Flood Assistance Through The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN

A Rotarian from Rotary Sopocachi, Einstein, presented a problem to the club a couple weeks ago concerning flood victims in Beni, a amazonian department north of La Paz. Between Jan, and March of this year they received a second year of record floods. They lost everything.

The FAO already has a project they’re working on there to rebuild houses and start up some basic turism. Still, they have many things they aren’t able to fund as their mandate/ mission restricts them. Therefore we’re working on a much more comprehensive and truly sustainable project which would include the building of schools, solar panels, improving means of communication including an early alert system, and looking into alternative economic activities besides livestock and farming. Finally I have a truly good feeling about this project- as mentioned I’ve work on a couple other projects that haven't moved past a proposal like one that would have created a youth technical training and academic tutoring program in El Alto through Gregoria Apaza. Unfortunately, I learned you need to find the right organization to take something from ideas to action.
With the FAO it’s another story. No more meetings cancelled at the last minute or simply forgotten- no more closed access to and/or entire lack of important information. It's delightful.
My role is translation, investigation of prices, hopefully a trip to the site, fundraising in the U.S. including contacting and presenting the project to rotary clubs.
Essentially, the only thing we need now is some strong Rotary backing, something I hope I’ll be able facilitate.