Guatemalans visit Rotary Club of Kootenai Valley

Rotary Club has built a bridge between two cultures to bring better water for a small village in Guatemala 

Last Wednesday Mazatenango Rotary Club President Gerardo Diaz and engineer David Ruiz, also of Mazatenango, made their first visit to Montana to offer a glimpse into a way of life in their homeland where water is not as easily accessible.

George Gerard, project manager of the Rotary Club of Kootenai Valley, hosted the pair in his home with wife, Linda, and grand-daughter Faith Erickson, 8, after several days of travel and speaking engagements with Rotary clubs in Butte and Engineers without Borders, also in Butte.

Gerard, who has been to Guatemala seven times with Rotary, said the purpose was to raise awareness of community-based projects the club was involved in, and to build resources to be able to continue helping villages like Santo Juan Maza, where the latest project is based.

The Rotary Club of Kootenai Valley has already raised $20,000 – another $20,000 has been raised by the Rotary district and $30,000 from a wider umbrella of international Rotarians has also been added – to aid this project.

San Juan Maza is a village with a small water system that is supporting a growing community. Montana Rotarians have already built a tank to hold water that comes from a spring in the mountains, though a larger spring has been found that could provide the additional water necessary.

Pipe work needs to be done to bring the spring to the tank system through the village – this is where the work of the Rotary clubs come in, Gerard said.

Though it was equally important to complete these projects by working with people at a grass-roots level.

“It’s about connections,” Gerard said, describing the visits that he and Linda have made to the village that broadened their own understanding how people in different countries live.

For Diaz and Ruiz, who are both seeing Montana for the first time, the visit that ends on Aug. 11 will be also be an eye-opener for the Rotary Club back in Mazatenango.

As well as bringing photos, maps and descriptions of their own culture to Montana Rotary clubs, the two are also seeing some of the beauty of northwest Montana.

“It is a very, very nice place,” Ruiz said, and joked “I want to stay here forever.”

Diaz also said he was impressed with the people and the landscape: “It is incredible.”