{"id":1535,"date":"2017-04-13T18:06:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T22:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blogs\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2018-01-29T11:39:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T16:39:31","slug":"celebrating-world-water-day-with-water-for-people-in-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/celebrating-world-water-day-with-water-for-people-in-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating World Water Day with Water For People in Guatemala"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine living in a community where only 96 of 3,000 residents have access to water \u2014 and those people can only access water every eight days. Now imagine the joy of learning that everyone in your community will finally have access to water. I witnessed that joy on the faces of residents of the Pamesebal II community last month while on a tour with Water For People<\/a> in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

\"ImageNaomi with Edgar Fajardo, Water For People\u2019s country director in Guatemala<\/em><\/p>\n

Operating in nine countries, Water For People provides sustainable, high-quality drinking water and sanitation services. Twice a year, they invite corporate partners to see how they are changing lives. I was fortunate to represent ArchTam during the most recent tour. We are a longtime supporter, and our employees have donated over US$750,000 to the organization since 2009. On this tour, we went to El Quich\u00e9, in one of Guatemala\u2019s poorest regions, where 75 percent of children suffer from malnutrition. This statistic hits home for me as a mother of three young girls.<\/p>\n

Among the tour\u2019s many inspiring stops, the most moving experience was the day we visited a local school and learned about the impact Water For People has had on the students and teachers. The staff shared how thankful they are that they now have access to water, sanitation facilities and hygiene education because of a Water For People program called SWASH.<\/p>\n

\"ImageA view of the water system Water For People installed at the school we visited<\/em><\/p>\n

We saw the \u201chygiene corners\u201d in each classroom \u2014 an important part of their everyday curriculum. For years, these students would walk an hour each way to school without access to restrooms and clean water \u2014 something that should be a right, not a privilege. I understood the sense of pride the Water for People staff felt when I watched the students brush their teeth after snacks, wash their hands and leave the classroom to use the restroom.<\/p>\n

\"ImageA teacher showing us the hygiene corners during our tour of a school<\/em><\/p>\n

Water for People\u2019s local presence stood out during the tour. At the end of the day, we were entertained by a theater performance called Rajaw Ja, sponsored by Water For People in partnership with ONE DROP<\/a>. The performance taught students the importance of water through social arts. Everyone in the audience, including me, was thoroughly amused.<\/p>\n

\"ImageChildren accepting their applause at the end of the Rajaw Ja performance<\/em><\/p>\n

Water For People is true to its vision of creating access to sustainable water and sanitation solutions. I am thankful that I could witness this. From meeting passionate staff, to visiting families impacted by their services, to hearing from the local mayor, to watching sanitation demonstrations, to visiting a micro-finance cooperative that provides loans for water and sanitation projects, I saw not only how Water For People operates, but how important their work is in the areas they serve.<\/p>\n

\"ImageEdgar Fajardo, Water For People\u2019s country director in Guatemala, demonstrating how a water system works<\/em><\/p>\n

Although I was familiar with Water For People\u2019s work, I did not fully understand their impact on so many lives. The passion from the Water For People staff will stay with me forever \u2014 it was both inspiring and contagious. My week in Guatemala was incredible and unforgettable. I\u2019m grateful for the experience and proud to be one of the many ArchTam employees who support this organization\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine living in a community where only 96 of 3,000 residents have access to water \u2014 and those people can only access water every eight days. Now imagine the joy of learning that everyone in your community will finally have access to water. I witnessed that joy on the faces of residents of the Pamesebal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":332,"featured_media":1536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[87,108],"yst_prominent_words":[781,789,776,784,790,783,774,778,773,787,367,782,771,780,770,779,775,777,772,788],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-social-responsibility","tag-sustainability","tag-water"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}