International Program volunteers return to Guatemala
Linemen from electric cooperatives in Missouri will bring electricity to a remote Guatemalan village again this year. The first of two volunteer groups left the United States on July 31, bound for Viucalvitz, Guatemala. There they took the first steps to connecting the village with a small hydroelectric generator that will provide electricity here for the first time.
The project is the latest for the Missouri Electric Cooperative International Program, which has brought the benefits of electricity through three successful group projects in Bolivia and Guatemala beginning in 2016. This time the electric cooperative linemen will be challenged with rugged mountainous terrain at elevations up to 8,000 feet.
Viucalvitz is located in Quiche, a department in the northwest corner of Guatemala. It is close to the previous electrification project for Missouri’s International Program, which in 2020 saw electricity turned on for residents of Trapichitos. The new lines will connect the two villages, providing power for approximately 130 families and businesses, along with a school and a medical clinic.
The project is split into two parts, with Team 1 running wire to 45 poles, 30 of which had to be accessed on foot due to the steep inclines. They also hung streetlights and wired some of the homes.
Team 2, arriving in December, will encounter the same mountainous terrain but will be able to access the poles from a road in the more populated parts of the village. They will be running wire to 40 poles, hanging more streetlights and wiring 55 to 60 homes.
During the trip the men stay in the village school, without electricity until the power lines are completed.
The project is being done through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association International Program, which has brought electricity to more than 160 million people in 44 developing countries.
Team 1 includes: Tobey Bennett, Ozark Electric; Clayton Kemp, Black River Electric; Joe Lay, Lewis County Rural Electric; Matthew Lumley, White River Valley Electric; Matthew Morison, Citizens Electric; Cole Pennewell, Northeast Power; Jacob Rose, Platte-Clay Electric; and Tim Thoenen, Co-Mo Connect, Tipton.
Team 2 includes: Alex Buschjost, Three Rivers Electric; Clayton Buzzard, Barton County Electric; James Connell, Laclede Electric; Kyle Holder, Black River Electric; Steven Martin, White River Valley Electric; Jacob Mularoni, United Electric; Clay Nolte, Boone Electric; and Isaac Spain, Ozark Electric.
Team leader is Craig Moeller, director of field training services for Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Jefferson City. Photographer for the mission is Rural Missouri’s Jim McCarty.