A crew of 16 Indiana electric cooperative lineworkers participated in a trip to a developing area of Guatemala last month as part of an international initiative to bring electricity to the region.
“Project Indiana: Empowering Global Communities for a Better Tomorrow” electrified a part of the Central American country where none was available. The crew, supported by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s International Foundation, spent the second half of March electrifying the village of El Zapotillo in Huehuetenango.
The team electrified 60 homes, a school, a church and a clinic with 4 miles of primary line, 27 miles of secondary line, 36 anchors and 6 transformers – all by hand and without the aid of modern conveniences, such as bucket trucks.
This was the Indiana electric cooperatives’ third trip to Guatemala. In August 2012, 28 Hoosier lineworkers from 17 of Indiana’s electric cooperatives, spent four weeks working across the mountainous terrain to construct more than 20 miles of power lines and bring electricity to three villages. In April 2015, 14 lineworkers battled extreme heat and the rugged land to string 11 miles of wire to connect 76 poles across 2,500 feet of mountains.
PROJECT INDIANA CREW
The crew of 16 Indiana electric cooperative linemen, supported by Indiana Electric Cooperatives employees Gayvin Strantz, Terry Adkins and Scott Willett were in Guatemala March 12-26.
- Kevin Porter, Clark County REMC
- Derrick Mullins, Whitewater Valley REMC
- Duane Monroe, Jay County REMC
- Josh Maggart, Miami-Cass REMC
- Isaac Harp, Kosciusko REMC
- David Guthrie, Jackson County REMC
- Travis Goffinet, Southern Indiana Power
- Jason Gates, Tipmont REMC
- Jerry Garcia, Noble REMC
- Jesse Fisher, South Central Indiana REMC
- Michael Bowman, Boone REMC
- Jamie Bell, NineStar Connect
- Tyler Asbell, Dubois REC, Inc.
- Scott Adkins, WIN Energy REMC
- Mike Wagner, Southeastern Indiana REMC
- Robert White, Orange County REMC
