Hi Rebecca.

It probably will not surprise you I am not able to give the answers on the critical questions you meet at your school. The problem is we do not have any knowledge about an investigation the influence on the health of drinking not purified water in Guatemala. I just can tell you my personal experience.

Together with my wife I am living about seven months a year (since 2004) in San Juan La Laguna. The water used by the people in the village comes down from the surrounding mountains and probably it will be contaminated with fertilizer, etc.

People who can afford it are drinking purified water they have to buy. Price: Q. 15 / 5 gallon.

In January 2008 George has given us 310 water filters to distribute in the village with the promise we will get more in the future. We asked Q. 15 for each filter. With a very few exceptions everyone is very positive and often people asked us if and when they get the possibility to buy one too.  Next month someone will visit all the families we provided with a filter, to control if they are properly used.

Albert www.mayasupport.nl

--- In cleanwaterguatemala@yahoogroups.com, Rebecca Center <rcenter@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I have some questions. I funded 48 water filters for a school
> community in Alotenango, Guatemala. They have not been used
> effectively, perhaps b/c there was no educational program
> beforehand. I am in Guatemala now working with the school, and the
> director played devil's advocate with me. Although he knows they are
> important in some ways, he is not sure if he wants to make it a
> priority. He says:
> - he drinks out of the "pila" (trough of unfiltered water either in
> the town square or in the school) when he doesn't have purified water
> and he doesn't get sick.
>
> - the children at the school all drink the water and don't get sick
>
> -even if we have lots of filters at school, they will still go home
> and drink unfiltered water
>
> -the families don't want to have anything to do with the filters if
> they need to replace the filters two years down the road
>
> -the families aren't near water, so they wouldn't be filling them up
> (this one I'm confused about, since they need to get water anyways to
> drink)
>
> - what if the kids are playing sports and are thirsty, do you have
> filtered water at the field (which he thought was unlikely)
>
>
> Answers? Responses?
>
> Rebecca Center
>