Make Your Gift Count Twice in the Fight Against Water Scarcity and Contamination
There are Only Two more Weeks Left to Double the Impact of Your Gift and Create Access for Those Without Safe Drinking Water
Thanks to two generous families who are committed to our mission, all gifts up to USD $10,000 will be matched through the end of October. That means, for a limited time, your gift will be doubled! Don’t let this opportunity to do twice as much good pass you by.
Located in Northern Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and the surrounding watershed region is made up of more than 2,800 rural and urban communities facing the increasing threats of extreme water scarcity and contamination. As the water table continues to fall precipitously, wells are literally drying up and leaving many, with limited economic means, to lose water access literally overnight. The water that remains is often dangerously contaminated with arsenic and fluoride, two dangerous, naturally-occurring chemicals that are detrimental to human health.
While the scope of these issues can have dire consequences and can seem very discouraging, it’s important to remember that it is possible to make a big difference in the health and lives of real people, especially when we work together. Supporters like you are a critical and integral part of creating access to safe, healthy water - frankly we can’t do it without you. So are the grassroots organizational partners and community leaders we collaborate with. All this month, we are sharing profiles of the individuals who are overcoming what can feel like insurmountable challenges and who work with us to create positive and lasting change everyday on a person-to-person level.
This week we are excited to share with you a brief look at the incredible life of María Luz “Lucha” Villafuerte, one of our oldest, closest, and most important collaborators. Lucha is a community leader who has been working to educate, organize, and implement water solutions through the grassroots organization United Communities for Life and Water, or simply CUVAPAS (its acronym in Spanish) – a coalition she helped found, representing those most impacted by severe water quality and scarcity issues in our region.
Fighting the Good Fight With Lucha Villafuerte
Photo: María Luz "Lucha" Villafuerte.
María Luz Villafuerte’s nickname, “Lucha,” which literally translates to “fight,” couldn’t be more appropriate, because as a water advocate and humanitarian, she has been fighting to improve community health and wellbeing for decades. Over the past 10+ years, she has done that by working to bring safe drinking water to those most at risk through CUVAPAS, her community organization, and long-time frontline partner of Caminos de Agua.
Nearly a decade ago, back in the early days of Caminos, Lucha and our executive director, Dylan Terrell, were first understanding exactly how severe the water contamination issues were in the communities of San Luis de la Paz – a municipality located less than an hour northeast of San Miguel de Allende. Through Caminos’ relationships with universities like Northern Illinois and Texas A&M, we convinced hydrogeologists to come down and study the regional water quality – specifically the increasing levels of arsenic and fluoride. Together, Lucha and Dylan, along with those university teams, traveled all over Northern Guanajuato taking water samples from community wells. They were horrified to find arsenic and fluoride in those wells that were far and beyond the highest levels ever registered in the region.
“I remember receiving the lab results from one of those first trips with Lucha. I was shaken. One of the fluoride levels was almost 12 times above the limit... in a community where we knew they were drinking the water everyday. That number has been burned into my head ever since…. I didn’t know how I was going to tell Lucha. It felt so overwhelming.”
Dylan Terrell, executive director, Caminos de Agua
Photo: Lucha Villafuerte inspecting a Rainwater Harvesting System.
But Lucha knew exactly what to do. She used those water quality results to start organizing communities. In 2013, Lucha represented her region and presented the impacts of water contamination to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal – an international human rights ethical body. Since then, she has continued to partner closely with Caminos de Agua, to bring safe water solutions to her region through CUVAPAS – an organization she helped build from the ground up. Today, CUVAPAS represents more than 20 rural communities in Northern Guanajuato and has helped build hundreds of rainwater harvesting systems as well as composting toilets – improving the lives of thousands of people. Right now and over the next year, Caminos de Agua and CUVAPAS together are building at least 150 new rainwater harvesting systems and 30 composting toilets in more than a dozen communities – helping many hundreds of more families avoid the serious health threats that result from drinking contaminated water.
Photo: Lucha Villafuerte teaching local community members about our regional water crisis.
As a Caminos’ Collaborator – You Create Sustainable Change
The decade-long collaboration with Lucha Villafuerte and CUVAPAS, has become a blueprint for us in creating sustainable, lasting change in the lives of real people. Today, we work with many community leaders and grassroots organizations throughout the region, to assure that communities are organized and water solutions keep improving human health and community well-being, long after we’re gone.
Your role as a key collaborator is no less important. Our ability to do our work is reliant on people just like you, and this month’s match campaign is a particularly important opportunity. By making a donation today, your gift will be immediately doubled by our generous sponsors, allowing you to help us do twice the good.