Saturday, June 9, 2012

Record of Event 46th Event of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Los Torres


Where: Los Torres Primary School
When:  6.6.12 12midday to 4.40pm
Who:  Saul,Chela,Holly,Abel (Cedesa), Gary, Lee, David, Enrique, Lisette, Don, Laura (+ Steve & Visitor Carly from New Zealand) (Rotary), approx. 500 adults plus 100+ kids from 22 communities

Warning – long report – last inauguration is the excuse!
Purpose: I was led to believe the purpose of the day was inauguration of 14 cisterns of the final phase in Los Torres, full circle from the first visit in late 2008 & first project early 2009.

We Rotarians arrived in convoy to Los Torres approx. at midday.
Many people were already gathered, lots of pick ups parked trying to snatch any little shade from small mesquite trees. A huge tarpaulin was strung over a rows of small school chairs, most already occupied, tables were placed to receive the large enamel pots & buckets of tortilla’s wrapped in embroidered cloths to stay warm!

Balloons alternating pink & white were strung over the entrance, a large group of small girls rushed me & each one giving me a hug.

There were posters of photos of all the famiies in Los Torres proudly standing in front of their cisterns, & groups of small children gathered pointing out their families, or laughing at their photos.
We only began the tradition of each family photographing their cisterns in one of the later projects, but Los Torres had decided to go back & photograph each of their families – 84 – lots of posters!!

Concha & Chuy the 2 women who have been instrumental in organisation in this community from  before we even arrived with our projects, gave me welcoming hugs & then spun off to busy-ness readying things, Holly & huddles of other women dotted around from many other communities.

We mingled, chatted, & shook hands with more than 100 people, before miming shaking hands with the rest – realising we’d be there all day if we continued. This was shaping up to be a massive final inauguration.

Pages of info on each community were strung in plastic sleeves on a rope high up across the entrance. Men were lingering in any shady spots they could find replete in their best western shirts, embroidered belts & cowboy hats, I greeted those I recognised, with a general nod of acknowledgement to the others. Other men were carrying huge pots of barbacoa (lamb/sheep) cooked in an underground oven, with steaming large banana leaves – hmm looking forward to that!

The teachers had the children ready & primed with sound equipment in place to begin, a long table decorated with beautifully embroidered cloths & special florist bouquet arrangements of carnations & greenery – I fleetingly thought, how had they gotten those all the way out here in the desert (special trip?)…

More hello kisses & hugs from all the faces I recognised from the many events, assemblies, project days, & regional meetings that we had now amassed between us. Familiar eyes, aprons, special earrings for special events, everyone in their finest.

Gary laughed & asked me if I was running for president? I dismissed him with a nervous laugh & wondered what the heck he was talking about. He asked if I’d seen the electoral poster with my name on it, again I kind of laughed & moved onto other hellos…

I looked up & saw a photo of me from the Tierra Blanca project, Saul & I had tried to take a photo of a particularly old woman, in her fine apron & ready for work with a big hat on. She had refused to smile, so we made it our business to steal one from her. We had cajoled, explained & even pleaded, all the time being met with a staunch refusal… I snuck round beside her & wrapped my arm around her shoulder, then I tickled her ribs, & she couldn’t help it, a smile broke across here face & Saul just managed to catch the last of it…& one of me throwing my head back in a fit of laughter… Anyway, this apparently was my election poster, along with slogan “Laura si cumpli” (loosely translates to – she keeps her word).  There was a resounding clunk & I realised – oh my god, they are honouring me here today!!

A wave of panic came over me – how can I get out of this? rushed into my head… This should not be happening, we should be honouring the team & the communities, this is wrong… I’m sure I flushed an instant magenta! Finally (30 seconds later) I thought, oh well, hopefully it will be short & sweet & this has involved massive organisation & co-ordination, I have to respect their efforts…

Well, so it began, we were asked to take our place at the big table, & the presentations started.
Gifts were presented to me from many communities, a huge glass jug & glasses, a picture of a lush garden, a tin lizard & miniature wheelbarrow, a box of hand painted mugs! Hugs & tributes, I’d already begun crying, this was going to be long!

