May 25, 05
Dear Group,
We began developing our ram pump design about 15 years
ago in anticipation of the inevitable time when the
seemingly endless tide of immigration from the rural
areas of Bolivia to the city comes to a halt, and
these people, who have been lured or forced off their
land, require the means to return.
That time may have come.
We have nearly a million formerly rural indigenous
people living on the barren, 4000 meter high plain
above La Paz, called simply �El Alto�. El Alto is a
vast, unpaved village; a product of $5 a barrel oil,
forced loans, and the cheap U.S. supplied �food aid�
that effectively undermined rural production of basic
foodstuffs,
such as wheat. When my wife and I came to Bolivia in
1973, El Alto did not exist!
Now we have $50 a barrel oil. The low-paid, unskilled
jobs are fast disappearing.
Who is going to feed these people, and what is going
to become of them?
Yesterday I was tear gassed downtown in our
Artesania Sorata textile art shop. Many tourists were
gassed. A flying gas canister injured our accountant.
Tens of thousands of protesters from El Alto had
marched down from above the city to attack the
government offices. They are demanding that Bolivia
reclaim the gas and petroleum that corrupt politicians
have given to foreign multinationals over the years.
This may be the last major natural resource in the
Americas over which the indigenous people still
maintain some control.
There is no question that ram pumps are a practical
way to help make it possible for these people to
successfully return to the countryside by making new
home and garden sites available for them.
The question is how to do it?
We have developed an efficient, high quality ram pump
that can be produced in small local metal working
shops using locally available materials. Waterpower is
the only "natural energy" resource for which machines
can be locally produced.
Any ideas?
All the best,
Ron Davis,
La Paz, Bolivia, www.watermotor.net
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