they start here, or wherever you are reading this from. It is because of your interest, and the volunteer efforts of the 33 Buckets family, that help to fundraise and educate the world on how your donations, your support, and your willingness make a difference in these communities. 

This team is dedicated to ensuring the support we receive from our partners is used to its highest level. Before the team places their feet in the community there has already been several hours of planning and education in preparation to the community. Once in the community, they are all hands-on-deck and brains in full power. I have seen the team be presented with a problem and come up with a solution in a matter of minutes. It is amazing to see such great minds at work. 

Mayrasco

One example was in Mayrasco, Peru where the team implemented a chlorination system which affected 300 people. On our project revisit we saw that the water was being effectively treated and the community was drinking safe water. But the team saw that the system could use an improvement to have a more controlled way of ensuring the amount of chlorine entering the reservoir. Two of the team members immediately got to work. It was a tight squeeze with only a few feet to work with and valves, pipes, and systems housing being only a few feet tall, it was a task to implement, but they got it done in a few hours. Now I say hours because to get there we had to carry all of our supplies, hike the side of a mountain, and climb up the reservoir.

One of my personal principles is “never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself”, so for one of our trips I asked the team to be able to carry some of the materials up and down from Pucara at an elevation of about 12,600 feet. I logged 86 floors, 29,208 steps and 13.4 miles for each team member carrying a pick and shovel water and snacks. The important one being the snacks for me. While the team discussed the piping project there, the community made an in-ground fire and cooked us delicious potatoes grown in the same field. It was a meal to remember. This team does this for many remote areas and ensures that the partners know that their donations were used and implemented by the team effectively and meticulously.

Occopata 

The most recent trip to Peru that I was able to attend holds a very big place in my heart. We were revisiting a project South of the city of Cusco where 1,000 people in the community of Occopata now drink safe water. The installation of a chlorination system and two membrane filters at the schools were in full effect. For me, it is the happiness I get knowing that the team completed these projects and now seeing them in action and how much relief we have placed in the community. I look at it from the eyes of a father of two - now one adventurous boy 2 years old and one super active 7 year old, and think to myself, if my kids are now feeling much better and being more active because of the clean water they get to enjoy that is something that I can’t repay. Knowing that there is a dad in these communities thinking the same way that I do helps me understand the importance of the people we partner with. I look at every step of these projects as a partnership.

You, reading this blog, are actively learning and following our projects that provide these families with clean water is the start of the partnership. You taking the time to tell a friend that washing their hands and being hygienic is an important part of our health, is a partnership. This is a partnership that we have now created because you took the time to learn about this team and how your partnership with us affects not only the families in our communities but families thousands of miles away getting to enjoy clean drinking water because of you.