COCIRA MEETING
June 4, 2015 – Presa Allende
COCIRA (Consejo Ciudadano Rural de Agua - the regional water council for San Miguel de Allende), met
today in the community building at Presa Allende. There were approximately 60
of us plus a “big-ole-bunch” of kids to start the meeting to at 10 am. By the
time we finished at 3:30 pm, after a nice lunch hosted by Presa Allende, that
group had grown to about 75 and many more kids. Meetings always seem to grow to
the max just before we break for lunch.
Communities in attendance were: Alonso Yañez,
Lindero, La Ciénega, Juan Gonzalez, Montecillo de Nieto, Boca de Canadá,
Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca, Tierra Blanca, La Banda, Vivienda Abajo, San
Lorenzo, Presa Allende, and Correlejos. Also in
attendance was Lee Carter from Rotary San Miguel and Chela, Saul, Mayra, Mago
and Carolina from CEDESA.
The order of the day was set to discuss:
1.
Water Issues in General
2.
Closing Celebrations for
Vivienda, Alonso Yanez and Lindero
3.
Communities
in waiting: Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca (14), Nombre de Dios (6), Boca de Canada
(more than 35), and San Lorenzo (2).
4.
Anniversary Celebration at
CEDESA on June 19 and 20 to celebrate 50 years of service to the communities!
5.
Review a video about the Sierra
Norte de Puebla about community actions taken by the indigenous people of that
region to stop strip mining, fracking and the construction of hydro-electric
dams.
6.
Present the new Consejo of COCIRA (governing
board)
7.
Discuss health issues and
CEDESA programs to provide training in interested communities.
The future work schedule is heavy with a number of meetings and
events planned:
1.
June 13, 11 am, Lee to deliver
cistern and community photos for the 50th Anniversary amparo to
Mayra at Presa Allende Church.
2.
June 16, COCIRA counsel and Lee
to go to Alonso Yanez and Lindero to do a final inspection and evaluation of
that mini-project. Meet at the highway entrance to Alonso Yanez at 10 am.
3.
June 19 and 20. Attend 50th
Anniversary Celebration at CEDESA
4.
June 26, 10:30 am, Lee and
Chela to visit San Lorenzo to do a profile of the two families asking for
cistern resources in that community
5.
June 26, 12 noon, Closing
Ceremony for Vivienda at the house of Louisa.
6.
July 16, 10 am, Meeting of the
Counsel of COCIRA at the Salon de Lecturas en Cienega Juan Ruiz
7.
July 23, 12 noon, Closing
Ceremony for Alonso Yanez and Lindero at the Casa de Lecturas.
8.
July 28, 10 am, Organizational
meeting for the community of Boca de Canada. Chela, Lee, Mayra, and Carolina to
attend.
So much for having a leisurely summer before beginning new projects
in the fall! It was decided that we will use the rest of the cistern
construction funds for the San Miguel de Allende community over the summer. The plan is to construct 14 in Ex-Hacienda
de Pena Blanca, 2 in San Lorenzo and 6 in Nombre de Dios.
The COCIRA counsel proposed to take the responsibility of visiting
every community after a Project is completed and before the final celebration
to do a final inspection, evaluation and monitoring of the Project. This could
be an excellent way for us to improve each project while building a complete
database with all of the cisterns constructed by CEDESA and Rotary since 2008.
At the end of the summer we will have completed a total of 125 cisterns from
the current global grant bringing the grand total to about 750 in 29 different
San Miguel communities. There will be more discussion with the COCIRA council
on how best to return to all previous communities so that we will have a
complete picture of all of the work done since the water harvesting project
began in 2009 at Los Torres. Mayra told me that she and Benigno (CEDESA)
visited many communities already last summer. She and I will review the
information she already has and make a plan how to accomplish this task. This is likely more appropriate than trying to use college students doing their
social service to evaluate the cistern projects.
Lee reported that Rotary San Miguel Midday has already begun seeking
resources for the winter of 2015 and the year 2016 in all communities lying
within the Cuenca de Independencia. This will include San Felipe, Dolores Hidalgo, San Diego Union, San Luis de
la Paz and San Miguel de Allende. We will begin
organizing the community of Boca de Canada over the summer so that they will be
ready by the fall when grant funds become available.
Saul Juarez of CEDESA announced at the end of the meeting that he
will stop working as a promotor for CEDESA at the end of June to pursue
personal goals and projects. Everyone is sorry to see Saul retire as a promotor,
but he will still be involved as a citizen and member of COCIRA. From the
standpoint of Rotary, we will miss Saul very much and we wish him the best in
the future. Saul has been the backbone of our work in San Miguel since 2010 and
has contributed significantly to the success of our many projects. There are
other CEDESA promotors that can do the work of organizing and coordinating
communities but we will need to train a new technical promotor to oversee
construction. Until that is done Benigno who generally works in the northern
part of CEDESA’s territory will be available to us.
Lee Carter
Rotary San Miguel Midday
June 4, 2015
