This is a short story about a small development initiative in South America that seems to have been surprisingly effective on a small scale.

In early 2001, ILS received a request for lifesaving aid from a Canadian citizen, who was working in Bolivia on behalf of a non-profit organisation. This request was forwarded to the ILS Americas Region, which worked with the American Red Cross (an ILS member) to fund and send a group of volunteers.

This team provided basic lifesaving training to 33 volunteer rescuers and within a short period of time after the trainers had left, several rescues were effected by the newly trained lifesavers.

While in Bolivia, the trainers learned that a different type of lifesaving training was even more badly needed. Serious flooding problems plague Bolivia at certain times of year, causing major problems. In fact, in 2002 in La Paz hundreds of people were injured or killed in a devastating flood.

For this reason, in 2003 the Americas Region decided to send a second team of trainers to Bolivia to provide flood rescue training. These trainers were volunteers and part of the highly experienced San Diego Lifeguard Service River Rescue Team. (This team more recently responded to the Katrina Hurricane disaster.) In addition to covering the cost of transportation, ILS-A purchased $2,000 in rescue equipment. CMC Rescue of Santa Barbara, California donated over $6,000 in rope, helmets, gloves, and other rescue gear. Kawasaki Motor Corporation donated personal flotation devices. The San Diego Lifeguard Service donated some surplus equipment.

The team members donated as well. They had to be inoculated against anticipated maladies, at no small personal cost. They had to pay for the incidental costs inevitably involved in travel. And while in Bolivia, they often chose to reach into their pockets to pay the cost of meals and other necessities, despite the unflagging generosity of their students. When in a developing country, one quickly comes to understand the relative cost of living and how much easier it can be for those more fortunate to afford these things.

The team trained members of the Bolivian Air Force Search and Rescue Team and a local volunteer flood rescue group. While those of us in the developed world may sometimes worry over lack of equipment and training, the resources in Bolivia pose far greater challenges. Nevertheless, a five day training session was commenced involving sixteen members of the Air Force, two police officers, and two civil defence members. None of the agencies had any rescue equipment to speak of, so the equipment the team had brought was invaluable. By the end of the trip, some highly condensed training had been provided that was much less than would be normally provided in the US, but much more than was available locally. After the training and equipment had been provided, the Americas Region could only hope that it would be effectively used.

In this regard, in February 2007 Americas Region President B. Chris Brewster received the following message from their initial contact in Bolivia:

[quote]“I’ve been meaning to write you for several months to tell you about some of the participants from the swift water rescue course you organised in Bolivia a couple of years ago.

I was in Bermejo, a place about 6 hours south of Tarija, doing a course for swimming instructors. In the course there were two people who had participated in the Swift water Rescue Course with the folks from San Diego. One of them is the head of the local search and rescue team.

He spoke about the course like it was one of the best things he’d ever done. He said since then his group has incorporated all the techniques they were taught. They live in a region right along a large river that floods regularly and during the summer months are out at least a couple of times a week doing rescues of fisherman, and community members living along the border of the river.

The equipment from the course stayed in Tarija with SAR, so the folks in Bermejo created home-made versions of all the equipment they used in the course ” really quite ingenious. Shows what people can do when they are provided with the foundational knowledge that they need.[/quote]

For those who may wonder if ILS can truly make a difference, perhaps this is one example.