20th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Record of Meeting pg 1 of 2
20th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

Where: Los Torres School kitchen.
When: 4th February 2009 12 – 2.30
Who: Jose Miguel – Delegado , Ma Jesus (delegada), total of 43 people including 7 men. Holly Yasui, Chela & Benigno (Cedesa), Tom & Anne Pinfold (Sechelt Rotary – Partners), Laura Stewart (San Miguel Midday Rotary Club),

Following is the summary email sent as an update of the 4.2.09 meeting in Los Torres.


Hi Guys
I just wanted to give a quick summary of today,
It was great to have Tom Pinfold (Sechelt Rotary President) & his wife Anne with us to see things up close & personal.
We left at 11am, met with Chela, Benigno & Holly at El Cortijo & headed off together to Los Torres.
The community slowly gathered & we started the meeting about 12.30.
There were 45 people attending (very close to a quorum for an assembly, since there are 94 families - according to the delegado).
There was the usual discussion at the beginning about what constitutes a meeting v an assembly. Then there was more discussion regarding the fluoride test level by Ecology.
All the people there were there because they wish to participate in the project.

1. The dates were set for the demonstration construction of the 1st ferro cement cistern at the Kindergarten.
4 days, 23.24,25,&26th February.

2. Chela asked for people to:
• manage the delivery of the materials, (cement, rebar, mesh etc) make sure they were secure (Maria Soria, & Guillermina Barranca - can contact by cell phone via Maria Jesus)
• get the best price & arrange for the delivery of sand & gravel (Jose Miguel - Delegado)
• manage 4 teams of workers for the training days (Jose Miguel Cruz, Juan Alvarado, Primo Barranco, Leova Barranca)
• split into each of the 4 teams (there were 11 + the leader in each team) (I have a list of names of each of the people in each team)
• Each of the managers needs to ensure at least 2 people attend all of the days so they learn the complete process from beginning to end.
3. The list of tools required were:
Cortaporno (wire/metal cutter) x 1
Tijera para lamina (tin cutter) x 1
Palos (poles) x2
Caretilla (wheelbarrow) x 1
Cuchara (trowel) x 1
Llana per person (not sure what this is!)
The community said they have all the tools required already.

4. There was a huge ferocious dogfight for a long 3 or 4 minutes then someone threw a rock at them & they took it elsewhere!! (only in Mexico!)




Record of Meeting pg 2 of 2
20th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Committee

5. The hours of work were set 10am to 5pm each day. With comida likely around 11am.
6. At least 3 people from each group should attend each day, with (as mentioned earlier) 2 of those attending everyday for consistency.

The people of the community asked when we would have the answer about the big project, ie that the funding would be definite. I gave a commitment of the end of March.

The next assembly date was set for March 4th at 12pm
The meeting ended at 2.30.

Conclusion:
Although the initial survey done by the women in both the upper & lower community determined that every family (except 3 maybes) were interested in participating in the building of the cisterns - ie they all wanted them, since then the Sapasma well has been drilled & some of the community are confused by the opposing information they are receiving about the contamination of the water. The mayor told them that the water is pure. He could not have known this at the time as the test results had not been received.

If we hold up the project & give a workshop on water quality, the reducing aquifer, etc we will not achieve the completion of the project in time for the rainy season.

It seems likely that given the facts & after the demonstration of the ease of building their own cisterns, that other families will change their minds & "jump back on board".
The "early adopters" are very keen, & they say they are always the ones that get things going in the community, but that the others will want it when they take the time to know more about the project & see that it is for real & not just a series of meetings (as it has been).

If we change the MG project now, we risk not getting the funding on time & missing the boat.

If we leave the MG as it stands we have the possibility of the other families joining later or - if they choose not to - then, downsizing the project & refunding the monies.

Certainly the feeling at the presidencia meeting was that this is a very worthwhile project & will be a good model for other communities. We will invite the members of the Montecillo de Nieto (neighbouring) community to attend the demonstration cistern building days.

A question was raised "if there are members of the LT community that choose not to participate are we able to offer their cisterns to the people in the Montecillo de Nieto community that would like to be involved?". This community has an active group of women leaders that have been vocal at the 2 presidencia meetings & look to be very pro-active.

Any comments? maybe we should meet before the next scheduled CPC meeting to discuss these points.
Tom we'd appreciate your thoughts from the partner club viewpoint, also you have a lot more background now, do you think there is any additional information we should provide to the other partners at this point?

Love
Laura
(PS Bill could you tell Judy that Maria de Jesus was asking after her today, she misses talking to her - I told her that the break was a bad one & that she is still recuperating)