quick update MdN - Report 1 MdN Project Montecillo de Nieto

Hi guys,

Bill, let me present you to the team - Bob (I know you've met), Elena & Holly (whom you will meet in person on your forthcoming visit).
We have had 2 previous planning meetings, with this community, one at Casa de Aves (a local hotel that employs a large number of the community of MdN) & also the delegado (whom we have met previously at Presidential meetings involving his & the Los Torres communities).

These meetings would be considered pre-planning meetings, a handshake session, with a little bit of information imparted by both sides. Essentially to prove that the community is keen to be involved in this project, as they have seen at their neighbouring community Los Torres.

Thanks to Elena we had a very successful visit to MdN this morning. (Bob sorry that you were sick, hope you are feeling better).

We met with the 2 profesores of the MdN school - Hector Rivas & Leon Morales as planned.
They were very accommodating & organised, & had copies of the emails Holly & Irma & Elena had sent regarding the various things going on in MdN right now.

Re the Adobe Boveda Workshop - they are meeting with the community this Thursday & will choose 2 people to attend the workshop.
They have Holly's email address & agreed to send contact information & the 2 names to her after the meeting on Thursday.

Re the Foro
They will raise this topic at the Thursday meeting also & will forward details to Holly in the same way.
They said they will do their best to convince a couple of members of the community to present at the foro, but if not able to find someone for the presentation side, then they will at least impress upon them the importance of attending the Foro.

Re the MdN Community meeting on the 21st October
Change of time - now 12.30midday at MdN (they had a clash at 12 midday),
The community will be there & ready.

Re the Water collection project in general - they have some awareness about this already from a presentation by the Ecology dept, & a poster demonstrating the Water tank idea, & the project the Eco. dept has implemented at the school.
They feel sure that the community are very pleased to be involved in this.
A few facts:
the school has 64 kids
the kindergarten across the road approx 23 kids
there are approx 20 kids attending from nearby Taboada
the number of families in MdN was estimated at 45
the number of families in nearby Taboada is estimated at 10

It was agreed that Taboada should be included in the MdN project, as they are very close neighbours, & have the same water issues, they will also be invited to attend the 21st October prelim community assembly.

We explained we have sufficient funding (thank you Tallahassee!!) to begin a phase I of 26 cisterns.

As an aside - we had a look at the water collection system that the Ecology dept. has installed at the school.
Interestingly, despite having a capacity of 30,000 litres, the tank looks to be less than 1/2 full, which is less that should be at the end of the rainy season.
Only a small part of the roof has been included in this project, we could mention this to the dept of ecology, or we could maybe assist them to include a larger portion on the roof, to maximise this expensive storage system.

The meeting was from 9.30am to 10.30 am (Elena & I then spent some time exploring the neighbouring communities, re possible future projects.

Next Meeting 21 October at 12.30 at the MdN School,
with another meeting (a mini meeting with committee on foro, & proposed technical team) on 21st Oct at 4pm in Los Torres.