A new journey south

May 1st: I leave for a month in Latin America and my next effort to gain experience in environmental work there.

This trip includes 10 days outside Santa Cruz Bolivia with Water for People (http.www.waterforpeople.org) on an evaluation of banos sanitarios (composting latrines). WFP is a US nonprofit affiated with the American Water Works Association. WFP uses volunteer professionals for site assessment and monitoring of water, santitation, and hygiene projects. We will be a group of 24 (2 of us American) working in small teams to interview 200 families in 4 days. In contrast to last year's project in rural Nicaragua, I won't be creating the entire project and modifying as I go. In Bolivia, I 'll work under an experienced team leader using an established protocol, and hope to learn a lot about the field of project evaluation.

The 2nd stage of the journey is in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the country's largest city (~2 million people) on the western edge of the country. Through the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, I've connected with Mi Cometa (http://www.micometa.org.ec/), a social action organization in the city's barrios. Mi Cometa has played an important role in getting government action on the terrible quality of water and sanitation services in the barrios. Now, it wants to focus on documenting the impact of domestic, industrial and agricultural discharges on the river and estuary and developing a remediation plan. In my 2 weeks there, we hope to develop a proposal for further funding for an in-depth study. Given the enormous water quality problems there, even this limited goal seems very ambitious. !A ver! (We shall see!)

More to come from the road, once I get my feet on the ground in Santa Cruz.
Claire