A Rotary Club Trip to Vista Hermosa, Guatemala

This blog post was inspired by an email received from Lydia Hohman, the International Grants Committee Chair at the Rotary Club of Annapolis. All photos belong to Lydia.

To Care for Life Is To Care for Water: A Visit to Vista Hermosa, Guatemala

In Vista Hermosa, a small village in Guatemala, clean water is no longer just a distant hope—it is becoming a reality, one meter of hand-dug earth at a time.

Recently, members of the Rotary Club of Annapolis traveled to Guatemala for a week-long service visit, hosted by the Rotary Club of Lake Atitlan. One of their most meaningful stops was Vista Hermosa, where an ambitious Clean Water and Sanitation project is underway. Their visit offers a powerful glimpse into the kind of community-driven change that The People’s Consultants exist to support and amplify.

The goal of the project is to give families safe, reliable access to clean water, and equip them with the knowledge to protect their health for generations. During the visit, the team hiked with local residents to the site of the village’s new well.

There, skilled craftsmen, supported by the municipality, are digging by hand—already several meters down, working toward a planned depth of 25 meters. Once they reach water, the work will enter a new phase: villagers will dig a 500-meter trench to lay pipe to a central distribution tank, and from there, extend clean water directly to homes and the village school.

Back at the school, the visiting Rotarians joined children in a hygiene workshop—an educational component that is just as critical as the well itself. The theme was simple and powerful: “To Care for Life is to Care for Water.” The children learned how clean water, sanitation, and everyday hygiene practices are directly tied to their ability to grow, learn, and thrive. At the end of the workshop, each child received school supplies and sports equipment, small gifts that reinforce an even bigger message: their health and their education matter!

The day ended with a meal prepared by the women of Vista Hermosa. It is in these moments that we see what real development looks like: not just creating infrastructure, but new confidence in collaborating with other people.

For The People’s Consultants, stories like Vista Hermosa are our model.

Our mission is to provide material and intellectual support to communities, organizations, and individuals in developing countries, so they can secure and protect their basic human rights: good health, clean water, and education that allows them to reach their full potential. Just as in Vista Hermosa, we believe that the people who live with the problems must also be the ones empowered to create solutions.

A well is important. But just as important are the skills to manage it, the knowledge to protect it, and the collective power to insist on every person’s right to safe water and dignified living conditions. When communities are given the tools, training, and support to take action on their own behalf, clean water becomes a foundation for long-term health, learning, and local leadership.

Atitlan by Ottoniel Chavajay

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