Electrical Workers Without Borders North America (EWWBNA): Navajo Nation 2

Just prior to the onset of COVID, EWWBNA had planned to send a team of volunteers to Peru to help with the electrical needs of an order of Catholic nuns focused on assisting disadvantaged women and children. Unfortunately, this mission was postponed along with other EWWBNA projects at the time.

But as the Pandemic was winding down, a local contractor was hired to install a solar array for the nun’s pre-school in Huacho, an expense EWWBNA shared with ESF-Italy. Shortly after, EWWBNA sent Jim Beck, a retired member of IBEW Local 98 Philadelphia, to inspect the solar installation and assess other projects along with an Italian volunteer. In addition to Huacho, the team travelled to Chaclacayo, Chosica, and Villa Maria del Triunfo, and recommendations were made for additional solar arrays and electrical upgrades for programs serving the poor.

In September 2023, EWWBNA and ESF-Italy, sponsored a solar installation at the Asociacion de las Bienaventuranzas, a program run by a dynamic priest, Padre Omar Sanchez, providing shelter, meals, and healthcare for homeless men, women, and children suffering from disabilities and mental health disorders. A month later, another team of volunteers, which included EWWBNA partners from Italy and Spain, inspected the solar array and developed action plans for electrical upgrades. They also developed a relationship with the Bishop of Huacho, who has agreed to host volunteers fielded near Huacho, while the Asociacion de las Bienaventuranzas hosts volunteers for projects in the Lima area.

In November 2024, Jim Beck returned to Peru along with Asa Shenandoah, a volunteer from IBEW Local 1249, Syracuse, NY. They spent over two weeks doing electrical upgrades of several buildings at Villa Maria del Triunfo and at the school in Huacho and were connected to an electrical school which has agreed to provide apprentices who would shadow volunteers on future projects as part of their training. A month following this mission, EWWBNA co-sponsored with ESF-Italy another solar array at the Asociacion de las Bienaventuranzas which has significantly reduced the program’s electrical costs.

So far, EWWBNA efforts in Peru have received donations from Hatzel and Buehler, one of the IBEW’s oldest signatory contractors, as well as from IBEW Local 1249, while our Peruvian hosts provide our volunteers with safe accommodation, meals, and ground transportation. EWWBNA encourages other locals and industry partners to support this worthy program by helping offset volunteer travel and the costs of materials and equipment. The need in these communities is enormous, and the impact being made is life changing.