8h Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 5
8h Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Where: Lomas de San José Community, at the church & Angelika’s lot
When: Saturday 13.02.10 (scheduled for 5pm start, started 5.40pm)
Who: Enrique Orvañanos & Laura Stewart (Rotary), Benigno (Cedesa), + 8 women & 1 man from the community (7 kids, 1 dog) 1more man arrived 10 mins before the meeting ended.

Purpose: To define the exact list of participants in the project, (last chance), & to begin planning of the next stages of this project. The demonstration build, & creation of work groups.

We arrived on time at 5pm, & since so few people were there, we decided to wait longer. During this time Benigno, Enrique & I discussed our strategy moving forward.
We discussed our commitment to the core few that come to each meeting (approx 4 people), but also that it is a waste to have the resources for this project tied up for just a few families when there are so many other communities wanting to be the next project site.

We discussed the possibility of using partial funds here & diverting the balance of the funding to the communities who are ready & waiting now for the project. Since it is the same mission, there should be no issue to use the funds in neighbouring communities.

If the few early adopters do manage to convince others of the benefits of this project, once the cisterns are constructed, we could do a phase II in Lomas at a later date, with alternative funding.

We started the meeting at 5.40 as no more people were showing up.

We carried some rocks over to allow seating in a circle, as opposed to some seating & some standing, as in previous meetings.

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

Item 2. Random discussion
Since there were so few we did not appoint co-ordinator or record taker, Angelika had the records from previous meetings & these were updated with attendance at the end of the meeting.

One of the older women, who has been regularly attending but does not want a cistern (she is representing her son in law who “probably” wants a cistern), said that she & her son Emilio had been to visit Los Torres in June 2009 & so knows about the cisterns & likes the idea, she is also keen to be involved in organisation, although is very old, she is a regular attendee of the meetings.

Benigno described (again) the construction process, the need to work in groups, & that most of the work is able to be done by women, but there is a need for at least 2 abaniles (proficient builders/concrete workers). In the other communities husbands & sons have been there for this.

The final process of plastering with concrete is more specialist.

They raised the possibility of paying an abanile to assist them – since there are none in the group attending.

Record of Event pg 2 of 5

Enrique & Angelika had discussed that the situation in Lomas is different from the Rancho communities, here there are no real roots or sense of community, & they need to create that, that is the challenge.

They discussed some more the possibility of paying for assistance, & would have to work out how many hours was needed, & who could afford to contribute or not, & how they would all co-operate in some way, either by food or work, or money, or all three.

One woman at the meeting said she had a cistern already but was there to get a dry toilet!

There was discussion rethe small turnout yet again, & apology from 1 person that could not make it even though they knew it was last chance.

They have a new list with 16 people on it, supposedly definite but they are not here today so can not really say they are definite.

The man attending said he has no space to build a cistern but was here to help. He also said if he has more proof that it works he might consider taking out some of his nopal plants to build a cistern in that space. He hadn’t been to Enrique’s place to see a cistern (had only seen one in the booklet I take to each meeting to pass around), Enrique extended the invite again to all, they are welcome to visit his property any time to see the cistern in reality.

Some of the people there were still doubtful about the cistern, & not sure if they had space.

Item 3 firm list of participants
Since we had said at the 2 previous meetings they were the last chance to get on the list, we decided we needed to stick to our word this time, & make this the last chance.
We got to the nitty gritty & took down the names of those at the meeting that were definite. They were still reluctant to commit but when pressed these are the names we have

1. Antonia Lopez Pina
2. Ansencion Rosales Ortiz
3. Teresa Bustamente Arana
4. Maria de la Luz Espinosa Alvarez
5. Angelika Ramirez Huerta (teacher)
6. Fidel Pina (not attending, but the son in law of the old woman, she thinks he wants one) ???
7. Juan Manuel Lopez Rodriguez (this man turned up just 10 mins before the meeting was ending, & added his name after looking at the booklet – this was his first time to a meeting) ???
8. Cristina Martinez Aguilar (has attended at least 4 meetings, but is still doubtful, she said she needs to check with her husband) ???
9. Jesus Martinez Aguilar (father of Cristina, he has doubts, not sure if he wants to remove his nopal/cactus to make space for a cistern)???
10. Ignacio ??? (Nacho is the english speaking guy at earlier meetings, he has not attended any meetings since June, Angelika looked embarrassed & said she had not informed him of the meetings, but thinks he is interested)???




Record of Event pg 3of 5

Item 4 decide 1st pilot build site
Benigno explained they needed to decide a site for construction of the 1st cistern. This construction would take place over 4 days (probably 5 since it is such a small group & not enough hands to finish in 4), & would be their training, & from there they would be expected to build their own family cisterns by groups.
There was discussion re the site, & we pointed out the church was not an option since it does not have a roof & all had a laugh about that!

Enrique suggested it could be at the school all their kids attend, the school is in a neighbouring community, there was no agreement on this, since they thought it would be hard to get others to help & better to help a family in Lomas. Perhaps the biggest family.

It was decided that Angelika’s should be the first, since she has been working hard to organize this & also her property is most central. We agreed to go there after the meeting to decide on the location & measure up for piping.

Item 5 all must attend the demo build
We reiterated all must attend the demo build as this is where the experts will learn.
These experts can then potentially be paid in other communities, but first must prove themselves in their own community.
All must help & attend the demonstration build, if they are physically unable to help they can at least learn the process & provide food & refreshments as their contribution.

Item 6 Dates for demo build ?
Benigno explained it is normally 4 days consecutively, since cement needs to dry in between stages.

Since the group is so small, they will more likely need at least 5 days.
Anscencion suggested Wed, Th, Fr, Sat,Sun .

