6th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
6th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Where: Lomas de San José Community, opposite Candelaria on the Road to Dolores.
When: 23.01.10 (scheduled for 4pm start, started 5pm)
Who: Enrique Orvañanos , Elena Padilla & Laura Stewart (Rotary), Benigno (Cedesa), Juan, Guillermo & Jose Miguel (Tech Expert team from Los Torres),
5 men & 8 women from the community attended (along with 4 kids & 4 dogs!)

Purpose: to begin planning of the next stages of this project. The demonstration build, & creation of work groups & to introduce the Tech team & Benigno from Cedesa who will be working with them for the remainder of this project.

We arrived on time at 4pm, but the community had not gathered yet, we took the time while they were slowly arriving to discuss plans for who & how this project would be technically & organisationally supported. Ie what role the LT team would play v how Benigno from Cedesa would be involved.

Benigno was not aware that we wanted Cedesa to help with the organisational side, I think this confusion has arisen because Enrique & Laura did the early meetings with the community without involving Cedesa as funding had not been approved, so we unable to pay for their services at that point. It should be noted that Cedesa do not ask for payment for their services, but since they come all the way from Dolores Hidalgo, & have no prior connection with this community we think it is only fair.

At 5pm, despite the small numbers, we decided to begin.

Item 1. Introductions
We all introduced ourselves & explained why we were there.

Item 2 Difference between an assembly & a meeting
As part of the organisational training Benigno explained the difference between a community assembly & a meeting, & the ability of the community to make decisions for the entire community if it qualifies as an assembly (ie over half the community present).

He stressed it is better to have assemblies than just meetings as more important decisions can be made, & at meetings only possible to have discussions & plan actions for the people attending.

He described the process of a meeting & explained the following:
• the roles of Co-ordinator & record keeper,
• essential they are appointed at each meeting
• the co-ordinator “gives the word” to people to allow them to speak in turn & keep order
• the co-ordinator & record taker will be different at each meeting so everyone learns what’s involved
• the record keeper/secretary, needs to record the events of the meetings & actions decided, & should keep all the info in one book
• the process of creating an agenda
• people should raise their hands if they wish to speak

Ali was voted Co-ordinator & Angelika record taker.



Record of Event pg 2 of 3

There were giggles as Ali took on her role & gave people their turn to speak when they raised their hands.

Item 3 – number of people on list v number of people attending
Angelika explained there were 44 families with their names on the list – ie wishing to be involved in the project to build cisterns, she has some apologies for people, but others have just not shown up.

We asked which day suited best for a majority attendance, they decided Friday at 4pm is best for the women, Saturday is foodshopping & fiesta day so no good.


Item 4 – purpose of today’s meeting
Benigno asked why are we here today,
“people are interested in receiving help to build cisterns”
“to get water/cisterns”
“ We only have 3 or 4 big water containers & after the truck delivery the water soon runs out”

Benigno asked who was aware of the project or knew what a cistern was, & 3 people had visited Los Torres & knew the cisterns already.

Benigno explained cisterns & the purpose of collecting rainwater, ie in 1 m2 of surface area with an average rainfall of 500mm in this area, you can collect 1500 litres of water. We can all catch that water & store it in a ferro cement cistern.

The cistern is very simple to construct, women & children can easily participate in the construction process.

Each one of you needs to help to construct these cisterns so you need to learn the steps of construction.

When there is a majority we can decide on the dates of training/demo build days.

The process is 1st to build the cistern as a pilot so everyone learns the steps.

You will need to decide where the 1st one is built, they suggested maybe the church & they would speak to Jesus Rodriguez who is the president of the church.

You will need to work on the groups.
Is it possible to visit all the 38? Families to find out
1. who has room for the cistern
2. some have just land & no home, they need to be removed from the list

There was a question from one of the women “why are there small animals in the rain water they catch from their roofs in buckets?” it was explained that these “animals” – basically mosquito larvae, enter the water after the rain is collected because there is no lid on the container, that the water from the rain is pure, but precautions must be taken to prevent contamination by insects, dust or bacteria, & that’s why the cisterns are completely closed, & have a “sieve” to prevent things entering the cistern.




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There was a little more explanation of the process, & it was reiterated how essential it is that people attend the 4 training days so they can become experts like the Los Torres
crew, & then there’s the possibility they can become technicians & paid to assist in other communities.

The group building concept was explained, ie each group builds all the cisterns for that group.

Juan & Guillermo & Jose Miguel (the Los Torres guys), all spoke about their experience with the Project, the benefits, & encouraged involvement, reduced doubts, they explained “some people work harder than others don’t, you guys are the hard workers”

They said “we have bad roads, trouble with electricity & no services, you guys have more & are lucky to get this, there are so many communities that want this, & it is really going to depend on your community, involvement & motivation”

“Many communities are interested & they come to all our assemblies, they need help & if you don’t want it – they should have it, resources are limited, this is a great opportunity, don’t lose it, or the offer to help the communities may stop.”

The Los Torres crew were very motivational, firm but kind in their approach, & were speaking peer to peer, there was great pride in what they have achieved, & they were very inspirational.

Item 5 – importance of attendance of next meeting
Because of the lack of numbers at today’s meeting no important dates were able to be set for beginning the work. It was stressed that the next meeting MUST be well attended, we need to see they are truly interested & motivated to be involved in this project.

We have had several meetings before this at which they had lists of 39 or more people interested, we have committed a lot of effort to achieve funding of this project & we need to see commitment from the community if we are to continue.

We reiterated there are many communities in the same situation, ie without drinking water, & if they are not ready & willing we will go to a community that is ready & willing.

All agreed they will spread the word & attend the next meeting scheduled

Next Lomas Assembly Friday 4pm 29.01.10 at the Church

The meeting finished at 6.15 pm. The Rotary team & Benigno headed up to the church to see whether it was a good prospect for the demonstration build.

When we arrived we discovered it is a church in construction, has only the walls & no roof! We had a good giggle, & agreed it would be difficult to collect water on a church without a roof, & maybe the community thought we would build the roof for them…To be continued…

We all agreed there needs to be a lot more participation & crossed our fingers the community would come together like they had in previous meetings.