Our Mission: Creating Partnerships With Impoverished Bolivian Communities that Improve Health and Increase Economic Well-Being.
|
The Latest |
Mano a Mano International Partners
Who We Are
June 08, 2011 14:20
Mano a Mano is a Minnesota nonprofit organization that works with Bolivian communities to create sustainable infrastructure projects that dramatically improve quality of life. Joan and Segundo Velasquez co-founded Mano a Mano in 1994 with the goal of saving surplus medical supplies from the landfill in Minnesota and shipping them to Segundo's native Bolivia, where they knew these supplies were desperately needed and could be used immediately. From our humble beginnings collecting supplies with a volunteer staff of Joan and Segundo's friends and family in both the US and Bolivia, we have now grown into constructing large-scale infrastructure projects throughout Bolivia. Our projects focus on basic needs that improve a community's quality of life, including healthcare, education, sanitation, water, transportation, and empowerment.
We accomplish our mission through strong collaborations among donors and volunteers in both the US and Bolivia, municipal and national governments in Bolivia, and the Bolivian communities themselves.
If you would like to get involved, look through our website to learn more about our projects and how we work. We are always interested in new volunteers, and we take groups of travelers to Bolivia a number of times each year. To the right you can sign up for our newsletter and check out our Social Media pages, including our blog where we post updates on current projects. If you would like more information about anything, please feel free to contact us. Thanks for stopping by!
Caterpillar Challenge Grant
June 16, 2010 14:12
The Caterpillar Foundation has given Mano a Mano a challenge grant - they will match any donations made by businesses (not individuals) through December 31, 2011 up to $225,000!
Help us take advantage of this tremendous opportunity, whether through workplace giving, having Mano a Mano meet with your company, or just spreading the word.
Thanks Caterpillar Foundation!
Connect with Mano a Mano:
TESTIMONIALS
- We were living like animals in the jungle and Mano a Mano has opened the doors to the corral and set us free. Don Felipe, Mayor of El Palmar, upon completion of road project with Mano a Mano
- "Our water runs away and the corn produces little or dies of thirst. We know that an atajada (water reservoir) would hold rain water to channel to fields as our ancestors did. Please help us again. You know we have ganas (motivation) and will work every day if you bring your machines and build with us. Then we could feed our children and sell the rest in the city.” Local woman in Choquechampi, asking Mano a Mano for help
- "We have learned how to work with Mano a Mano and we know that Mano a Mano delivers...the road from Cochabamba to Sucre is sowed with Mano a Mano projects…Todo el camino entre Cochabamba y Sucre esta sembrado con proyectos de Mano a Mano..." Don Nicholas from Uchuchi
- “We are responsible to give teachers a place to live. But we can barely afford houses for our own families. Our teachers have been living in little sheds that should be for animals but we just didn’t have any other place for them, so they would come here for a week or two and then go back to Santa Cruz. Who would teach our children? We were so ashamed, but what could we do. After we built the clinic with Mano a Mano, we asked for help with housing for our teachers. Now we have eight teachers. They stay in our community and teach our children.” Local father in Campo Vibora
- "I heard from her (a nurse friend) that there is no problem in getting supplies to use in treating patients, that the personnel in the Cochabamba office are available by phone every day to help with difficult cases, and that doctors receive more training from Dr. Ortuño who is very supportive. In most clinics in Bolivia, you can’t get supplies, the building starts to fall apart and nobody responds; you are totally on your own. I have found everything that my friend said about Mano a Mano to be true and am very happy to be working in this clinic. I travel to Cochabamba to the office once each month and feel that I am part of a big family that is Mano a Mano." Dr. Carlos Moises Guevara Retarnozo, when asked why he had chosen to work in a Mano a Mano clinic in spite of its remote location.
- For several years, midwife Nora traveled the 90 miles from Cochabamba to her original home in Chullpa K’asa to deliver babies and bring medications. She approached Mano a Mano, asking them to talk with Chullpa K’asa villagers about building a clinic there. When Mano a Mano’s volunteer team first visited the village to discuss building a clinic, the town officials had already prepared agreements on what they would contribute. But a vocal, skeptical member scoffed,“You’re nothing but ch’amas!” (in Quechua - noisemakers who promise everything but do nothing). He had often heard politicians make promises to his community, never to be seen or heard from again. When plans took shape, cynicism gave way to enthusiasm. The villagers chipped in and hired the only truck in town to drive to Cochabamba to pick up bricks. They wanted real bricks, not adobe (mud bricks) which crumble. The truck returned home over the twisty, rocky roads - only 90 miles, but a grueling 6 hour trek over a 16,000 foot pass. When the loaded truck could not reach the construction site, villagers grabbed their burden cloths, filled them with bricks and sand, and carried the heavy loads the last 200 yards on their backs. When the Chullpa K’asa clinic opened, the skeptic spoke passionately of Mano a Mano’s staff and volunteers as the only group who keeps its promises. This leader continued by encouraging his compañeros to use clinic services, adding with conviction that “now our wives and children won’t die”.
- “After the ribbon-cutting I walked into the women’s bathroom along with a group of shy, giggly high school girls. They seemed to be standing back, waiting to see what I would do…so I turned on the water in the sink, splashed a bit on my face, then combed my hair in front of the mirror. They all watched me, fascinated, animated interchanges voicing their surprise and delight. Then each, in turn, retrieved a comb from her pocket, turned on the water and began to wet and comb her long, black hair. I fought back tears as they thanked me for this gift – because I was there and they needed to thank someone for the miracle of warm running water – a place in which they could get clean and feel good about themselves. I left the village sensing that their lives had just taken a major step forward.” Lou Petzoldt, Mano a Mano volunteer who participated in dedication of sanitation project
© 2009 Mano a Mano International. All Rights Reserved.