A champion of clean water recognized for his work with students both at home and thousands of miles away

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls resident Dave Renfrow recently received a School Administrators of Montana “Friends of Education Award” for his work both with Columbia Falls students and students in Guatemala.

Renfrow has been championing a clean water system for schools called a Tippy Tap in the Central America country for years now.

The award “recognizes those individuals in the community who have gone above and beyond the normal call of duty in supporting and promoting public education.”

While the recognition was appreciated, Renfrow defers to the students and supporters both in Guatemala and here in Montana for the program’s success.

In Columbia Falls, students from Mary Ellen Getts’s class and from Spanish teacher Paula Koch’s classes at the junior high helped.

Both classes raised money to buy and distribute the water systems. Because while kids need books and qualified teachers to get a quality education, they also need clean water.

“You can’t learn if you’re sick,” noted student Eleanor Smiley, who was part of Koch’s class. “(Clean) Water is a basic human right.”

Smiley said they sold chewing gum from Guatemala to raise funds for the water systems, which catch rain water and then make it available for hand washing. The hand washing water is then used to flush the school toilets.

It’s an illustration of just how dire the situation is the the country, but it’s also a testament to human ingenuity, Renfrow noted.

Over 9,000 schools in Guatemala lack water and sanitation hygiene fixtures and education.  Chronic malnutrition effects 80% of children in much of the country due to diarrhea caused by lack of pure water and hygiene practices. Average rural education level is 3.5 years. Low education leads to low lifetime earnings and low wage earners are more likely to migrate, Renfrow notes.

“Kids here understand these hard facts, and find satisfaction and joy in providing solutions. Students here understand the first fundamental of economic development is clean water,” Renfrow said.

He also credited Getts and Koch for their work the kids in Columbia Falls.

“Both teachers are former volunteers in Honduras and Guatemala. I am truly in awe of each of them with an energy, love and discipline to their education approach building solid, well educated  citizens,” he Renfrow said.

He became interested in the problem of clean water in Guatemala during a recreational bicycle trip from Mexico City to Ecuador.

Through his travels and in meeting folks along the way, he became involved with a group working on clean water issues called Los Buenos Vecinos (The Good Neighbors).

Los Buenos has been operating the program impeccably during the Covid-19 shutdowns of the past two years.

All told, about 1,200 Tippy Taps have been installed.

Renfrow also credits local and national Rotary Clubs for their support of the projects over the years as well as upcoming ones that expand on empowering women as well as creating more clean water systems and programs.

The Columbia Falls, Butte and Kalispell Daybreak Rotaries, for example, have begun another program that will benefit 600 families in three towns. In addition, Whitefish Soroptomists have joined to provide funding for training and helping women set up businesses to maintain water systems.

The effort also has another key facet — it avoids politics and simply looks to get things done on the ground, while helping people.

“I think there’s a lot more we could accomplish if we look past politics,” Smiley said.