Where: Tierra Blanca – In front of old Church,
When: 01.09.10
Who: Saul, Holly (Cedesa) (Jesus was out of town), Laura (Rotary), 38 adults incl. 2 men, 11kids, 9 dogs & 3 sheep!
Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.
Holly & Saul asked if the interview (stats) team were all there, they weren’t but arrived later.
Holly explained we don’t have much time for today’s meeting as we have commitments back in town & everyone agreed to a short meeting.
We also explained we had been very busy this month & had not had a chance to catch up with Jesus before he left for holiday so we need them to update us on progress.
Holly asked what the meeting was interested in having on the agenda today
Cisterns/distillers
Health – follow up, blood tests, # of volunteers for blood clinic
Census/Interviews
The bridge
Dry toilets
Cisterns
Saul described the cistern process briefly, Marisol had discussed water options with the Interviewees & they have been interested in having distillers in the lower part (they have water, but it has high fluoride level) & upper part would need cisterns as they have no water.
Holly explained there is currently no available funding but that we are working on a large combined community project to potentially cover 100-150 cisterns for all the communities who have demonstrated an interest in participating.
Reina (one of the interview team) had encountered 1 family who did not want to participate in the census, turns out this was a family who had had a recent death (so was understandable).
Marisol had not had any refusals, she stated “if we exlude any people who have deaths then the census will be incomplete”.
It was suggested that we need to ask friends of these families to sensitively do the census, to ensure the majority of the community understands what we are trying to achieve.
A father of a man who had recently died described the symptoms his son had had before he died, lung tumour, couldn’t eat, he agreed to do the census after the meeting.
We need to spend some time at the beginning of the census explaining the reason for it, not just spring into the questions. Perhaps Marisol had been doing this & Reina had not.
It was suggested that a list be kept of the people declining the census, & at the next assembly a mini commission would be assigned to visit these families.
They are also out of copies of the census
Action: Saul will bring additional copies to distribute to the Interview team at 3pm Friday (to Marisol/Vero)
We asked Marisol how she went with the interviews “all went well, no probs with names, dates etc, she has completed approx. 14.
Saul “if there are families that don’t know what’s going on, explain to them that this project is to benefit the whole community because it is a community process”
Holly asked the meeting to explain what this was all about, one young woman replied “it is to gather information to determine the cause of the major health issues in this community”
Holly asked who can help – “other investigators, doctors, govt assistance” these are all people we can go to once we have the information to present & ask for their help. Until we have the statistical info we can’t go to higher authorities, hence this part of the process is essential.
Holly said it would be good if there was a map of the whole area.
Action: Maria de la Cruz Ramirez has one & will bring a copy to the next assembly
Holly suggested we change our meeting place to the Community casa (salon), there are no chairs, so everyone will need to bring their own (or sit on the floor!).
Blood tests
At the last assembly Estela 415 194 6064 committed to collecting a list of numbers of people who were prepared to do a volunteer blood test, to test for antigens re prelim cancer diagnosis.
She has a list of 67 women & 41 men.
We need to arrange the best day for the mobile clinic to come, it was suggested that Saturday would be ideal.
Action: Jesus/(the team) to arrange clinic to visit the community – ideally on a Saturday - & advise the community in advance.
Registry of births & deaths
There is a registry office for births & deaths in Cruz del Palmar. It is a regional office servicing 37 communities. Holly mentioned this office & pointed it out as a good way for the people in this community to determine the number of deaths in this community in the last x years.
A commission was proposed to go with Saul to Cruz del Palmar & write a report.
We called for volunteers.
No one put up their hands, we had to really push the point “if you can’t help Saul we can’t get the info” “do you want to help resolve this?” again no response, oddly!
Holly really pushed, & eventually Juana Granados Guerrero, Hilda & Vero volunteered. They will need to get the info from 5-10 yrs.
Action: Saul will go 1st to see what is involved, & then arrange (by phone) for the others to meet him there.
The other items on the list will have to be carried forward, we ran out of time…
Next meeting (1st Wednesday of the mth) 6.10.10 3pm – Salon Comunitario (byo chairs)
(report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)
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