Our Mission

Solea Water walks alongside vulnerable communities to implement, operate and maintain public utility services (water, sanitation, energy). We support their initiatives to become self-sufficient in their provision of basic needs through community led, long term, sustainable and collaborative solutions.

WE ACCOMPLISH THIS THROUGH

• coming alongside communities to build, repair, and maintain regionally managed water systems,

• equipping families to build technologically appropriate sanitation infrastructure,

• training community-based organizations and water committees to own and manage their utility infrastructure,

• replicating our proven water utility model into other sectors (such as energy),

• and by building leadership and technical capacity within and between local communities and institutions.

Cultural competency and sensitivity

Community development, not aid

Doing with, rather than for

Going deep (focusing on a region/people group)

Organizational transparency

RACHAEL BURCHETT, executive director, Board Member

In 2009, Rachael went to Panama and fell in love with the people and the country, knowing she had to go back as soon as she boarded the plane home. A few years later, she founded the nonprofit Water for Panama (now Solea Water) compelled by the desire to provide the communities she visited with life's most basic need, clean water. Rachael studied public health at Saint Louis University, where she met her husband Anthony. Over the past 10 years she has fundraised for and helped implement clean water projects in 7 countries.

Alan Foster, Panama Country Director, Board member

After working in construction and graduating in the field of biosystems engineering, Alan began his path in the water sector, beginning as a volunteer with the National Park Service and shortly thereafter with the Peace Corps, which landed him in Panama for the first time in 2005. Having lived the reality of village life without access to clean water, Alan returned with his family (Colleen, Kalea, and Joshua) in 2011 to labor in alleviating water poverty. They currently reside in eastern Panama, off the grid by a little creek where the shouts of howler monkeys frequently interrupt homeschool. 

Melissa Weber, Marketing director, board member

Melissa joined Solea Water's board back in 2015 after being inspired to donate to a campaign she'd seen online. Since then, she's traveled to Haiti twice with Solea and witnessed first hand the immense needs of the people there. Over the last 5 years, she's helped raise awareness of the global water crisis and held varying fundraising events to help support our efforts in-country. She looks forward to continued growth and sustainability as well as helping to inspire others to join & support our mission to alleviate ALL water poverty in Latin America. In her spare time, she enjoys taking walks with her dog Penny and running.

Mark McKinney, PE, Engineering Director, Board Member

Mark began working with Solea in 2014 when Solea and Knox ProCorps partnered on a project in the Dominican Republic. Since that time Mark has been involved in several other projects with Solea in Panama. Mark has had an interest in seeing water needs met globally since engineering school. He has travelled to Mozambique, Guatemala and Panama (just to name a few) trying to help others realize their goals for reliable, accessible drinking water. As part of this journey, he and his family lived in Guatemala for a year designing water systems in the Ulpan Valley. Mark currently works for the First Utility District in Knoxville, TN and also helps to coordinate projects with Knox ProCorps (another non-profit doing water work that often partners with Solea). Mark is married to a wonderful Kindergarten teacher named Katy and they have four children.

Jean Desrosiers, Haiti Country Director

Jean lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with his wife and daughter. He’s passionate about restoring access to clean water in his community through hand pump repairs, drilling wells, and installing and maintaining water filtration systems. We’re grateful for his leadership over all our work in Haiti.

Pitterson Berry, Water Technician and Regional Community Liaison - Port au Prince

Pitterson lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with his wife and three daughters. He receives calls from communities that have broken water systems and do not have access to clean water all the time. He coordinates with community leaders and leads the well repair team with Jean for all our projects in Haiti.

fernando Dumasá - Operations director

Fernando, his wife Nilvia, and daughter Nikeysha have been a constant presence for Solea's work for many years. Fernando was raised in the Emberá community of Esperanza on the Tupisa River in Darién by his grandparents. With much personal effort he was able to learn many trade skills, including masonry, electricity, and welding, and obtain good-paying work in Panama City. However, his desire to serve his people is even greater than his skillset, so he chooses to to make less money and lead in Solea's work on the ground with communities. He also helps manage local PR and assists with grant administration.