What hours? Benigno said 9-5, at this there was some surprise at such long days.
He explained it was necessary to complete the tasks & get ready for the next day.

Dates were set – Wed 24th Feb, Th 25th feb, Fri 26th Feb, Sat 27th Feb & Sun 28th Feb.

Enrique called Juan at Los Torres to confirm these dates (& also the length of pipes needed for Angelika’s cistern after we visited her location – see below).

Action: Enrique will need to organize the delivery & payment of the materials (from Materiales Rivera) to the location. Juan knows what to order. Enrique to co-ordinate, & materials must be there (& securely/dryly) stored before the 24th Feb.

Item 7 Tools required
Benigno listed the tools required & asked who could bring any.
No one had any tools, not even a wheelbarrow, or shovel.
Benigno asked if we could buy them as part of the project, we explained that in other communities, they had borrowed them from neighbours, or had them themselves, we do not have a budget or facilities to store & look after tools for each of the projects.

We suggested they ask their husbands, neighbours, friends, family & borrow what they need.

Angelika took a list of what was needed.

Record of Event pg 4 of 5


Item 8 visits to each house
The Los Torres crew will need to visit each of the houses to determine the best place for each of the cisterns. The date for this day will be set during the demonstration build.

Action: Enrique, co-ordinate the date for the site visits for Los Torres. All the visits on one day.

The meeting concluded in the dark at 6.30, Benigno, Enrique, Angelika & I then went to Angelika’s location. (first via the tienda where she offered us something to drink).

Item 9 Location of the pilot/demo build
We met at Angelika’s family tienda & then went across the road to her “house”. This space is very centrally located.

Her husband is currently in the USA. She is living with her parents in the tienda across the road. At the cistern site is a metal workshop with a makeshift roof, & 2 rooms, one being used as the workshop storage, the other for her Grandmother to sleep in.

At the back of the property, there are foundations dug, with mounds of gravel & sand, as work is “in progress”, there is a makeshift toilet structure, & at the back there is more excavation, a tree, & a huge square pit dug, measuring approx 3 mtrs by 3 mtrs by 1.5 mtrs. We asked what this was for, & she said they were planning to build a cistern at some stage.

Construction in this situation is only completed when enough money is saved up from her husband’s efforts working in USA. She is a teacher so her salary is probably feeding the family of 4 kids & her, & relatives she is living with.

We asked where the cistern could go, the most ideal place could not be used as the are planning to build a room there one day, instead another spot was decided, in the middle of the excavation space.

It will need to be leveled out & lots of gravel etc removed before the demo build can begin.

There is no room to roll out the wire netting to begin the process but the road in front of the “lot” is wide enough to allow cars & work on the mesh.

I was doubtful of this location & asked lots of questions, I thought the better option would be where a family is currently living, & not where they might one day (with enough money) be living. They are living in the tienda, & there is no backyard space, the building takes up the whole lot.

I asked how they intend to use the water in the meantime, she said they would collect it from the cistern & carry it across the road to where they are currently living to use.

Enrique & I agreed this was not the ideal situation but possibly needed to compromise on this location as it is central, & had been decided upon. Angelika is a hard working mother of 4 & it would be very difficult to tell her she can’t have a cistern after all this planning & expectation.




Record of Event pg 5 of 5

Conclusion:
All projects are different
As we know, all projects & communities are different & have their own sets of challenges. Assumptions made in some communities can not be made in others. For example we never thought for a minute people would sign up if they didn’t have a) a house with a roof, or b)space to put a cistern, we now know we need to specify this in advance!
This community has the same issues (& more) as the rural communities we are working with, & would ultimately benefit as much or more from our assistance & guidance with organization. The question is - do we have the resources, ie time, money & energy to engage to this extent? Or is it better spent where we can get more leverage, momentum & flow?

Comparison water projects, we have experience now…
The other Water Project sites we are working with (at this point) appear to be prime candidates for not just Projects, but also Process, ie developing into much more than just the completion of individual water cisterns project, they are creating community, organization, mobilization, & connection/unity/bridges between communities.

In Los Torres & Montecillo de Nieto for example, we have been able to devote time during the scheduled assemblies to teach those gathered, about the environment, the watershed, health issues, benefits of self determination/organization & much more, at the same time as organize & plan for the specific project, here in Lomas it is purely project planning (albeit on a much smaller scale).

Budgetary considerations
The other issue is the financial budget, for example we have now had 3 visits from Benigno at a cost of $550 pesos each, he is well worth this money & we need his expertise, even to have gotten this far. The budget includes an assumption that we will be achieving certain things with each visit, & in this case it took visits to achieve what we expected to achieve (based on previous experience) in his first visit. Likewise, we may have to extend to 5 days, for the demo build (budget 4 days) & Benigno will need to attend 2 of those days, hence 2 more unbudgeted visits.

We believe we have achieved a cheaper materials price (see action below) so will likely still be within overall budget, but we need to factor the extra costs involved with the extra challenge of this community.

Action Enrique & Laura
We are currently in negotiation re prices of materials at Materiales Rivera.
There are many items that still need to be discounted to match even the single purchase of materials at Hierro Comercial in Dolores Hidalgo (previous supplier). Ie we are buying in bulk for the 3 projects so the prices should be significantly less than the cost of materials for just 1 cistern at Hierro Comercial.

We have had prelim discussions with the owner of Materiales Rivera, the prices need to be confirmed in agreement before we begin the project deliveries.

Next event:
Demonstration/pilot build 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, February at Angelika’s house (across from the tienda)
9-5pm each day, for demonstration build of the cisterns.
(2 people from Los Torres will attend as tech instructors, & Benigno will come on Wednesday & Saturday).
(Event finished 7pm)