By Jolene Farley
A Hills native and her Bolivian husband have been working to share some American wealth with impoverished Bolivian communities through their volunteer organization, Mano a Mano Medical Resources.
Segundo Velasquez noticed many differences between life in the United States and life for the people of Bolivia during trips to visit family in his home country, according to his wife, Joan (Swanson) Velasquez.
"One of the things that struck him most about the United States was how much material wealth there is here," she said.
Awareness of the inequalities between the two countries blossomed into the idea that maybe they could do something to help.
"It's kind of an amazing story," said Joan. "We had no organizational backing whatsoever. We just decided to do it. We saw a need no one was meeting."
Segundo and Joan met in Bolivia while she served in the Peace Corps, and after Segundo moved to the United States in 1969, they married.
Bolivia is South America's poorest nation with an average annual income of $200 per year. Ninety-nine percent of rural residents are unable to sustain healthy diets.
The economy operates primarily on a barter system, according to the couple. Most homes are built of adobe and have no electricity or running water. Residents are fortunate if they own a bed or a table.
"Materially, everything is extremely sparse," Joan said.
The impact of poverty is especially hard on Bolivia's children. Seventy-percent of children under the age of 5 are malnourished. One-third of rural Cochabamba, Bolivia, children die before they are 1 year old, mostly from preventable respiratory or gastrointestinal infections.
"Most of them (Bolivians) have never seen a doctor or a nurse before," said Joan.
After the couple decided they would try to help the people of Bolivia, they searched for ideas on what to do and where to start. Segundo's brother, Jose, is a doctor in Bolivia, so the couple decided to concentrate on the medical field.
A friend suggested approaching area hospitals as a non-profit organization and asking them to give medical supplies they would normally throw away.
Mano a Mano ("hand to hand" in Spanish) Medical Resources, as the couple's organization is called, has continued to operate on that principle since it incorporated in 1994.
Donated items usually would be thrown away if not given to Mano a Mano. For example, when doctors perform surgery, instruments and supplies are ordered in kits, and sometimes all the individually packaged items in the kits are not used. Mano a Mano asks medical facilities to donate the unused items.
When hospitals acquire advanced technology, Mano a Mano asks them to donate their obsolete machines. Several used exam tables, doctor stools and side tables have found their way to Bolivia because clinics redecorated or no longer needed the old equipment.
Medical professionals in Bolivia are ecstatic to receive any supplies. "Their comments are they have never seen anything that modern in their country," said Joan.
The first shipment to Bolivia was a handful of medical supplies delivered by Segundo on a visit to his family. Since he was a Northwest Airlines employee, he could visit Bolivia frequently.
Shipments continued to increase in size until Mano a Mano was forced to look for an alternate way to transport donations. "Then we called in the Air Force Reserves," joked Segundo.
The couple found a little-known law, the Denton Amendment, which permits military aircraft to transport humanitarian cargo free of charge on a space available basis. All shipments are now transported twice a year by the Air Force Reserves.
"We never know when it's going, but we do know it will get there," said Joan.
The couple considers the help of the military invaluable. "It makes us able to complete this work," Joan said.
The military has transported 600,000 pounds of medical surplus out of the Twin Cities for Mano a Mano over the last seven years.
The guards fly the supplies into the capital city of La Paz, Bolivia, and volunteers drive over the Andes Mountains to Cochabamba, Bolivia, carrying the cargo to a Mano a Mano warehouse.
Mano a Mano has up to 100 volunteers in the United States and 40 volunteers in Bolivia.
Because of its volunteers, Mano a Mano's expenses are less than 1 percent of revenue. "We say we are the organization that doesnÕt pay anyone to do anything," said Segundo.
The couple appreciates the local support they receive for their organization. Bethlehem Lutheran Church ladies quilt blankets for Mano a Mano, and Hills-Beaver Creek students donate school supplies.
In 1996 almost by accident, Mano a Mano branched into building clinics. A friend of the Velasquezes was celebrating her 70th birthday, so another friend suggested asking for gifts for Mano a Mano instead of birthday gifts.
The couple hoped the gifts they received would be enough to purchase a microscope. After donations spiraled to more than $9,000, they realized they could fund a much larger project.
A one-room clinic in Bolivia can be constructed for between $3,000 to $4,000 with some donated labor. So the birthday donations allowed the organization to build two clinics.
Before a clinic is built in a community, an agreement is signed stating what is expected from each party. Communities must supply four unskilled workers per day for three to four months of construction. Residents have logged more than 25,000 hours of labor on projects in their communities.
In 2000 an anonymous $2 million grant allowed Mano a Mano to plan the construction of 30 more clinics. The grant also partially funded staffing at the clinics for a period of seven years.
As a future project, Mano a Mano hopes to build a hospital in Cochabamba. Land has been purchased, and a group of medical professionals in Bolivia are creating a nonprofit group to try to raise funds.
Mano a Mano will always remain a Bolivian organization, according to Joan. "The need is so enormous (in Bolivia)," she said. "It would be hard to imagine our organization able to cover the whole country."