Douglas Electric Lineworker Helps Bring Electricity to Rural Area
Lorenzo Leyva was told that a trip to Guatemala to help power up a rural village would be a life-changing experience.
The Douglas Electric Cooperative journeyman lineman had strong feelings about being part of the experience. When his name was randomly selected from the 18 Douglas Electric lineworkers who hoped to make the trip in March, he was more than thrilled.
“I was beyond excited,” Lorenzo says. “I was speechless. It was almost like the universe said, ‘Lorenzo, you haven’t given enough in this life, this is an opportunity to give back to a village that doesn’t have power.’ Anytime I can travel, help out, and learn something at the same time, I will gravitate to it. Always. It’s a way to give back using my skills and craftsmanship.”
In 2012, while working for a different utility, Lorenzo helped restore power after Hurricane Sandy caused devastation on the East Coast.
Douglas Electric General Manager Keith Brooks says he was pleased by the number of lineworkers who wanted to participate and share the cooperative spirit.
“We sent Lorenzo to Guatemala because access to electricity changes lives,” Keith says. “At Douglas Electric, we believe in the power of people helping people, and that commitment doesn’t end at the edge of our service territory. Lorenzo brought skill, heart, and the cooperative spirit to a village that needed all 3.”
Lorenzo was a member of a team that consisted of 13 lineworkers, 1 groundman, and 1 meterman from several Oregon cooperatives and 2 Wyoming co-ops. Also on the trip were a student, a photographer, and a manager. The mission was to energize Aldea Coco, a remote village nestled in the Guatemalan mountains. It is about a 4-hour drive from Guatemala City.
In 9 long days of work, the crew installed 3 transformers, pulled and put up 2 lines of wire over 2.2 miles of rough, mountainous terrain. They installed 116 light fixtures, 56 switches, and 58 outlets. The workers did a lot of hiking up and down hillsides in hot temperatures.
“There were some long spans from pole to pole,” Lorenzo says of 3 spans across canyons that were 11,093 feet, 12,056 feet, and 12,285 feet long. “There was a lot of on-site ingenuity, but it was fun figuring it out. Jobs like that can’t get done without positive teamwork.”
On the 10th day, workers and villagers celebrated the powering up of 26 houses, a church, and a school.
“We made any corrections that were needed in the first 2 hours of that last day, and then everything was working perfectly for the celebration,” Lorenzo says. “It was great.”
Lorenzo says the villagers were grateful. “1 80-year-old man had tears in his eyes,” he says. “He had never had electricity. He was speaking Spanish, but you could tell he was grateful by the tears in his eyes. We were very well-received.”
Lorenzo took six new deflated soccer balls to Guatemala. After arriving at the village, he pumped them up and gave them out to local children. He says the kids had smoothed out a fairly flat surface despite the mountainous terrain and wanted to play soccer with the workers at the end of each day. Some of the workers in their boots played the barefooted kids.
“I’m not a soccer player, but I played,” Lorenzo says. “We even brought a football, and the kids took to it, but you could tell their first choice is soccer.”
In addition to playing soccer, Lorenzo says the kids wanted to help with the work. They helped carry any supplies they could to the power lines.
Lorenzo says the overall experience is one he won’t forget.
“I would do it again, absolutely,” he says. “I wouldn’t even think twice about it. I’m thankful for the opportunity Douglas Electric, its board members, and the members of the cooperative provided me.”