The SUEZ Foundation in Bolivia
The Luz de Esperanza Association: Treatment center for alcoholic street children
In 2000, Sister Doris, a Peruvian nun, conceived a project to develop a treatment center for children suffering from alcoholism. Located on the outskirts of El Alto, a suburb of La Paz, on the road that leads to Lake Titicaca, it is called "Luz de Esperanza" (“Light of Hope”).
In late 2001, the SUEZ Foundation agreed to finance sinking a well at this alcohol rehabilitation center for children. Aguas Del Illimani, the SUEZ subsidiary that holds the drinking water and wastewater treatment concession for La Paz and El Alto, then became involved in the project.
The center, which serves twenty-five boys, covers approximately 12 acres. It is made up of three single-story buildings housing a living room, seven bedrooms with three or four beds each, and three rooms used as workshops. There is also a chicken house and a basketball court, in addition to other facilities built with Foundation financing: a well with an electric pump, a 12-m3 water storage tank, a bath house (showers and toilets), and a laundry facility with a wastewater drainage system. A new building was added later to provide a dining room, bakery, and woodworking shop, along with five greenhouses.
Several schools and universities offer these young men the opportunity to return to school, the first step on the journey to a productive life, which requires not only giving up alcohol but also a socialization process, which is accomplished through community service.
SUEZ Foundation has continued over recent years to provide assistance for the undertaking, financing other projects that have allowed the center to become more autonomous through actions related not only to developing means of production but also to teaching various professions in preparation for the return to society.
All of the boys have returned to school. Six of them have received their high-school diplomas and two are attending university.
SUEZ Foundation is continuing its assistance, now aimed at increasing the center’s long-term viability and helping it become more autonomous so that will it will have the resources to provide an education for these young people.
