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About Fray Lazaro

Fray Lazaro is a community of approximately 650 people living

in 130 homes. It belongs to the municipality of Choluteca in the

department of Choluteca. Fray Lazaro is primarily an agricultural

community producing corn for sustenance. There is a percentage

of the population who work in construction or for nearby shrimp or

sugarcane processing companies.This is generally day labor and

does not provide steady employment. There is a rural health center

(CESAR) in Fray Lazaro providing medical consults with a nurse.

Similarly, there is a primary school in Fray Lazaro, which has

kindergarten through 6th grade. The nearest secondary school is

in Choluteca, so students continuing on to middle school must travel

about 30 minutes by bus. With the initiation of the Public Health

projects in Fray Lazaro, a Basic Sanitation Committee has been

established and trained and the Caja Rural is in its beginning stages

with support from the Microfinance Program.

 

Fray Lazaro's Water Challenge

Although most of homes in the community of Fray Lazaro have access to

a centralized water system constructed by the government in 1980 and

subsequently renovated in 1999, those living in the neighborhood of Los

Zimarros are not connected to the system as they built their homes following

its completion. Thus, roughly 40 community members living in 11 houses

lack access to a sufficient supply of potable water. They must lug their

water from nearby streams and wells to their homes. Given the difficulties inherent to collecting water, community members often lack a sufficient supply, which forces them to forgo many basic hygiene and sanitation practices that would protect their health and well-being.

 

Further endangering their health, few community members treated their water prior to consuming it. There is no centralized water treatment plan, which greatly increases their risk of contracting water-borne disease. The majority of community members do not treat the water in their homes either. Thus, there are very high rates of water-borne disease in Los Zimarros.

 

 

The Water Solution for Fray Lazaro

Water Brigaders from several different universities began working

in Fray Lazaro in June 2014. Throughout the next few months,

volunteers worked with community members to:

     •  Construct a 1,500 gallon storage tank with chlorinator
     •  Dig approximately 660 meters of trench and lay pipeline
     •  Connect approximately 11 houses to the system
     •  Provide educational seminars to children in the community on 

        water and health related topics

 

To ensure the sustainability of the project, a new seven member Water Council was established and trained by Water Brigades in addition to a Basic Sanitation Committee also trained by Water Brigades.

                                                                                            

 When Global Brigades first began working in the community of Fray Lazaro, most of the community had access to an adequate supply of potable water. Yet, the neighborhood of Los Zimarros lacked access to the system. Thus, a small-scale water project proved necessary in order to create a holistic community including all members of the community. Thus, construction began while Global Brigades worked on Public Health projects in other parts of the community in order to facilitate the entrance of the Public Health Program into this neighborhood.

 

 

Water Brigades Chapters that Worked in Fray Lazaro
Water Brigades Chapter	Month	Volunteers
UC Santa Barbara	June 2014	12
University of Chicago	June 2014	7
Explore Water Brigades	June 2014	4

 

 

 

Current Status

Last Visit: August 2014

Community members completed the construction of a centralized water system in the Los Zimarros neighborhood in Fray Lazaro in August 2014. Student volunteers had begun the project in June 2014 and it was finished within two months thanks to considerable community support.

 

 

Visit Other Programs in Fray Lazaro

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in Fray Lazaro:

Medical Dental   CHW Engineering Microfinance Public Health  BusinessArchitecture