We improve the health and economic well-being of impoverished Bolivians.

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We started at a kitchen table 11 years ago. Now we serve 238,000 Bolivians annually in our clinics alone. See what we've accomplished.

Rural Bolivia is the world's most poverty-stricken place. Learn more.

We build clinics, roads and schools, provide clean water, and run youth programs with our Bolivian staff.

Details on how you can donate medical supplies or make a cash donation.

Our work in the US is done almost exclusively by volunteers. Find out how you can help.

See our annual report and newsletters.

E-mail in the US and Bolivia, plus address, phone and maps.

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Catching Water for Families: We're moving a part of the earth to bring water for crops to more than 250 families in the Omereque area, a four-hour drive southeast of Cochabamba. Through our Nuevo Mundo program, we're building a dam that, upon completion, will be about 75 yards tall, 60 yards thick and span about 125 yards from one side of a ravine to the other. The ravine is currently a gutter that allows rainwater to flow right past families that need water for agriculture. When the dam is finished, the resulting reservoir will provide much-needed water for crops.

Like so many of our projects, this one requires plenty of work before the real work can begin. We've cut a road to the reservoir site, and built an airstrip to move our work crews efficiently in and out of the area. Nuevo Mundo has as many as 20 people working on the project at a time, while the community has a crew of up to 40. Work on the packed-earth dam is slated to be finished in early 2008.

This project has been generously funded by the St. Paul Rotary and Rotary International, which have provided $37,500 toward its completion. You can watch our progress here in a photo album that we'll routinely update. Below, the first two images:

• A bulldozer cuts a path through the Omereque ravine, and;
• Our recently completed airstrip that will continue to serve the community and the project.

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Gifts from Mano: Looking for a way to do some good as you buy gifts for friends? Here's a solution: shop Mano! Now there are two ways to buy gifts that help support better health in Bolivia.

Shopping for someone who already has everything? Then consider visiting Alternative Gifts — a great online program that makes it easy for you to make a Mano donation in the name of a friend. Alternative Gifts sends a greeting card to inform your friend that a gift has been made in his or her name. That means that Uncle Joe is spared one more neck tie, and instead gets the satisfaction of knowing that together you've helped make the world a better place.

For those times when you've got to come across with a present, we've got a great selection of reasonably-priced Bolivian handicrafts for sale at our headquarters, and at shops around the Twin Cities areas. Check out samples and prices in the album below. But remember, this is just a small selection of the many items we have for sale.

Your purchase helps Bolivian carftspeople, because we pay them a fair wage for their artistry. And a portion of the purchase price also helps fund our programs in Bolivia.

To make an appointment for your own trunk show, call us at 651-457-3141. Or check out these fine crafts at The Resource Center for the Americas bookstore, 3129 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, and the Mall of St. Paul, 1817 Selby Ave., St. Paul.