Doña Luisa's Goal: improved Water for Every Person in Her Community

February 11, 2011
By Eileen Lambert

Doña Luisa lives in northern Honduras and loves her community of Gonzalo Maldonado—every person and every child. Watching as the community’s water system failed a couple years ago, she was devastated to see people returning once again to the old contaminated water source. For Doña Luisa, her deep dedication to the community she holds close to her heart cultivated a leader who would transform a broken system into a system that has no option but success.

Now two years later, standing into a room packed with the residents of Gonzalo Maldonado, Doña Luisa stands out. She’s the shortest person in the room, the only woman, and very quiet. But you know instantly that she’s a force of change. Doña Luisa joined the water board with a singular goal in mind: she never wants to see her friends and neighbors return to the unclean spring for drinking water again.

“It’s life for every person,” Doña Luisa says. She’s thinking about their children’s children—the future of the community. They are all part of the family she loves and vows to protect.

The water board in Gonzalo Maldonado achieved many things in the process of working with Water For People and the municipality to rehabilitate their water system. They put in water micrometers so that every resident can be conscious of their water usage and protect the resource for the future. They’ve built a strong, sophisticated water board with high expectations for the community. And they devised a new monthly water tariff of 50 lempiras ($2.60 USD) so that the community can collect enough money for on-going maintenance and the eventual replacement of their water system. The tariff is double what they paid before—but lack of funds to fix the old system is the only reminder Doña Luisa needs to convince her neighbors of the need for the lifeline tariff.

It all amounts to success that Doña Luisa will do everything in her power to sustain. She holds her position on the water board for two more years, and she’s already thinking about how best to transition. For Water For People, we know the state of transition is the most challenging time for any community. This is when systems, no matter how well constructed, can and will need repair. But total system failure will have a hard time making an appearance under Doña Luisa’s watch.

“Doña Luisa is making it inevitable that the community will succeed,” said Ned Breslin, Water For People CEO. “She is thinking about how to best transfer her knowledge so that a failed water system doesn’t ever happen again.”