Electrical Workers Without Borders North America (EWWBNA): EWWBNA Partners with ESF Italy in Peru

Prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic, EWWBNA agreed to partner with ESF Italy on a project to assist a congregation of Catholic nuns to upgrade the electrical needs of their convent which includes a pre-school and a community training center in Huacho, Peru which is approximately 100 miles north of Lima. Hatzel and Buehler, a Delaware-based electrical contractor, agreed to provide support for the project and send an IBEW volunteer to work with Italian volunteers to assess and follow through with the project. The effort was scheduled to commence in March 2020, but, unfortunately, it was postponed, among several other EWWBNA projects, due to the Pandemic, which had a particularly severe impact on Peru. After successive waves of Covid waned, and vaccination rates and immunity increased, EWWBNA and ESF Italy determined it was time to get back to work.

More than two years after the initial start date, ESF Italy contracted a local subsidiary of ENEL, an Italian multinational energy company which supports ESF Italy, to assist with a solar installation in Huacho, and EWWBNA agreed to cover 50% of the cost. In July-August, the two organizations sent volunteers to inspect the work and to make recommendations for a follow up effort. Representing EWWBNA on this mission was Jim Beck, a long-time member of IBEW Local 98 and a Hatzel and Buehler employee with prior experience volunteering in Peru.

While in Peru, Jim and Riccardo Porcu, an ESF Italy volunteer, travelled to Huacho and inspected the solar installation and made a thorough assessment of other needs of the “Oblatas del Nino Jesus”, a congregation founded in 1672 that focuses on assisting disadvantaged women and children. They also travelled to Chosica to assess the electrical needs of programs run by the Camillian Fathers, an order of the Catholic Church founded in the 1500’s that focuses on meeting the healthcare needs of the poorest of the poor. They visited two Camillian facilities – one included an orphanage, a school, a donation center, a food kitchen, and an oxygen plant while the other was a home for orphaned children suffering from HIV. They finished the mission with a visit to another convent of the “Oblatas del Nino Jesus” in Chaclacayo to assess their needs.

Since the volunteer mission, EWWBNA and ESF Italy have held several zoom meetings to discuss follow up and budgetary needs for carrying out the work. Also, Jim Beck was a guest on the “Labor Show”, a weekly radio talk show in Philadelphia, and spoke about his experience in Peru. When asked what he would say to other electricians, especially young people, about volunteering, Jim responded, “If there is time you can dedicate to helping a community which has very, very little it makes you appreciate what we have here at home”. Jim added, that if called again to serve he would respond “at the drop of a hat and have my bags packed tomorrow”.