The light in your house was an easy flip this morning but in some parts of the world electric is not so accessible.
“Project Indiana: Empowering Global Communities for a Better Tomorrow” electrified a part of Central America where none was previously available.
Tyler Asbell a Dubois Rural Electric line worker joined a crew of 15 other Indiana electric cooperative linemen on a trip to a developing area of Guatemala last month as part of an international initiative to bring electricity to the region.
The crew spent the later part of March establishing electric services to a small village.
Asbell highlighted some of the most memorable experiences during his trip…
The team electrified 60 homes, a school , a church and a clinic with four miles of primary line, 27 miles of secondary line, 36 anchors and 6 transformers — all by hand and without the aid of modern conveniences, it should also be mentioned that this was all done in a mountainous region of the country.such as bucket trucks.
24-year old Asbell joined Dubois REC in 2015 as an Apprentice Lineman and is currently working towards his Journeyman Lineman accreditation.
During the trip Asbell was privileged to see the way that the villagers lived and shared his thoughts on the trip…
This was the Indiana electric cooperatives’ third trip to Guatemala.
In August 2012, 28 Hoosier line workers from 17 of Indiana’s electric cooperatives, spent four weeks working across the mountainous terrain and in April of 2015, 14 line workers battled extreme heat and the rugged land to string 11 miles of wire to connect 76 poles across 2,500 feet of mountains.
Asbell stated that he was grateful with how much he learned on this trip and the friends and memories he made, noting the people of the Guatemalan village were so inspiring.
