35th Event of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Los Torres

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35th Event of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Los Torres

Where: Los Torres (Chucha´s house) & pre-meeting in El Cortijo & in the car on the way.
When: 24.2.10 10.30am – 3.35pm
Who: Chela & Holly + Jesus for planning of the water info day(Cedesa), Laura (San Miguel Midday), + Los Torres people 28 women, 5 men + about 10 small kids, + Annamaria & her husband from Vivienda de Arriba.

Pre Planning session
Purpose:
Planning session for phase III, discuss proposed workshops & water info day, reschedule bee project planning session.

Jesus has been working with Cedesa on the Camposino University plan, & Chela had asked him to put a plan together for the Water Info day planned for 5th March at Los Torres Primary School.

1st Item Water info day planning
The objective of the day is to teach the kids at the primary school, the importance of conserving water.

The planned agenda for Water info day is
1. for the people of Los Torres to talk to the children about the history of water in their area. Members of the assemblies have been tasked with interviewing their elders & reporting back regarding the change in the water/rivers since the oldies were kids…
2. Jesus has a very fun interactive learning experience planned for the whole school. It is to take the form of a ¨rally¨with 7 stations, at each station will be a Quiz, the station will be manned by a co-ordinator, a devil & an angel/or dwarf… the devil & angel will act as bad & good consciences trying to entice the kids to do the right or wrong thing at each station.

Topics for the stations will be for example Hydro weather cycle, global water situation, ie how much fresh & how much salt water covers the earth, identify water sources in their own community, how is water used in their community, define concrete actions to conserve H2o in their own community, etc.

They kids will be divided into teams, of mixed age & gender & each team will pass through the rally. Each successful answer will gain them a “marble” signifying a drop of water, in their bucket, at the end of the rally the team with the most marbles will be deemed the “guardians” of water in their school. This position will carry with it a responsibility to protect & conserve water in their school, they will be the ones to fill the garaphons with water, & make sure the taps are turned off & water is not wasted…

There will be prizes for all the kids, & then some sort of bracelet or identifier for the “guardians”…
We need to work on the details, ideally we would like to reward the kids with a drink bottle each, which they can fill from the garaphons each morning, instead of slurping water directly from the tap as they currently do.

There are approx 80 kids in the school, so we don´t really have the budget to buy a drink bottle for each, but are working on a creative solution to this problem.

We agreed there will need to be continued followup for these “guardians”, & we have yet to decide what form that follow up will take, probably a mini commission from the adults to keep checking with the kids & reporting back to assemblies.

We thanked Jesus for his excellent plan & wished him well with the balance of the execution of it!
The community will need to volunteer at least 21 people to help, & they will need to meet an hr before the event to co-ordinate the event.

Item 2 – Elena arrived to discuss when the next assembly would be held in Montecillo de Nieto (other project site), we agreed 17/3 should give us enough time to receive the $$$ (& 3rd wed of the Month has been set aside for assemblies for this community. She asked if she could visit to touch base with them & we said of course! Great idea…



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At this point we ran out of time for planning & left for Los Torres. (& Elena went to Montecillo de Nieto).
Arrival in Los Torres, we were around 20 mins late & met with a very small crowd, only around 15 women, more arrived in the next 15mins until we had the usual complement of around 37 people.
Eventually we commenced the meeting at 12.40 (supposed to start at 12)

Item 1. Concha took the roll, (ie of attendance)
Chela described the importance of attending assemblies, “we all have to participate, we shouldn’t have to force you to talk, there is no knot in your tongue is there?” lots of laughing…
One woman said she is afraid people will laugh at what she has to say.
Another woman said you shouldn´t be afraid to briefly state your opinion.
There is no reason for others to be speaking while someone has the “word” (except Holly who sometimes has to translate for Laura … more laughing)…
If you want to speak, raise your hand.
If you put your foot in your mouth, you can always take it out tomorrow…more giggles.
No-one should make fun of anyone, alright to laugh with but not at…
3 things needed presence, respect & participation.
You are the focus of attention in the region, the impact of the cisterns is obvious, & all due to your hard work & persistence.

Item 2 appointment of co-ordinator & records taker for the meeting
Maribel (a young woman) was appointed co-ordinator
Concha was appointed record taker

Item 3 creation of an agenda
Maribel asked the assembly what points they would like to discuss today
The road/beekeeping/3rd phase planning/traspatio/water info day/health workshop/co-operation payments

Item 4 prioritise the points for discussion
After some discussion the points were prioritised.

