When lineworker Micah Hagan of Cumberland Electric Membership Corp. traveled to Guatemala to help bring electricity to two remote mountain villages, he looked into the children’s faces and saw himself.
Nearly 25 years ago, when Hagan was just 8 months old, he was adopted from Guatemala by American parents who brought him home to Tennessee to raise. In early August, Hagan joined 14 other electric cooperative lineworkers from Tennessee as he returned to Guatemala for the first time to participate in a volunteer project organized by NRECA International.
“When I looked at the kids in the villages, I thought, ‘that could have been me,’” Hagan said. “In some of the photos of me growing up, I look a lot like those kids. It just made me more grateful for what I have and the opportunities I was given in life. Things could have been drastically different for me.”
Hagan’s connection to the Central American nation made him jump at the chance to go and help make people’s daily lives easier and give kids a chance to do their homework at night and play on the soccer field after dark.
“I wanted to be able to give something back to the people in the place I came from,” said Hagan, whose adopted sister was also born in Guatemala. “It meant a lot to me to be able to go.”
For 17 days, Hagan and his fellow CEMC lineworkers Josh Kennedy and Jake Perry worked with their colleagues from six other Tennessee co-ops to string power lines and wire 28 homes and two schools in southeast Guatemala to receive electricity for the first time. People in the villages of Corral Viejo and La Paz helped, digging holes and planting power poles before the crews arrived.
With no bucket trucks available, the lineworkers climbed poles to build nearly 8 miles of line across rugged terrain that was a 45-minute drive in pickup trucks up the mountain from the motel where they were staying in the town below.
“I thought I was in halfway decent shape, but trying to keep up with the kids and the other people who live in those mountains wasn’t easy,” Kennedy said. “Just going up and down the hills all day on foot would wear you out.”
Perry said the area, which is in a coffee-growing region, was one of the most beautiful places he’s ever been.
“It was actually breathtaking,” he said. “A lot of the guys were commenting that they were going to hate going back to their usual drives to work at home after driving through this amazing scenery every morning.”
While the villages did have some power from solar panels, it was limited, Kennedy said. Some people used car batteries to charge their cellphones, until the batteries died.
“One woman was excited that she would be able to run her blender and another appliance at the same time,” he said. “Everyone was so nice. The kids really wanted to help us. In the second village, at the school, I had a long spool of wire to roll out, and the kids just grabbed the rope and took off running down the hill.”
Perry said electricity will allow people to have basic amenities like refrigerators and water pumps.
“Electricity is something I think everybody should have in today’s time,” he said. “The idea that some people don’t have it in 2025 is kind of mind-boggling.”
The impact of the volunteer project on people’s lives “is impossible to fully grasp,” said Mike Knotts, CEO of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. “Their lives will be forever changed thanks to the service and sacrifice of these volunteer lineworkers.”
In addition to the three lineworkers from CEMC, volunteers came from Appalachian Electric Cooperative, Duck River Electric Membership Corp., Gibson Electric Membership Corp., Middle Tennessee Electric, Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative and Volunteer Energy Cooperative.
For Hagan, the trip helped him put things into perspective.
“The kids didn’t have much compared to what we’re used to, but they were happy,” he said. “They inspired me to try to be even happier and more grateful for what I have … It was a great experience and a trip I’ll never forget. I’d definitely like to go back.”
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.