There were dances by adults, dances by kids, speeches of gratitude, retelling the stories, long crushing hugs, Concha led the proceedings announcing each of the next items, each of the communities were asked to do the chant…bim bom va – each community was called out in turn, stood up where they were & chanted the bim bom va chant ending with “laura, laura Ra Ra Ra”, this lasted an excrutiating lifetime, while every community yelled their loudest! There were even people from Palencia & 3 Esquinas in the municipality of La Paz 2 hours away!

Then more speeches, including one composed by Ivar & read in his absence in English by Gary, & in Spanish by Lee, with David standing beside us holding up a photocopied lifesized mask of Ivar’s face over his own (on a paddle stick) – thank god for that, everytime more tears came bubbling, I looked at Ivar’s smiling 2D face on David’s lanky frame & couldn’t help but laugh. I was presented with a certificate, a pen to continue writing & beautiful silver cuff from Ivar & Paty (exquisite scandanavian style!)

This continued for what must have been an eternity for the kids standing in full uniform & full sun, as more speeches, (tears fully streaming as Chela recounted our team exploits & gave thanks for our collaboration) songs & dances were performed, & eventually this all concluded, after some hilarious solo songs by a couple of older women, & the banquet began.

Plates of steaming pozole, rice, chicken mole, barbacoa, tortillas (still warm!), large jugs of juice water, until we couldn’t eat any more…

People ate, Chela called a meeting in a different part of the school (she can’t help herself, never miss a chance to organise!). We found a knife (the barbacoa one hastily cleaned & pressed into service to) cut the 2 huge cakes bought by Rotary, into a million pieces to make sure all that line up got some… David dished out serviettes & whispered, cut them smaller Laura, there’s a lot of people! The kids (&
some adults) lined for ½ hr waiting patiently for their little piece of cake, it took me a while to realise that the usual “can I have a bigger piece?” which would have been the norm in our culture didn’t happen, each recipient was happy with whatever they received, not one asking for a bigger piece, even if some were only crumbs – it struck me additional confirmation, these humble people have no expectations, & are just so grateful to receive anything.

Rotary colleagues peeled away, many people from the communities piled back onto the pickups, with empty containers & full tummies, huge hugs & calls of “don’t forget us, & remember you’re always welcome in our community” as they drove away in clouds of dust… Holly &  I walked to find the cistern whose ribbon we were to cut.  Eventually we all gathered (the families in Los Torres involved in this final phase, bringing the number of cisterns in Los Torres to approx. 96% of the number of families! We cut the ribbon, hugged, cried, laughed. I lingered a little longer to hear the extreme gratitude & pride of the woman who’s cistern this was. Her husband spoke very good English with a very strong accent – he had, it turned out – been in Florida for 22 years!

I asked the woman if she had children, she said only 2, she would have had more but her husband left , she spoke with sadness retelling how he had only returned 8 mths ago & had left when her daughters were 3 & 5, the oldest was standing there today a mother herself! The woman had tears in her eyes, & a stoic strength about her. We walked to her gate, through her proud garden, geranium cuttings & plants in cans,  she retold – for my ears only – how she had raised those children solo, here in this desert with no money & support for 22 yrs – she had not been part of the previous phases as she didn’t have the requisite time to commit to the participation, & she was sooo relieved & grateful to finally have a cistern, despite the absence of her husband… We hugged & I felt an overwhelming rush of her pain & strength with massive sadness, having been deserted & yet a sense of I survived – but did it have to be that hard…

What a day! What a project!! – this has been an amazing journey for all involved, the communities, the Rotarians here & away, the team!! We have all grown beyond description & know so much more than that first hot dusty day we came driving into Los Torres in 2008 – who would have guessed!!!

LOVE
LAURA

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