Thursday, February 9, 2012

Report of 5th visit to Guerrero

Mixing the nopal with Cal to create a natural Sealant
to paint onto the cistern & roof.
Working on the inside & out...

Where: Guerrero Primary school – (past Capaderillo, before La Aurora & Don Juan)

When: 9 Feb 2012 10am-10.45am

Who Laura (Rotary), (Guest Suzanne), Saul (Cedesa) 22 adults at least ½ men, + 3 kids

Purpose: To visit on the 4th day of the Pilot/training session in this community.

There had been unseasonal rain this last week & so the access road was particularly muddy, & this has impacted the work pace of the project as well, ie unable to mix & form concrete in the rain. Ultimately this caused the pilot to be extended an additional day of training.

When we arrived the cistern was in place, cement was being applied inside & out to the standing cistern. The top/cone was yet to be attached & cemented.

The cistern was positioned behind a brand new building being constructed by the architect/builders working for the Education department, Saul informed me the women in charge of the project had said the tubing was not to be connected to the roof of this new building until they had had the inauguration of this building at the end of the month. We agreed this was pretty ridiculous as we would miss out on the opportunity to collect at least some rain from this unseasonal rainfall we are having. Saul was going to attempt to meet with her & change her mind.

We watched the women mixing the nopal with the lime to make the natural sealer product with which the roof & the outside of the cistern would be painted.

Everyone was in fine form & working hard.

We congratulated the team & bid them goodbye.

The wire & metal materials for the first phase of the cistern construction for each of the 19 families has been delivered & they have begun work on their cisterns after the training session each day.

The cement is due to be delivered a little later as we don’t want to risk issues with the rain.