In April, several members of the Rotary Club of Daniel Island traveled to Iquitos, Peru on a mission to change lives for the better. On behalf of Water Missions International (WMI), the group partnered with members of the Charleston Rotary Lunch Club on the journey and ultimately helped install six new Living Water Treatment Systems for communities in need. Proceeds from the first annual "SIP of Daniel Island" event, held last March, were used to help make the team’s Peruvian efforts for WMI possible. Each member of the crew was deeply touched by the experience. The Daniel Island News asked them to share their thoughts about the trip with our community. Their stories are featured below…

Visiting Peru on behalf of Water Missions International and the Rotary Club of Daniel Island was an experience that will stay with me forever. About a month before our departure, I listened to a Sunday sermon about mission work, and learned that in these experiences you always leave part of your heart behind when you return. This has proven true, as not a day goes by that I don’t think of the thousands of Peruvians that now have access to clean and safe drinking water. Our trip was filled with many highlights, but throughout our entire time in Peru we were warmly welcomed and treated to extraordinary hospitality. 

I have always felt a certain call to mission work, but until this trip had never found an opportunity that seemed like the right fit for me. When this opportunity presented itself, it included three ingredients that helped convince me to go. First, Water Missions International is an extraordinary organization based right here in Charleston. I’m amazed by the work they are doing all over the world. Second, my fellow Rotarians were committed in a major way to this project, and helped offset some of the trip’s cost. I was honored to be one of their ambassadors, and was awfully proud when the Daniel Island Rotary logo was painted at each water system installation. And third, we were afforded the opportunity to take an amazing three night side trip to the Amazonian rain forest. While deep in the jungle, we saw the most amazing array of wildlife, and landscapes that will remain etched in my memory forever. We visited the small village of Ayacucho Tipisca and witnessed a way of life so primitive and foreign to us, but one where our only real barrier was language. 

While I returned with an extreme sense of satisfaction, I’m also haunted by the fact that there are millions of people all over the world dying due to the lack of clean water, something we take for granted. These folks know that the water they’re drinking will make them sick, but as they explained, "We’d rather drink dirty water and get sick than no water and die."  With that said, I am hopeful that everyone reading this will consider Water Missions International for a gift of time, money, or both.   

 The trip I made with Jimmy Bailey and three other colleagues in our Rotary club was rewarding, inspiring, informative and fun. The hardest part was the long travel time there and back... 23.5 hours. My feeling is a satisfying sense of knowing that 8,000 villagers will have clean water for the first time in their lives. To see the expressions on the villagers faces when the clean water flowed and being so welcomed by them warms my heart. I can’t speak for the other team members but feel confident that everyone has the same feelings. It’s most interesting that just prior to our trip, National Geographic magazine dedicated their entire April edition to the critical shortage of water in the world. Particularly noteworthy is that 46 percent of the world population has limited access to fresh water or have a water shortage. Complicating this is the fact that of all the water on earth, only 2.5 percent is fresh water and half of that is frozen in Antarctica... Scary stuff when you consider there are six billion people on the planet!      While the whole purpose of our trip was to view, assist as needed, and to represent our club as contributors on the installation of six purified drinking water systems in Peru, we were able to experience an enjoyable side trip to the Amazon. We spent three nights and four days in the upper part of the river and the experience was amazing, particularly, since I have been in awe of its beauty and abundance of unique flora, fauna and wildlife from books I read as a child. We were fortunate to be able to see monkeys, beautiful birds, piranhas (we actually went piranha fishing!), Tree Sloths, and Macaws -- and all of this viewed from the uniqueness of a dugout canoe. Pretty cool stuff!

While on the Amazon, I will have the lifelong distinction of being the only person to actually attract fish into our canoe. I really don’t mind. After all, how many people have bragging rights to catching fish without a hook!!??  

As one often says that it is not the destination but the journey, this applies to our Rotary mission trip to Peru. We were fortunate to not only experience the beauty of the Amazon countryside but also shown to appreciate the bare thread of our eco system which is dependent on the preservation of the Amazon and sister rivers. Water and most specifically, clean water, drinkable water is always a core theme to this delicate balance. We experienced the hospitality of the residents in every village where we installed water treatment systems. The most exciting moments were when we completed installation and had an opening ceremony for the blessing of the water. Children lined up with buckets so that they could be the first from their family to drink clean water. No more stomach aches or worms, malaria or sickness. I was blessed to be a part of this journey.

This was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. I had never been to a third world country. I had heard many stories and seen pictures, but had no idea it was the way it is. We need to count our blessings. They have very little but are very happy. I asked one woman why they used the dirty water, and she said that it is all they had. The people in Peru were so appreciative of all we did. It was amazing they would all stay and watch us as we worked. As we finished each system, all the people in the villages would gather for a small ceremony and thank us for all we did.

I was privileged to represent both Water Missions International (WMI) and the Daniel Island Rotary Club on this six community Rotary-funded safe water project in the area of Iquitos, Peru.  Iquitos is the largest city in the world inaccessible by roads (plane and boat access only), and is located near the source of the Amazon River. My focus for the week was to assist with and oversee the water system installations involving all three participating Rotary clubs (Daniel Island, Charleston Lunch, Iquitos) and provide training for WMI’s Affiliate Country Program organization (Operation Blessing Peru). Both US-based Rotary clubs participated in water system installations in three communities, plus an eco-tour of the upriver portions of the Amazon River basin to experience the wildlife and beauty of the area, and also to experience more remote communities still in need of safe water access. During the week, the water systems provided for the communities of Mariategui, Santo Thomas, Cabo Lopez, Ex Petroleros, Varrilal, and Parraiso served over 8,000 people with their first sustainable access to safe water. The support and appreciation shown by the communities from the time we arrived until departure was memorable and very gratifying. The Daniel Island Rotary Club will again plan on participating as the International Partner in another safe water project in Peru in the next Rotary fiscal year.

The trip to Peru was full of moments that will stay with me for a lifetime. As part of the Daniel Island Rotary contingent I went on the trip to Iquitos, Peru. When I began to realize the impact of this trip, I began to think about arranging and paying for my two children, Zoe (11) and T.J. (7) and wife Carmen (39 and holding) to travel to Peru as well. This turned out to be the start of what will be lifelong memories for my family. While the Rotary groups worked, my family was able to travel around the area and get to have a much better appreciation of life in the jungle verses life on the island. My daughter Zoe’s girl scout Troup put together care packages which my children handed out to local children in the villages. At one village deep in the Amazon Rainforest, our children quickly made friends with the village children and a game of soccer was suggested. While the adults toured the village school and water treatment plant, all the kids in the village played a quick game boys against girls soccer game in which the boys chivalrously lost to the girls. Having the opportunity to be with the people of the region learning about them while they learned about us was an incredible experience. Combined with the ability to make a hopefully lasting impact in their lives through clean water make this a once in a life time kind of experience. The impact of clean water on the health of people cannot be overstated, to give visual example; the accompanying photo shows two 11 year girls, Zoe and a Peruvian girl shaking hands after the game.