In September, lineman Quintin Bradford headed to Guatemala for three weeks as part of a linemen service project with Oklahoma Energy Trails Foundation for an NRECA International electrification mission.
Each lineman in Guatemala was assigned a date to provide insights from their personal experiences, in coordination with a communicator from their home cooperative. Quintin and Aaron Street, VP of Member Relations/Communications at MPE, were assigned the daily update for September 22.
Adam Paulson, MPE’s VP of Operations, joined other delegates for the final week to participate in service projects, including renovating a schoolhouse and upgrading the kitchen, and to be on hand for the Lighting Ceremony.
Quintin Bradford’s daily update on September 22 from the Guatemala service trip:
Just past the halfway point of his Guatemala service trip, Quintin Bradford says he'll return home with more memories than he could ever share. “They said it would be life changing, and it really is,” said Quintin. One thing he won’t bring back, he joked, was as much body weight. “I’m sure I’ll lose like 10 pounds.”
Today was a much-appreciated rest day. Quintin said the crew was beginning to feel the effects of the demanding schedule. Workdays start at 6:30 a.m., the terrain is rugged, and the hot, humid weather adds another layer of challenge. The group spent part of the day visiting the second project area to inspect poles, anchors, and other equipment before work begins there. With the day off, the linemen traded their work gear for shorts and T-shirts and explored the area, which Quintin described as having a more jungle-like landscape. He also enjoyed lunch at a traditional restaurant, fortunate that his choice of entre he selected from the Spanish menu ended up being a tasty beef-stew-like dish.
For the past two days, Quintin was on the crew that was wiring houses. Some houses were nice, concrete homes, while others were simple shelters with tin roofs. For each one, they would hang up to four lights and install two switches, two outlets, and a breaker panel. Locals mostly stay outdoors during the day because of the heat. “It has to be 110 in these houses. If you touch the tin roof, it’s scorching hot,” he said. Nonetheless, he wagered a dollar with the project leader that their crew would wire at least 10 homes, and they completed a dozen. Along with that victory, Quintin had a bonus. “I got to ride a dirtbike, too!” Before lunch, the crew needed another panel from their supplies, and much to the envy of his coworkers, Quintin was given permission to ride the bike up the mountain to retrieve it. He was thankful to the villager for allowing him to borrow the bike, and the crew appreciated how much time it saved them.
When comparing his experiences so far to his work at Mountain Parks Electric, Quintin said in both places he feels “everyone is grateful to see you.” When in Colorado, he knows people are happy to see linemen working to restore power during an outage. In Guatemala, the work has been more hands-on, and it feels like everyone wants to help. “We’ll be pulling up wire, and it’ll get caught in the trees. A translator will ask them to cut the limbs, and there’s like four guys climbing up in the trees with their machetes going after it,” he said.
He explained that working with the locals is really gratifying. “They’re all really happy.” It’s made him reflect on his life. “You look at your life and all the things we have. The ‘first world problems’ we have that we lose our minds about really aren’t that bad because we have it really good.” Furthermore, he said the kids there are amazing. “They’re hilarious. They picked up English words after us being here a few days.” The group brought toys to give to the children. “They just love it,” he said, recalling watching them running around with their new soccer balls.
He said the positivity there is contagious. Although his personality already lends itself to lightening the moods of those around him, he expects to return home with added inspiration to find more ways to share his positivity with others.
Daily updates from Guatemala are shared on Oklahoma Energy Trails Foundation’s Facebook page and are used to create a memory book following the project completion.