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Linemen from several co-ops in Arkansas interact with locals in rural Guatemala. The linemen brought electricity to communities that never had light before. Courtesy photo


The Spark of a Dream


Pinkley has had a long and fulfilling career of 31 years at Ozarks Electric Cooperative, a distri- bution co-op serving northwest Arkansas and a portion of northeast Oklahoma. Originally from Prairie Grove, Ark., Pinkley started at the co-op fresh out of high school. Through the years, the lineman served in various roles including safety coordinator and most recently, crew chief. When he heard the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas were partnering with the NRECA International Foundations, the charitable arm of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, to elec- trify remote villages in Guatemala, he jumped at the opportunity.


“I had thought to myself ‘I’d like to do that before I get too old and can’t keep up,’” Pinkley said. “I knew it would be hot and challenging. We had no large equipment, no bucket trucks, we would have to do so much by hand, but I still wanted to do it. I was old enough to know how to dig holes and place poles by hand.” Cooksey, from Strickler, Ark., carries linework heritage in his blood. His grandfather, Merrill Cooksey, was one of the rural electrification pio- neers in Arkansas who served as a foreman for Ozarks Electric Cooperative. Following in his grandpa’s footsteps, Cooksey has been at the co- op for nearly seven years. What sparked his inter- est to venture off to Guatemala? “I wanted to go and experience what it was like here 75 years ago when we had no electricity,”


14 WWW.OK-LIVING.COOP


Cooksey said. “To go somewhere else and help someone have light...it would never actually hap- pen without volunteers.” The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas have sponsored two trips to Guatemala. The first trip took place in October 2013, and it resulted in three electrified rural Guatemalan villages: Palo Verde, San Pablo and Bueno Vista. The most re- cent trip, referred to as “G2,” took place in April 2014, and the villages of Las Flores and La Haciendita were empowered with electricity. Combined, both projects have brought electricity to 770 rural Guatemala residents. Altogether, 27 linemen have been a part of these trips. Fifteen linemen participated in the second trip, which included Pinkley and Cooksey from Ozarks Electric Cooperative, as well as Kenneth Byrd and Christopher Tedford from Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative. Both electric co-ops have portions of their membership in Oklahoma.


The Light in a Child’s Smile For Arkansas, the dream of bringing power to Guatemala began with Mel Coleman, CEO of North Arkansas Electric Cooperative in Salem, Ark., and who is also vice president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Two years ago, Coleman had the opportunity to visit rural Guatemala for the first time, where electric coop- eratives from Indiana were working to bring elec- tricity to remote villages. While on the trip, Coleman was approached by a girl who gave him


a handmade bag and, with the sweetest smile, asked for her village to be electrified. “She was probably 10 at the time,” Coleman


said of the young lady, Esna Vazquez Lucas. “I made it a priority that if we ever did a project in Guatemala, her village would be electrified first, and I’m proud to say that’s what the linemen of Arkansas have done.” Yes, Coleman’s vision was fulfilled—but a spe- cial surprise awaited him and the Arkansas line- men. They soon realized, they were not only touching the life of a little girl, they were touching lives that would span generations. When the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas


took the first trip in October 2013, they discov- ered Esna’s 92-year-old grandmother, Felicita Lopez Vazquez, did not have electricity. “We thought to ourselves: ‘Esna has a lifetime ahead of her, and will enjoy a quality of life that her grandmother was not able to enjoy through her long life,’” Coleman said. “We were able to provide electricity to Felicita first, and that was very moving.” Rob Roedel, manager of corporate communica- tions for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas, described the moment when Felicita received electric power for the first time.


“She had been born in that home in 1925 and had raised all her kids there. The home, which was accessible via a steep, narrow path, had been wired for electricity for eight years, and she had to walk through that everyday, without knowing when she


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