Agenda item 1 The Road
Chela “what is the point – what does anyone have to say?
Following were various points raised
We were going to talk to someone in the govt.
My husband talked to the govt. pre election, & now we have to talk to the new govt.
Do we need a road or not – resounding “yes”
Who wants to work for it? – general mumble of agreement
Why is it necessary?
- of a person´s sick they cant get to hospital in a hurry
- so we can arrive more quickly (ie us, laura, chela & Holly) – lots of laughter
- so we can get to work on time
- so we can spend more time with our families & not getting to work
- often we don’t have time or $$ to make the trip
- we only stay out here in the country, & go into the campo to collect work, that´s what we have to resort to for fun! (roars of laughter!)
- sometimes need to deliver papers & go shopping, & it takes forever.
- No taxis will come here
- We have to carry shopping & babies…
What is the first step
- to organise a “solicitud”/make an application, to govt.
- there is not a majority here today so we can not make a decision on behalf of the community we will need to call another meeting & hope for a majority,
- 50 people would be a majority
- Need a space to meet – discussion about using the Ejido “salon”, they will need to speak to the Leaders of the Ejido to book a good time.
- There was discussion about making the decision at the next Ejido meeting, but Chela pointed out there is a lot of the community not part of the Ejido, so it needs to be a community initiative not limited to Ejido.
- They will need to invite the entire community & ask them to sign the petition/solicitud for the road…
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Who can do this?
Plan to meet on the 5/3 (water info day) & write a petition, plan the steps etc.
Chela said they need 5 people for the commission
Action: Road commission Ofelia, Cruz, Chuy, Arturo, Gonzalo & Carmela volunteered.
Chela”it´s important you guys learn how to arrive at the presidencia, who to put your application to”.
Carmela, Cruz & Arturo will ask the Ejido leaders to use the “salon”
How will you inform the community? Someone yelled out “by phone” a big joke because no-one has them!, agreed to inform them at the water info day.
Chela mentioned Palencia (a community she has been working in for 22 yrs), they have a public meeting space & she suggested they need one here in Los Torres.
I suggested they use the school after hours, they said better in the Ejido salon because it is empty so there´s nothing to take! Apparently they have 29 chairs there so people will need to bring their own.

Agenda item 2 3rd Stage Planning
At the last meeting people in phase III were tasked with measuring the length of pipes they need & giving the list to the leader of their group.
No-one had done this, no good reason… Maybe they didn´t know how to measure it, but Chuy pointed out the experts live in their community & are happy to be asked for help.
Chela talked about responsibility, & commitment & sticking together in groups,
“will you advance without taking responsibility?” – no
It was pointed out the technicians can not place the order for the full project until all the lists are in.
They were urged to take charge, go to the group leaders if they do not come to you, & if you don´t know what to do, go & ask someone who does, you know who they are!”

Another person asked if there was a chance of adding another cistern to the list.
Chela said no, phase III was closed & $$$ had been budgeted for just 24, but there could be a phase IV if there was demand, & they could make representation to the govt. for assistance, & not always rely on funding from Rotary.

Agenda item 3 Water Info Day 5 March 2010
Chela asked the objective of the day.
Ofelia answered “for the kids to learn how to conserve water”
The commission at the last meeting was tasked with asking the Teacher if it was ok to hold the day at the school.
They forgot!
Action for the Ofelia & rest of the group, they said they will ask tomorrow.
Chela said they haven´t gotten off their butts, & used the responsibility again.
She asked “is it an education event” – yes
Then it should be fine to have it at school, but you just need to confirm.
More discussion & a description of the event as described by Jesus.
There are 21 volunteers needed.
Apparently 5/3 is the day Casa Diferente (a govt program) is delivering the materials for the houses, & they need to be present to receive the materials. 6 families were involved & therefore wont be able to attend.

There was a call for volunteers
Action: Chuy, Concha, Elena, Hilaria, Gonzalo, Dulce, Fabiana, Sofia, Saul, Juana, Carmela, Maribel, Cecilia, Maria Soria, Maria de Jesus, Orelia, Elvira, Don Cruz, Catalina, Jose Matilde.

They will ask the teacher to ask other parents to bring food to contribute & make it a shared meal event.

The commission to interview the elders, was supposed to meet & research & record the history of water in the region, Chuy had asked her parents but had not recorded it, no-one else had. Another reminder was made.

At this point we were getting a little despondent about the lack of commitment to what people had committed to at the previous meeting. I asked Holly why they don´t write it down, & she pointed out many of people at Los Torres cant read & write, they simply rely on their memory…


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I asked permission to make the Water Info day an open event, & invite the Mayor & Ecology director as well as Rotarians, pointing out it could be favourable for their representation re the Road if these guys knew the road first hand…They all agreed.

