Come to the islands, provide safe drinking water and help indigenous peoples
How many are in a volunteer group?
Groups are made up of from two to ten volunteers
who come for a period of four to seven days.
In just a few days your group will change lives and make a difference for years to come.
Note: We have some flexibility in numbers
of volunteers and their length of stay.
Email us your preferences. ( See email link below )
See what others are saying about us … HERE
What kind of volunteer groups do you accept?
Most are affinity groups — clubs, churches,
colleges, families, associations, even nationalities — such as all-Dutch, German, Canadian
or Australian — for example.
They come as a group and work as a group.
What costs will we have and how do we get there?
It’s an easy one-stop flight from the U.S. to
Bocas del Toro, on the Caribbean coast of
Panama. We’ll meet your flight and whisk
you off to our island base.
Consult a travel agent for fares.
Each group is expected to donate and help
install rain catchment tanks for indigenous schools
or villages. Personal activities before or after — including jungle exploration,
surfing or seeing the Panama Canal –
are at your own cost.
Where can I get more information about your work and the area we’ll be visiting?
Visit us at Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Map of the indigenous-populated islands
More information about the Guaymi Indians we serve
Adventure tourism before or after your volunteer work
How can a popular tourist area exist
alongside such poverty?
A documentary film maker called the area,
“where heaven meets hell.”.
There’s a lot of truth in that.
Tourism facilities stand in jarring contrast to the
near-survival conditions the indigenous population often face in the remote,far-flung islands.
Without safe drinking water the
chances of any change for the better are
almost non-existent.
Education is the classic way out of poverty,
but most indigenous children have worms
from bad water. Many suffer from chronic anemia, dysentery and malnutrition that often forces
them to miss out — or even drop out — of school,
perpetuating the iron grip of poverty.
Their single greatest need is for safe drinking water.
No one can be healthy without it.
The good news is it often rains here in the
archipelago. Rain provides disease-free water
when collected in our rain-catchment tanks.
Without safe drinking water medical treatment
is short-term at best. Children get well, drink
polluted water again — and get sick again.
Medical volunteers despairingly call it “revolving door” sickness.
It all gets down to safe drinking water. With it, the sick can get well
– and stay well.
The film maker was right; heaven and
hell exist side by side here, but that’s
a challenge we’ve accepted.
That’s why these remote indigenous peoples
need your help.
That’s why we live here among them.
That’s why we’re asking for volunteer groups such as yours to come and help.
Why not form a group from your club,
church, college, or just among friends to come
down, have an adventure of a lifetime –
and make a difference for years to come?
How do we get started?
Contact us at: opsafewater@gmail.com
See photo-story of what one group accomplished: “We Did it!”
