When Donny Thomas closed the switch to energize the line in a small Guatemalan village, the 20-year lineworker felt the same thrill he remembered from his first job. But this time, the simple act brought light to a community for the very first time.

Donny, a Gibson Electric Membership Corporation line crewleader in Troy, was one of 15 volunteer lineworkers from seven cooperatives across Tennessee to spend 17 days in the remote mountain communities of Corral Viejo and La Paz. Together, they built nearly eight miles of power line across rugged terrain to connect 28 homes, two schools and a small business to electricity. Their work allows children to study after dark, families to refrigerate food and store medicine and entrepreneurs to open or expand their businesses.

“The trip was the highlight of my career,” Donny said. “I don’t think there will ever be anything to top it.”

Choosing to go

The project — dubbed Project Highlight — was part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) International Program, an ongoing effort to extend electric service to underserved areas. The Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association assembled the first all-Tennessee crew for the mission.

Donny said applying for Project Highlight was an easy decision.  Two years ago, he made a personal commitment to be a better man and a better Christian. When he told his wife, Tara, about the opportunity, she encouraged him to go for it.

“It takes a very strong woman to stand behind a lineman,” Donny said.

Throughout their 25 years of marriage, Tara has shown her strength time and again.

“She’s never wavered,” Donny said. “I know I can leave, and she can handle it.”

Support outside of the home was also vital. Donny said they received an abundance of love from their Bethpage Baptist Church family and his Gibson Electric coworkers, who checked in on the couple regularly while he was away.

Bringing light

Donny, father of two sons, said the Guatemalan people —especially the children—quickly stole the volunteer lineworkers’ hearts. The villagers were so eager to have electricity that they hauled utility poles on their shoulders up the treacherous mountainside. They set their own poles and cut and stripped temporary ones, working together to ensure every home was ready.

“The community was together,” Donny said. “They jumped up to help us. They wanted electricity that badly.”

Children also pitched in, handing tools to the lineworkers and following them from job to job. A young boy even hopped on Donny’s back for a ride up the mountain. And after long days of sometimes grueling labor, the volunteers never missed a chance to play soccer with the kids.

Life-changing trip

For both the villagers and the volunteers, the trip was life changing.

“It wasn’t just about going down there and building power lines,” he said. “It was really our privilege to go, and it was a huge privilege.”

For the villagers, the convenience we often take for granted will make daily life easier – like the kids who returned to their newly energized schoolhouse after dark to read books and the woman who cried and hugged the lineworker who installed the switches and receptacles in her home. Now she can run her blender when she needs it, instead of waiting for a few precious moments of electricity from a small solar panel on her roof. She’s also hoping to buy a refrigerator.

For the volunteers, it was a chance to reconnect to the roots of their profession. With no bucket or derrick trucks to assist, they relied on manual tools, which they had to carry on their backs. They saw how another culture lives—how friendly, content, resourceful, persistent and community-minded the villagers are. Most of all, the volunteers built unbreakable bonds within their team.

“Working with these guys was unbelievable,” Donny said. “It was really special to be the first Tennessee crew to go. We all had a good time, and we made lifelong friends.”

Project Highlight was made possible by NRECA International, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, whose mission is to increase individual and community access to electricity in all parts of the world. The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, CoBank, TVA, United Utility Supply, Gresco, Appalachian Electric Cooperative, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation, Duck River Electric Membership Corporation, Gibson Electric, Middle Tennessee Electric, Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative and Volunteer Energy Cooperative also supported the trip.