Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) is proud to announce that Spanish Instructor Lillyam Arroyave has received the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Greater Rochester Rotary Clubs. She was selected for this award for her work initiating and leading to the completion of a project entitled “Installing and Using Energy Efficient Stoves to Improve Respiratory Health in an Indigenous Guatemalan Population.” Rotary International Foundation provided nearly $60,000 in funding for the project, and was conducted under the medical sponsorship of Ashok Patel, M.D., of Mayo Clinic Rochester.
Over the past five years, two hundred vented wood-burning and cooking stoves have been constructed in five villages around San Lucas Tolimán, Sololá District, Guatemala. In addition, this project established a program for monitoring the health effects of stove use. From its outset, the focus of the project has been on the respiratory health of mothers and infants as well as community education on the value of air quality and its maintenance.
RCTC’s support, and Arroyave’s dedication to the San Lucas Tolimán community, were instrumental in this project. She was also assisted by Lori Halverson-Wente, RCTC Communication Studies instructor, and Don Baldus, retired RCTC Math Instructor. Lillyam Arroyave states, “I am profoundly grateful to my College and my colleagues for their support.”
Arroyave is a native of Colombia, who earned her master’s degree in Spanish language and culture from the University of Iowa. She has taught Spanish at RCTC for more than 30 years. For further information about the “Installing and Using Energy Efficient Stoves to Improve Respiratory Health in an Indigenous Guatemalan Population” project, contact Lillyam.arroyave@rctc.edu.