Guatemalan mission seeks aid
Gary Bartholomew, who makes his living installing water-well pump systems, is tapping into the generosity of the community.
The recipient of Batholomew’s good will is Los Pinos, an orphanage in northern Guatemala, where more than 700 kids and staff members have critical water needs. Bartholomew and others are about to make a difference as they plan to drill as many as four water wells.
Clean water became a problem at Los Pinos when a village was developed upriver. The orphanage’s water source became polluted and many of the orphans and staff members have been infected by parasites. Some suffer from hepatitis, others have gastro-intestinal problems.
Bartholomew’s group will travel to Guatemala for seven weeks, beginning Jan. 3. Family members on the trip will be his wife, Angie; son and daughter-in-law Rod and Jenny; and brother and sister-in-law Lynn and Kathy. Jim and Jeanne Johnson of Coeur d’Alene and Jim and Judith Homburg from Chewelah, Wash., also will make the trip. Jim Homburg is a master cabinet maker and will build cupboards for staff housing and desks for the library.
About a dozen businesses are donating supplies to the project, estimated to cost $30,000 for the drill, extra bits, tools, pumps, wire and fuel for the trip. United Pipe and Supply Co., 4802 N. Florida St. in Hillyard, and its vendors are donating $6,000 worth of material.
“I asked Gary, ‘Let me know your goal,’ said Eric Parent, branch manager. “It’s nice to have the opportunity do a job with the Bartholomews for a charitable cause. If they install it, you know it’s going to be done right.”
This will be Gary and Angie’s eighth goodwill mission to the country. In the past, they have dug sewers, worked on electricity maintenance and built cabinets for the orphanage. Los Pinos is operated by International Children’s Care, an organization that was founded by Seventh-day Adventist Mission leaders after the Guatemalan earthquake of 1976.
The Bartholomews’ first connection to Guatemala was about 20 years ago when Gary and Angie adopted an abandoned child who was living at the orphanage. Her name is Rosita – although she Americanized herself by changing it to Summer. Now 26, she is studying for a master’s degree in social work at Eastern Washington University.
Bartholomew, owner of the family business Bartholomew Pump Service, is in deep with the pipe and sewer community. One of his two sons, Rod, 28, also works in the business and is equally committed to the project.
This will be the second attempt to dig a well for the orphanage. The first, by a local contractor hired by Batholomew, only pumped 30 gallons per minute. Bartholomew expects his wells will be 200- to 400-feet deep and will pump about 300 gallons per minute. Although Bartholomew has not dug a pump in about 12 years, he doesn’t expect it to be a problem considering he learned the craft from his father when he was a young boy.
“The biggest challenge will be at customs,” he said. “It will cost us a lot of money even though this is not a commercial venture.”
Batholomew said the supplies will be trucked to Houston and transported into Guatemala on a boat. He suspects the duty fees could run as much as $6,000 to $10,000.