Chela discussed alternatives to foam plates, they talked about having tacos in serviettes.
Time for Water Info Day – start at 11am – finish 2pm, meet at 9.30 for planning session, & they will have to get up really early to prepare food to bring to the event. (Road planning meeting will have to be after the event.

Agenda item 4 Co-operations pending
3 people still owe money for their contribution to the building of the cisterns at the school. The community agreed those from phase III who couldn’t attend this demonstration build would have to pay for their share. The agreed price was $450 pesos.
There was much discussion about this, & I missed what was finally agreed.

There are also people who were supposed to contribute to the school project if they had kids there but were not part of the LT water projects. That contribution was $50, the teacher was supposed to be asked to help recover this money.

Action: It was agreed Maria Soria would go door to door asking for the contribution.

Agenda item 5 Traspatio (back yard) workshops (run by Cedesa, without Rotary funding)
Benigno ran the first workshop last week, they did not keep a count of attendance, but said lots of people were there. They were asked to make a design for their backyard, including moving things to better positions.

Chela had some seeds from prospective Rotarian, Kerry, that visited to the last assembly. She will give them to Benigno to work with.

Agenda item 6 Heath workshop (proposed, to be run by Cedesa, again without funding from Rotary)
Chela explained the woman that gives the workshops on natural health & nutrition, can not drive so it is difficult for her to reach Los Torres. There was talk of transport options, ie catch the bus to Cruz del Palmar & walk 15 mins.
They are not having their regular health topic meetings on Fridays anymore, they were having these when we first visited LT back in Oct. 2008.

Agenda item 7 Bee Keeping project (this is a potential small business project maybe funded by Ann Arbour club…)
Chela opened with “we can provide workshops but we need to know how interested you are, if no interest we wont come.” “lots of people are afraid of bees right?”
Yes – especially the africanised ones.
The bees can provide many valuable products but it requires a lot of voluntary work by you guys.
Response “you´re going to teach us how not to be afraid – right?” Yes, with protective clothing.
Chela explained they are pretty low maintenance, a well working hive only needs visiting mthly, but people will have to keep checking they haven´t been vandalized. There was discussion about this, since they need to be in the countryside, & not easy to monitor.

Chela said we will re-look at the bee project once we see how motivated people are with the existing workshops, ie back yard gardens, & possibly health…
Hence the 10/3/10 beekeeping project planning session is postponed, date to be advised later.

Misc. discussion
There was a written question submitted re resealing of the kindergarten roof. Apparently there are leaks that the nopal/lime sealant has not repaired.
Action: Chela will discuss with Benigno & get back to them with a suggestion for sealant that will not be toxic for the water collection.




Record of Event pg 5 of 5

Anamaria & her husband from Vivienda de Arriba asked to talk with us.
Anamaria mentioned she was concerned there was such a large attendance from a neighbouring community (Tierra Blanca) at the assembly just held at Vivienda de Arriba, 9 from TB & 27 from VdA. She asked if it would ok to tell TB that just 2 representatives should attend the VdA assembly, so the focus can stay on the VdA community.

We agreed, good idea. TB send representatives to each assembly to learn the process & report back to their community, then when they/we are ready to initiate a project there they will have the same knowledge VdA has by attending Los Torres assemblies.

Story of determination!!
We then said our goodbyes & headed back up the dusty, pockholed track loosely described as a road, home, on our way we say Maria de Jesus (a young mother part of phase III) struggling up the hill with a bike, her 18mth old & her four year old boys.

We asked if she would like a ride & she looked very relieved.

The story goes, she lives at Los Torres, but works in Montecillo de Nieto, she had forgotten about the assembly in Los Torres today, but saw Elena (Rotarian) visiting MdN & Elena reminded her it was on. She then loaded up her 18mth old on the handle bars, & her four year old son (with his school bag on his back) standing up on the pegs of the back wheel, & rode her bike with her shakey precious cargo all the way from Montecillo de Nieto to Los Torres. Anyone who has even driven that road knows how hard it is even in a car, up hill, down dale, & that´s just in the space of 20 feet!

It is a journey of more than ½ hr by car! & she managed it!

Needless to say she was extremely grateful to ride back in the pickup, & her children, promptly fell asleep in her arms… only to be off-loaded in their sleepy state at the destination! I am a pretty strong determined person, but I doubt I could have made that journey, she truly deserves her cistern!

Side note – I am glad the $$$ are almost here, I think the possible lapse in motivation may be due to lack of “concrete” (excuse the pun) action lately, they really are ready to roll up their sleeves & get the cisterns built, & am sure will be spurred on for the next issue they choose to resolve.

Water info Day 5th March 2010 9.30planning session, 11am commencement 2pm close (school)
Road Application Planning meeting 2.30pm 5th March (school)
Next assembly 24th March 2010 12midday