Project in central Bolivia

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Village has many health needs
in Bolivian Andes

Village Improvements
in Rural Andean Bolivia

Summary of community needs and suggested improvements

Yanayo is a small, remote, indigenous village (pop. ~ 100) located high in the Andean altiplano of Bolivia. The villagers are extremely poor, live in thatched roof houses, have no electricity, and are subsistence farmers, growing mostly wheat and potatoes. As a result of drought conditions over the past decades, the village has suffered decreasing crop yields, which in turn has forced villagers to leave their community and look for employment elsewhere. Engineers Without Borders (EWB) (http://www.ewb-usa.org/) was initially asked to help Yanayo with issues of water supply for irrigation.

Three members of the University of Washington student EWB chapter (http://www.nimret.org/ewbuw/) traveled to Yanayo in September 2006 for a site assessment trip. Following extensive discussions with community leaders and two well attended community meetings at which villagers were asked to prioritize their concerns, it became clear that their needs extend well beyond the original irrigation project. We return to Yanayo this summer to begin this first phase of our work with this village, as follows:

Replace thatched roofing with corrugated metal: Most houses in Yanayo have thatched roofs. This provides substantial habitat for Triatoma infestans, the insect vector that transmits Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. Chagas is a chronic disease, which results in premature death due to congestive heart failure. Replacing thatched roofs with corrugated metal is a proven method for reducing the incidence of Chagas by reducing the habitat for T. infestans.

Install stoves with chimneys: Currently, the women cook food on open wood stoves inside their homes. Not having chimneys results in very poor air quality within the homes, which contributes to eye damage and respiratory difficulties, especially in women and children. Installing corrugated metal roofs permits safe installation and use of chimneys with a dramatic improvement in air quality. We are currently designing clay stoves that will burn with greater efficiency, an important aspect given Yanayo’s lack of wood that can be used for fuel.

Install roof rain collection systems for household gardens: We are in the process of designing roof-top rain catchments to allow families to irrigate a household garden in the dry season for production of a wider range of vegetables for improved nutrition.

Provide educational materials: The villagers of Yanayo expressed great interest in training sessions. We plan on returning with educational materials to help them in three main areas: health, nutrition, and agricultural practices.

Prepare for future work: The final component of our work during this visit will be to collect additional information for our future work in Yanayo, which will address some of their other major concerns. This will include an extensive hydrologic survey to determine options for improved irrigation, as well as studies for ways to improve their roads, which constantly wash out and make trade with distant villages even more difficult.

Project costs:

Total costs for materials and supplies for the July trip are estimated at $11,511. This includes $5,000 in roofing material costs, $4,475 in rain catchment tank costs, and $500 in chimney costs for 25 houses. An additional $600 is also needed for school supplies, $200 for teaching supplies and $176 in toothbrushes/toothpaste for 44 children totaling the aforementioned $11,511. Beyond material and supply costs, an estimated $10,000 is needed to cover student travel costs. While this number seems high, without student support and work in Bolivia, this project will not be possible. Our overhead is extremely low (only 5% goes to EWB National for support, the rest to our charitable work), and many of our costs, including a portion of travel expenses, are actually borne by our members. We are currently in the process of fundraising and grant writing to cover travel costs. Thus far this year, we have raised approximately $3,000, and we will soon be holding a benefit fundraiser at which we expect to raise another $3,000, based upon last year’s success. We are therefore primarily looking to secure funding for the costs of materials for the actual projects in Yanayo describe above.

Project timeline:

We plan to return to Yanayo for about one month in late July 2007. We will train and assist community members with installing tin roofs, building new stoves, installing a rainwater catchment on the school, and distribute educational materials and information. Any work not completed during our visit will be completed by the newly trained community members. Additionally, we are working with a South American contact who expects to be on the ground in Yanayo both before and well after our visit to ensure implementation. We plan to work with this village for 5 years.

Why help is needed and who benefits:

Villagers in Yanayo struggle to subsist in the face of an ongoing drought, which is substantially decreasing crop yield thus driving individuals to seek employment elsewhere and disrupting their way of life. They are desperately poor in what is already the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The basic improvements we have described above will make a real and substantial improvement in their health and standard of living. In keeping with the philosophy of EWB, benefits will be spread equitably across the entire community.

What is Engineers without Borders?:

EWB-USA partners with developing communities to improve their quality of life through the implementation of environmentally sustainable, equitable, and economical engineering projects while developing internationally responsible engineers and engineering students. Projects are initiated by and completed with contributions from the host community. Our local chapter at the University of Washington was formed in May 2005; since then, we have grown to approximately 25 active members with a listserv of over 100; partnered with the Puget Sound Professional Chapter on an irrigation project in Susudel, Ecuador; developed and taught two courses on sustainable engineering in an international development environment; and collaborated on projects in Haiti, Uganda, and Mexico. Yanayo is the current primary focus of our EWB chapter.

Documentation and recognition of support:

Rotary will be gratefully acknowledged for their financial support of this project in our written documents, presentations, and on our website. We will provide Rotary International with photo, written and oral documentation of our activities.

Contact details:

Donee Alexander, Secretary, University of Washington student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, dalexan1@u.washington.edu, 206-543-6272, University of Washington Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 173 Wilcox Hall, Box 352700, Seattle, WA 98195-2700