Thank you to everyone for all your support this year. Thanks to everyone’s efforts with planning and support, our chapter is in Buena Vista Sechum this week assisting the community with implementing the next phase of our community water project.
We look forward to sharing more project updates soon!
Happy 2023 from EWB-RMP! Our chapter is excited to be planning the next phase for implementation trip to Buena Vista Sechum, Guatemala in Spring/Summer 2023. To learn more, please join us at our next chapter meeting, Thursday, Feb. 16th, 2023 @ 7pm. Meeting details to follow. Please join our email list for meeting updates and please reach out if you have any questions: secretary@ewb-rmp.org
Thank you!
With Covid-19 travel restrictions lifting, the Rocky Mountain Professional Chapter has returned to Guatemala this year in partnership with the Buena Vista Sechum community, and our local NGO partner ACCMARI, to assess and develop plans for improving Buena Vista Sechum’s current water distribution infrastructure and connecting the community to a new spring water source.
EWB-RMP is proud to be a part of an organization that fully supports the Black Lives Matter movement. Here is what EWB-USA has pledged to do to take action:
“We want to ensure that our statements go beyond just words by transforming them into meaningful and sustained action. We pledge to take specific steps to become an inclusive, anti-racist organization. In order to do this, we are:
Ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion will be at the forefront of our 5 year strategic plan.
Establishing a committee to identify actionable steps we can take as an organization. Our goal is to include a diverse set of voices from a variety of our stakeholder groups, including staff, volunteers, the board, our partners, and beyond.
Spotlighting Black Lives Matter, diversity and inclusion, and the role EWB-USA can play in addressing and combatting colonialism and the white savior complex in our work, in the forthcoming Town Hall Buzz. (You can still register for July’s Town Hall Buzz, our monthly event for need-to-know organizational updates, questions and connecting with staff and fellow volunteers.)
Expanding our partnership with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) with a newly signed MoU, and continuing to explore additional partnerships with engineering associations serving historically underrepresented minority populations and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Amplifying voices of underrepresented people within the EWB-USA community (volunteers, staff, partner communities and organizational representatives) through our storytelling, newsletters, and educational courses. This includes elevating the lived experiences of our partner communities.
Reevaluating and/or establishing EWB-USA policies and practices to ensure they align with our values.
Committing to better educate ourselves by providing racial identity development and implicit bias training as well as resources for all staff and EWB-USA leaders.
This is just the beginning. We are committed to doing this vital work and making EWB-USA a more equitable, welcoming, and inclusive organization.”
Read the full response from EWB-USA’s CEO Cathy Leslie: https://www.ewb-usa.org/ewb-usa-responds/.
Although EWB-USA has suspended all volunteer travel due to COVID-19, our NGO partner ACCMARI has been able to make progress on one of the water storage tanks in Xexuxcap, Guatemala.
RMP will continue with online regular monthly meetings at 7pm Mountain Time on the third Thursday of each month.
Thank you to all of our chapter members, supporters, and members of the public who helped us raise $380 at Quiz for a Cause with Twisted Pine! The winning team was even generous enough to donate their cash prize to us at the end of the night. Below are photos of two of our three trivia teams made up of members and friends of RMP.
We really enjoyed working with Geeks Who Drink to make this fundraiser happen and we look forward to working with them again in the future.
Join us for trivia and microbrews as EWB-RMP partners with Geeks Who Drink in a Quiz for a Cause for a trivia night fundraiser!
This is a regular game of trivia with Geeks Who Drink, except that there is a suggested donation of $5 per person to play. The first place team wins a cash prize! The rest of the donations directly benefit Rocky Mountain Professionals and our ongoing water system project in Xexuxcap, Guatemala. The quiz starts at 7pm but we recommend arriving early to secure a table for yourself and your team. Teams can be just one or as many as six people, so we can match you up with a team of fellow RMP supporters if you like.
If you've never played Geeks Who Drink trivia, get the lowdown here: https://www.geekswhodrink.com/about/shortversion
We look forward to seeing you there!
Join the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2484489415129473/
Earlier this spring, eight members of our chapters set out for Guatemala. This is the first year members split into two teams in order to be on site over a longer construction schedule.
The traveler groups each spent two days getting from Colorado to Nebaj, the regional hub of the Ixil Triangle in the northwest part of Guatemala. The region is comprised of Ixil-speaking indigenous people that boast colorful traditional dress and vibrant artisan textiles. This area was very heavily impacted by the violence of the Guatemalan Civil War which lasted into the 1990s. In Nebaj, they met with our in-country counterpart, Diego (a native of the Ixil area).
From Nebaj the teams traveled to the community of Xexuxcap, where they worked with Diego and community members to expand and improve their existing water system. At Xexuxcap, there is essentially one water tap for each home, and with the existing water system, many of the homes were not getting water at all during the busy daytime hours. With a design provided by our EWB team, and with your funding support, the system was enhanced to connect a new spring water source through over a mile and a half of pipe, increasing the availability of potable water to the community by some 70%. Our EWB teams were impressed by how dozens of community members came together to work on the system over a period of several weeks, which included digging the 1.5 miles of trench through rugged and rocky terrain. We also had the privilege of joining the community for a celebration including flowers, singing, prayers, and fireworks, which commenced as water from the new spring source began to flow through the system.
RMP members and their families gathered together in December to relax, have fun, and get to know each other better. Pictured are just a few of the folks who participated and had a great time.
Please consider making a contribution to our year end campaign to ensure consistent and sufficient access to clean drinking water for communities in Guatemala.
Several members of EWB-RMP and their family members (not pictured) recently met to view the documentary Poverty, Inc. and have a discussion about how its message might impact the work we do.
