Amy Thompson returned to the club to give us an update on the "Water Project" that Rotary International has been involved in. The program has expanded and includes a dam that will provide a year-round water source for the village of Aramasi. In addition to the agircultural development, the Amistad Mission has been able to provide healthcare to thirteen communitites reducing the percentage of child mortality to 0% and 100% of the children have been immunized.
 
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America where 65% of the population earns less than $1 a day and 2.5 million children suffer from malnutrition, disease, abuse and abandonment. For over 25 years, Amistad Mission has been addressing these challenges in Christ's name by finding lasting ways to improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable – one child, one family, one village at a time. In December of 1981, a 44-year-old Trappist Monk named William Wilson made a life-altering decision. After living in cloistered seclusion for his entire adult life, he left his monastery in Iowa to respond to a call from God to live among the poor of Latin America. Although he embarked on this mission believing he would live a contemplative existence, he soon began to sense that God had a different plan. After two years in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Father William chose a remote and inaccessible slope high in the Andes on which to build a small adobe room where he would seek the Lord's guidance. Here, in the small village of Aramasí, Father William witnessed the utter destitution of the Quechua natives who filed through his doorway seeking treatment for their many illnesses and diseases. While he did his best to minister to them, his initial efforts proved to be terribly inadequate. Realizing that God was calling him to action, Father Will contacted a friend in the United States, William "B.J." Weber, for support. Together these two friends raised the funds to open the area's first medical clinic and Amistad Mission was created. For more information on "Amistad- The Friendship Mission" go to www.amistadmission.org.