Sheldon, Iowa – Most of us take flipping a switch and our lights coming on for granted, but not all in the Americas experience this luxury.
This past summer, a team of linemen journeyed to the rural village of Las Peñas in southeast Guatemala to complete a project for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) International. Since 1965, the NRECA International program has been assisting villages and homes worldwide, bringing electricity to more than 220 million people. The goal of this particular project was to provide electricity to the small village of Las Peñas for the first time.
The team, composed of 14 electric cooperative linemen, dedicated two weeks of their summer to this project. During their time in Guatemala, they constructed 3.5 miles of electric infrastructure, wired around 35 homes for lights and outlets, and provided lumber to build a more stable structure for the village’s one-room schoolhouse. They also distributed water purifiers to each household in the village.
Due to treacherous road conditions and rugged terrain, the entire project had to be completed without the bucket trucks and other equipment typically available to linemen. This required the team to climb poles and string wires by hand. In Iowa, spans between power line poles are usually set at about 200 feet. However, in Las Peñas, the challenging terrain required spans of 1,000 feet or more. According to Scott Meinecke, Director of Safety & Loss Control for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives and one of the linemen who traveled to Guatemala, it took the crew over an hour just to travel the short 15 miles from their station to the village, with some of the journey completed on foot.
Northwest Iowa Community College officials tell us that though the project was physically and mentally demanding, the team returned home feeling extremely fulfilled. They say that access to things like electricity and clean water is something many of us take for granted every day, but the impact on the residents of Las Peñas will be life-changing. We are told that electricity will now allow the girls in the village to attend school, a privilege they previously didn’t have.
Meinecke says, “Without electricity or reliable refrigeration, girls don’t have time to go to school, as they are needed at home to help grind corn, cook, and collect firewood. Having access to electricity will allow food prep chores to be done on the weekends, and access to a refrigerator allows for safe storage of a week’s supply of food. This means the girls are now free to attend school and receive an education.”
Of the 14 linemen who participated in this project, half are graduates of NCC’s Powerline Program. NCC is extremely proud of the following alumni for their service, volunteerism, and for helping power a brighter future for people around the world:
Bailey Bautsch (Maquoketa Valley Electric Cooperative) ’17
Mike Berkenpas (North West Rural Electric Cooperative) ’06
Jason Donnelly (Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative) ’05
Andy Koopman (Eastern Iowa Light & Power Cooperative) ’07
Ryan Loomans (Nobles Cooperative Electric) ’04
Scott Meinecke (Iowa Rural Electric Cooperatives) ’84
Brian Reidy (East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative) ’96
