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Wilhelm Pierola Iturralde is the president of the Bolivian Association "Joining Hands for Life", an initiative of the Presbyterian Hunger Programme which works closely with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to address water problems in Bolivia. Iturralde was one of the participants at the Global Forum of the Ecumenical Water Network in Kenya, Nairobi.
The event took place from 25-27 October bringing together 20 delegates including church officials and experts on water issues from church based groups and international organizations.
Iturralde was interviewed by Fredrick Nzwili, a journalist from Kenya.
How is your organization involved in working for water and sanitation?
My church has joined hands with other group of churches and civil organizations who share a common conviction that water is life. This is one of our premises, which unites us and makes us work in rural areas, in poor districts or regions where we build capacities of women.
What challenges do you face in the work?
The problems that we experience are mainly lack of water in rural communities where in recent years, the water sources have dried up because of global warming and the inappropriate use of water. This has been our objective to work with these communities in order to give them water, at least drinking water.
How are you dealing with these challenges?
Basically; we use the traditional and ancestral technology to solve some of these problems. We gather the ancient traditional ways of doing things which are applicable even today. Therefore we rely more on the traditional and ancestral technology, which enhances our capacity and help solve these problems.
Why is being part of the network important to you and your organization?
At EWN forum, we exchanged experiences. Besides this, it opens us to possibilities of communication between institutions which also belong to the network. We also communicate with other institutions in the networks around the world and with these institutions we exchange experiences and knowledge.
Website of the Ecumenical Water Network:
http://water.oikoumene.org
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