Indigenous Bolivian Women Change-Makers to Celebrate

Having recently returned from Bolivia, where I spent two weeks in field visits and at a staff planning retreat, as the new Executive Director of Etta Projects, I am deeply inspired by these three women, and many more, whose leadership impact I wanted to share and celebrate…
 
Outside pressures like global warming have meant communities like Villa Amboró face dry riverbeds where they once had an abundance of flowing water.
 
Pictured here are two Water Committee women sitting on rocks that only a few years ago were submerged. The water system pipe we installed in 2016, (also visible in the photo) now needs an extension to a new intake point. After showing our team this dried-up river bed, these women led us through the jungle to a new water intake spot they had mapped out, for restoring water to their community.
 
Back in the center of Villa Amboró, Señora Claudia, who is a graduate of our two-year Community Health Promoter program, is pictured here using a life-saving antibiotic injection to treat a fellow villager suffering from pneumonia. (Peeking out of their home is her patient's grandson, glad his grandma is getting treated).
 
Our doctor on staff, Caterine Senzano, who I'm also deeply honored to be working alongside, checks in with the graduates of our public health training program to ensure her students have sufficient medical supplies, and follow-up support, as they treat front-line medical needs in communities so remote that “the ambulance isn't coming”.

Etta Projects empowers indigenous Bolivian women leaders as they provide vital support to their rural communities.

Doña Claudia and Dr. Caterine attending a patient in Villa Amboró