Pavit Water Project

Start Date: Available
Main Contact: Mateo Paneitz
Project Manager : Mateo Paneitz, E.D.
Current Status: Looking for sponsor

• Pavit Preliminary Report, 2008

Initial Assessment

Monday November 17, 2008, the community leaders from Pavit picked us up at Parque Chimiya and drove us to their springs. The community leaders were friendly and welcoming and lead us through the mountains to the springs. They bought six springs in 2002, which are located in a nearby community named Pamumus, but are currently not bringing water to Pavit. We GPS marked the locations of their springs, took photos, and measured the water flow. The run-off produced 5 Liters of water per minute, which is 75 gallons per hour. Through their generosity, they cooked us a wonderful lunch over a hot fire. After lunch we continued on our journey through the dense mountain side and followed the potential water line all the way to their community.

Community Information

Tuesday November 18, 2008 we began to survey each family in Pavit. Each day 2 members from the community would guide us to each house, along with the community leader of Simajuleu, Rolando, and the community leader from Panimacac, Mercedes. We had great assistance each day and we surveyed 76 families. Many of the families only spoke Kaqchikel, and therefore the community leaders would translate into Spanish for us. The community leaders also provided us with a detailed map of each house, each church, and the location of the school. We spent time surveying each family and took photos of each family's faucet, latrine, kitchen, and house.

The average family size in Pavit is 6.47 people. There are 461 people living in the community, and 44.7% are adults(+16) and 55.3% are children. Each family had an average of 20.3 animals. 39.5% of the families in Pavit had family members that have been to the United Sates, most were working in Virginia.

Each morning, afternoon, and evening, the community provided wonderful meals consisting of vegetables, rice, soup, meat, and endless tortillas. Thursday evening, we celebrated the completion of the surveys though a large community dinner. All of the community leaders that were involved with our assessment attended the dinner and helped prepare and cook all of the food. It was delicious and a great conclusion to our stay in Pavit.

The community also provided bottled water, toilet paper and bread. As we walked around the community, one woman graciously gave us handfuls of oranges. Another woman prepared a bag full of huisquilies and corn, and gave them to us as a gift.

We were really excited to have the opportunity to live with a local family. We stayed in a nice house near the school. The school was our starting point each day, so it was very convenient to live so close. Our room was large, had 2 beds, and a locked door. We felt very safe and comfortable the entire time. We were also able to communicate with our family each day and practice our Spanish.

Water Frequency and Quality

Pavit shares two other springs with two other communities, which causes water complications. The main water tank is in a nearby town called Chichali. Since they have already purchased their own springs, the next challenge is being able to use them to bring water to their community. The average number of days per week that water is available to each family is 5.78 days, with an average of 2.75 hours per day. 64.5% of the families have both a chorro and a pila and 7.6% of the families in Pavit do not have a faucet (chorro). The water we observed in each pila appeared transparent and clean.

Health

The most common health complaints in Pavit consisted of fever, headache, stomach ache and diarrhea. Other prominent health concerns were colds, respiratory problems, and vomiting. We learned through our surveys that 19% of the families had an open fire in their kitchen with no ventilation.

Another noticeable health conditions we observed was the significant amount of people missing teeth. Some people had gold teeth, while others only had a few teeth, usually misaligned and discolored. The liquid consumed by the community mostly consisted of coffee (one part coffee, ten parts sugar), coke, and other types of soda.

Education

32.9% of the families in Pavit had between 4th and 6th primary education. 26.3% had between 1st and 3rd primary education, while 26.3% had no education. Only one family had a basico education and no one in the community had a university level education.

Another surprising statistic was that only 17.1% of the community used trash bottles. During our visits with each family we educated them on the importance of using trash bottles and explained to them the health hazards of burning plastic. We also explained our need for the trash bottles in order to use them as construction materials for the vocational school in Comalapa. Using the plastic bottles to purify water was another aspect of our visit.

Conclusion

Overall, we had a wonderful experience in Pavit and felt very welcome in the community. We built relationships with the community leaders and brought hope to each family. Our experience enhanced our understanding of the water conditions and allowed us to gather vast amounts of information that will be useful for future development.