Thanks to Georgia Co-ops, Rural Families in Costa Rica Receive Electricity

In March of 2006, six linemen from Georgia traveled to Costa Rica for two weeks to bring the benefits of electricity to the residents and schools in the village of Santa Cruz.

“The people of Santa Cruz are the most generous and down to earth people that I have ever met,” said Doug Worley, a lineman with Coweta-Fayette EMC, who traveled to Santa Cruz with five other linemen from Georgia co-ops.

Without bucket trucks and other modern equipment that make line construction easier, the work was hard and the days were long. “One thing that stood out for us was how antiquated the tools were the linemen had to use. Progress was very slow without bucket or line trucks and having to climb each pole” relates Mark Hardin and Josh Allen of Habersham EMC. The six Georgia linemen joined forces with their counterparts from the local Costa Rican electric co-op, Coopeguanacaste, to extend existing distribution lines to the un-electrified community. Even though they didn’t speak the same language they all understood the work and communicated through their actions.

The line that the Georgia and Costa Rican linemen built now provides electricity to 43 families and 3 schools. “Without our help, they might not have ever known the joy of having electricity in their homes. It is a good feeling knowing that building power lines for people who have never had electricity will change their lives for the better”, said Keith Bailey with Greystone Power.

One of the schools almost wasn’t included because they were unable to afford the needed wiring. Thanks to Michael Whiteside, President and CEO of Coweta-Fayette EMC, Coweta-Fayette funded the wiring and now this one room school house will have lights for their young students. “For me, it wasn’t until the teacher from the school stopped by and expressed his gratitude for all of our efforts that our reward was fully recognized”, related Richard Davis of Coweta-Fayette EMC. “Can you believe it? We turned on the lights for the first time” adds Keith “Skip” Grantham of Flint Energies.

The partnership between Coweta-Fayette and Coopeguanacaste has provided an opportunity for sharing ideas, differences in culture and work practices. “I was impressed with the difficulty experienced by our volunteers in constructing the line to serve this remote area of Costa Rica. They did a fantastic job and what an experience to provide power to all of those families and connect their schools”, said Michael Whiteside.