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Mission

Using the simplest and most effective means available to bring development to a country that does not have access to clean water. We also focus on building fuel-efficient, wood-burning stoves. These projects provide us unique opportunities to share the gospel and share God's love with families who might not hear it otherwise.

Overview

Appropriate Technology (AT) was founded by lifetime Santa Maria de Jesus resident, Margarito Vasquez.  Mr. Vasquez had experience with development organizations such as Living Water International, Students International and Tecnologia Para Salud, before he decided to start an organization which would better serve his own community.

Mr. Vasquez recognized that in his community, like most rural Mayan villages, there were three major afflictions which could be prevented.  Various diseases related to poor hygiene from an inconsistent water supply, gastro-intestinal and parasitical infections due to poor quality drinking water and respiratory diseases caused by indoor air pollution from traditional cooking practices.  To address these issues, Mr. Vasquez began instructing residents in simple methods to prevent these diseases such as cistern construction, chemical water treatment and implementation of vented cookstoves.  Since he has begun his work, Mr. Vasquez has coordinated the construction of over 50 cisterns and over 75 vented cookstoves.

With a recent increase in AT personnel, the organization is planning to expand services and the people being served.  For example, since water quality is still a major issue in most rural area, AT plans on growing its training programs to include point-of-use filtration techniques from locally constructed filters.  Also, AT hopes to be to facilitate training programs for other organizations which are active in other regions Guatemala.

AT is expecting a year of rapid growth including a newly constructed center, new services provided to the community and additional specialized training for staff members.

News & Prayer Requests

Coming Soon

Staff

Margarito Vasquez
Daniel Divelbiss

Photos

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