Need

Venezuelans face shortages of food, electricity and medications that make daily living difficult and have resulted in millions leaving the country.

Action/results

Pitahaya Vocational Training School offers young women from low-income families a high school education with specialized training in hospitality that allows them to obtain employment to support themselves and their families.

Since 2016, LINCCO has helped Pitahaya through scholarships for students living at the school to pay for their education as well as lodging and meals during their studies.

Annual overall objective

As many $500 scholarships as possible

Details

• Local partner: Association for Art and Science

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Drinking water problem at Pitahaya Vocational Training Institute

Need

In Venezuela, particularly in the city of Maracaibo, the distribution and quality of water is unreliable. Frequent interruptions in the water supply and poor water quality are a major issue.

The option of having drinking water delivered by tanker trucks was quickly discarded because, in addition to being costly, the quality of the water remains poor. Instead, the Pitahaya Institute opted for a longer-term solution: drilling a well, which already provides clean water with a regular flow.

However, a year after the well was installed, another problem arose. Because Maracaibo’s groundwater has a high salt content, the school’s metal pipes, installed in 1988, began to deteriorate and now risk contaminating the water.

ACTION/RESULTS

There is an urgent need to install a reverse osmosis water filtration system and to replace some damaged pipes. The project amounts to $60,000.

LINCCO could not logically continue to provide scholarships to Pitahaya students when the school’s water was in danger of contaminating them. We had to act quickly and find the necessary funds to complete the project. Fortunately, a generous donor was willing to cover a very large part of the costs.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE

We trust our donors will agree with our decision and we are confident we can count on your generosity to make up the difference between the cost of the project and the amount already donated.