Basin Electric employee builds home in Guatemala

Last week, we ran a post about Dakota Gas employee Dan Pillar’s trip to Guatemala for the God’s Child Project.

This is Doug Rothe’s story. Rothe is the commissioning and generation resource project engineer at Headquarters.

Basin Electric employee Doug Rothe plays with a balloon with children in Guatemala.

Rothe traveled to Antigua, Guatemala through the God’s Child Project with his two sons and daughter through English Lutheran Church from Hazen, ND.

Rothe spending time with a malnourished child.

“My children and I will never forget the poverty conditions that we witnessed in Guatemala. It is something that they were born into through no fault of their own. To a great extent, we were also born into our abundance in this country and usually don’t appreciate it fully,” Rothe says.

While in Guatemala, Rothe held and fed malnourished children, worked with small children in the classroom, distributed fruit and vegetables to needy mothers of the school children, sorted through donated clothing for distribution, visited families with social workers, served a meal in a homeless shelter and built a home for a family.

“Their shelters typically consisted of corn stalk or corrugated steel walls with a steel or wood lean-to roof and dirt floors,” Rothe says. “They usually had some primitive running water and restroom facilities but they were often common for several groups of people. Cooking was usually done with a wood stove. Electricity was usually present to power one or two lights and sometimes a TV.”

In the early stages of building the house.

Finished home, happy family! (left to right) Josh Rothe, Doug's son; Hector Lopez with God's Child Project; Doug Rothe; the family who will live in the new home; Melissa Rothe, Doug's daughter; and Dustin Rothe, Doug's son.

Shops and businesses were fairly well-maintained but show evidence of past unrest in the area. “The windows were usually secured with metal guards and there was often razor wire on the roofs and fences for security. Armed guards were always present near the entrances of banks and on some delivery trucks because a large amount of money is also exchanged after the deliveries.”

Despite their circumstances Rothe says the Guatemalans were friendly and gracious in their interactions with the volunteers.

He says the most memorable part of the trip was the children they interacted with at the school and the babies at the malnutrition centers. “It was touching when you had to leave the babies as they might cry or wrinkle their lips, so you knew there was a bond there.”

Another experience Rothe won’t forget involved a second-grader named Melani. One day, the little girl led him to the library and together they read numerous books. Rothe says it became clear she just wanted him to become more proficient in the Spanish language. Later that day, Rothe saw Melani walking home with her mother. “She didn’t recognize me at first but when she did, she came running to me, jumped up into my arms and gave me a big hug. That was a special moment and I predict Melani will probably be a great teacher someday.”

He says the trip was a rich experience he will never forget. “I can truly say that I have been helped a lot in growing my faith, expressing thankfulness from the heart and gaining humility towards others as a result from this mission trip experience. I’d recommend it for others to experience as well.”

The power lines were of particular interest to Rothe.