Gunchukwa health clinic - colombia

The Gunchukwa indigenous community of Colombia, who are part of the Arhuaco tribe, built a health clinic that provides free services to a few thousand people in the area. The WINTUKWA I.P.S.I., is a regional level non-profit organization providing health services to the Arhuaco indigenous communities. The clinic provides maternity care, immunizations, dental care and emergency services. The clinic is located hours from the nearest grid and was temporarily powered by a diesel generator.

In October 2022 we supported the installation of 16 solar panels and 19 batteries with the help of generous sponsors and a great group of volunteers. Clic Foundation raised the majority of funds to power the clinic with solar panels, SimpliPhi donated 19 PHI 3.8 - 24V batteries, and DSV Air & Sea covered the cost of shipping the batteries to Wintukwa.

Many thanks also to Sunny Day LLC, local PV installer Aprotec, and the volunteer engineers who helped get this project to the finish line. 

The Gunchukwa tribe built a small hut enclosure to house the batteries in just 2 days’ time. The small hut is basically waterproof and the mud brick absorbs the heat so that it remains about room temperature year-round!

An excerpt from Colton with the Clic Foundation: 

After nearly 2 years of planning, pooling donations, and sourcing equipment- our mission to provide solar energy and storage to a health clinic for ~1500 individuals of an indigenous tribe known as the Gunchukwa was finally completed.  It was no small task, as I and the rest of the build team arrived into Valledupar (about 5 hours by car from the Gunchukwa site) in the middle of rainy season.  

Colombia gets more rainfall annually than anywhere else in the world, and October is the rainiest month of the year there, so needless to say we were a bit concerned about getting ~2500 pounds worth of expensive, delicate equipment (that should not get wet) to the site, as well as installing it.  Prior to testing the roads in a 4 wheel drive SUV, there was considerable discussion around whether or not we should rent donkeys, mules and horses to transport the equipment up to the site.  

Fortunately, we were able to navigate the muddy terrain and swollen rivers, and when we arrived, there was a brief welcome ceremony from one of the Gunchukwa elders, who casually mentioned that he’d asked a higher power to hold off the rains while we transport and install the solar and storage equipment.  To our amazement, and despite it having rained every day for the past month, in the following 5 days it took to install everything, there was no rain whatsoever!

Once the clinic was finally solar powered, you could see men, women and children from the tribe coming around to observe the installation with excited anticipation. When installing the energy management equipment to put the finishing touches on the installation, we observed children sitting on a hill nearby and drawing the PV system on the roof while being taught its function by their teacher. While the solar panels cover only a small portion of the clinic’s roof area (as the current load only necessitates this much), you could see the people of the tribe really begin to understand how useful and important the solar energy was to their clinic and therefore their well being.  

They now have 24/7 clean energy, which is a far cry from the small diesel generator they have relied on to generate their electricity previously. As the health clinic expands its services, and considering the relative ease of installation and nominal cost, I would not be surprised if the tribe begins to source additional panels through their nonprofit intermediary in Valledupar in the coming years.

Video courtesy of CLIC

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