langdon hollingsworth, operations coordinator

Through numerous volunteer trips growing up, Langdon saw the severity of the water crisis in Latin America and decided to be a part of the solution. While studying engineering at Georgia Tech, Langdon pursued his passion for helping the extreme poor by working with the student organization Engineers Without Borders. Wanting to broaden his impact, Langdon began working with Solea Water in 2016 by helping to implement our water project in Aruza, Panama. After graduating, Langdon decided to use his engineering background to help bring clean water to impoverished communities full-time for a few years, spending lots of time in the field with our partners in Panama. He has since transitioned his role and is our Volunteer Operations Coordinator while he pursues an MBA at Harvard.

Christian Lofton - Photovoltaic Specialist

Christian serves as Solea Water’s Photovoltaic Specialist. He is the co-founder of RED Group NC (a NABCEP-certified company), and brings to Solea years of experience in the solar energy industry. With over 600 solar panel projects completed through RED Group, Christian understands how to exceed expectations and deliver lasting results on solar energy projects. Christian is originally from Oklahoma, and served as a volunteer for the Peace Corps before starting RED Group. When he’s not working on a solar project, you can find him gardening, tinkering in his workshop, or enjoying a fresh slice of watermelon. 

Landy Cheucarama - Water Technician & Regional Community Liaison Rio Membrillo

Landy is our Water Technician & Regional Community Liaison for the Membrillo River region. A native of the Membrillo river area, Landy lives with his wife and five children in the community of Mach Pobor, where he is also the current water committee president. When not tending his avocado and plantain farm, Landy serves as a consultant in multiple communities, leads gps mapping teams, installs photovoltaic systems, and promotes home water filtration. 

Anival Mejía, Water Technician & Regional Community Liaison Rio Congo

Anival is our Water Technician & Regional Community Liaison for the Maje River region. A native of the Maje River area, Anival lives with his wife, children, and grand-children in the community of Maje de Chiman, where he currently serves as the water committee president. Anival contributes many years of experience in gravity fed water systems and biological sand filtration and serves as an elder in his church and community. 

Villanor Lino - Water Technician & Regional Community Liaison Rio Tuqeza

Villanor Lino is a husband and father of five. He works his farm to provide for his family while remaining active in his local church, local politics, and has served for several years as his community's water committee president. As a Solea partner, he has become proficient in numerous technical applications for building and maintaining water systems. And his vision for his people and his region prioritizes clean, abundant water coupled with education for a healthy and prosperous future. 

Joseph Prince

Summer 2024

Joseph is a second year at the University of Chicago majoring in Economics. As a grandson of Cuban immigrants, he has always been interested in Latin America and International Relations. Joseph was excited by the opportunity to live and work in Panama while contributing to a meaningful cause. In his free time, Joseph enjoys listening to music or playing sports. 

Layla Seaver

Summer 2022

Layla is a sophomore at Harvard University, majoring in Engineering and Environmental Science, with a secondary concentration in Spanish. Her experiences with the Harvard chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), as both a team member and Co-President, inspired her to focus on the implementation of water distribution systems in remote communities in Latin America. Her previous work includes research and analysis with a Harvard professor on water scarcity in indigenous communities in Apan, Mexico. Layla became intrigued with Solea Water while researching partnerships for remote implementation in the Dominican Republic with EWB and was drawn to its mission to work with communities to create long lasting, sustainable solutions to the lack of access to drinking water. Layla was born and raised in Hong Kong and enjoys hiking and water sports in her free time.

Carrina Jaime

Summer 2022

Carrina’s passion to serve people has led her to value the intersection of community and business. She is studying for a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Minor in International Development at Trinity Western University in BC, Canada. As a business student, she is always looking for ways to use the power of business to transform local and global communities.

Vamsi Muktevi

Fall 2022

Vamsi is a senior studying Accountancy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He came to Solea Water wanting to share his experience in process improvement, auditing, and other technical skills in order to make a positive impact on the world. He grew up in India where he saw people face similar issues in terms of obtaining clean water. “I heard about Solea from a fellow intern and immediately fell in love with its vision and its dedication to serving communities in this way and I wanted to be a part of it.”