Update re Global Grant 25437 Calgary Water Cistern Project (with Direct grant combined)

4 Communities led the first phase – La Tinaja, 3 Esquinas, Cruz del Palmar & Guerrero. Following is the update of these communities:-

La Tinaja 22 (21 family + 1 pilot) cisterns, pilot began on 23^rd Jan. Cisterns are almost all completed & they will announce their inauguration on the 29^th March.

3 Esquinas 24 (23 family + 1 pilot) cisterns, pilot began on 30^th Jan. Cisterns are completed, they are yet to announce their inauguration date.

Cruz del Palmar 41 (39 family + 2 pilots) cisterns, pilot began on 30^th Jan. Cisterns are completed, Inauguration to be on 29^th March.

Guerrero 20 (19 family + 1 pilot) cisterns. pilot began on 6^th Feb. Interruptions on 7^th March re land dispute, but almost completed as at 17.3.12.

The next phase includes communities of Corralejo, Vivienda de Arriba & Tierra Blanca.

Corralejo 15 (13 family + 1 pilot+ 1 community proj) cisterns, they began their pilot on 12^th March. This was a difficult pilot as most of the men are absent from this community in the USA, Filiberto & Saul (our tech assistants) admitted to having to work extremely hard with the women in this community, since there were no men to help out.

Vivienda de Arriba(10) & Tierra Blanca(9) are beginning work on their cisterns on the weekend of 17^th March. They will proceed without a pilot training session, as this is phase II in each of these communities & the previous cistern recipients have volunteered to work with these participants.

Once funds are received from Port Lavaca & converted to Pesos, we will have a firm number of the next cistern/materials to be available & will begin on this final phase.

Report of 2nd recorded visit to Corralejo 24.1.12

Report of 2nd recorded visit to Corralejo

Where: Corralejo, under big tree in the centre of the community

When: 24^th Jan 2012

Who: Chela(Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 12 women (no men) 3 kids, + 2 dogs

Purpose: To plan the water cistern project in this community.

History – approx. 50 families in Corralejo, majority of the men are in the USA working, the age of the community is uncertain, approx. 2 generations.

Pre-meeting discussion: I had mentioned the case of a 12yr old boy in the community of Don Francisco, who is unable to walk & has never been to school – to Chela on the way to Corralejo. She in turn mentioned it to the women gathered & 2 of the women had heard of this case where the child is left to his own devices sitting in his own pee etc during the day. They agreed it was sad that he was not a priority for his family & contrasted it with another story of another young man unable to walk, but whose mother has carried him on her back every day to & from school, this young man is now in Secondaria.

Chela opened discussion by asking about finances & security v too many children, ie family size. She explained that in most of the “developed” countries people choose to have 2 or 3 children, but in Mexico people keep having kids. She asked why they thought this was –

Answers were

• Lack of care to prevent pregnancy
• This generation mostly have 2 kids (replied one young woman)
• Grandmothers in the group agreed they have 5 or 6

We moved into general discussion comments were:

• Some husbands are here & some in the USA,
• Although there is a well, there is still a scarcity of water as often no electricity for the pump for example they have had no electricity for 8 days now & hence no water for 8 days.
• There has been 3 visits to this community (one which I did not attend & report)
• Corralejo was at the 1^st big regional council meeting in Capaderillo in Oct 2010.
• They joined the consejo in Nov (?)
• They have been working with the consejo to obtain dry toilets

Chela asked them to explain why they were here today –

“to learn about water cisterns & back yard production”

There are a total of 12 people wanting to participate in the water cistern project.

The groups were defined – 2 groups of 6.

There was discussion about the pilot & where it would be held. They decided they would like 2 pilots, one in the kinder & one in the Primary school.

I explained there was only money in the budget for training on one pilot, they discussed this & said they would contribute to payment of another tech assistant for the 2^nd pilot.

They could pay $250 per day x 4 days = $1000 /12 families or the 24 families at the primary for example would be $52 pesos per family.

I raised the point that 6 people is really insufficient for a pilot, eg in Vivienda de Arriba they struggled because they had only 16 people, & we had said from that point, that 20 would be minimum size.

The women argued they are young & fit & determined & can do it.

I did not continue to argue (but parked it) this as it was unproductive & my Spanish is not elegant enough!

Note: Holly was not at the meeting but agrees, 6 is too few for a pilot, we are moving to suggest they do one pilot, & then as a community build the 2^nd cistern at either the kinder or primary.

Date for the pilot(s) will be after 1^st March – once we receive delivery of the special order of materials.

We advised at least 1 abanile is required for each group, ideally more, the women said it was difficult to confirm this far out as they don’t know if their husbands will be working/have jobs at this time.

Contact point will be Marlene (Community Co-ordinator) 415 107 0341 (with backup from Hilda & Reina)

Next meeting will be determined after delivery of materials, to firm up responsibilities & determine tools etc.

Dry toilets – Leonida spoke about the dry toilet situation as she has been attending the meetings, the next meeting on this subject will be Friday 3^rd Feb at 10am (Consejo meeting).

Health & Back yard production workshops: There are 13 currently on the list to attend these workshops.

The women had bought makings of tacos & meal for us, Chela explained we had just eaten, so a takeaway plate was prepared, beans, rice, casserole & tortillas! & We headed off up the stony mountainous track to beat the dark!

Report of 1st recorded visit to Corralejo

Where: Corralejo, under big tree in the centre of the community
When: Wed 6th April 2011 11.30
Who: Chela, Holly, Saul (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 33 adults, 10 kids, + 2 puppies & 4 dogs

Purpose: To discuss the issues re sharing of the well the Corralejo community has, which Villa de Guadalupe & Cinco Senores would like to share.

Pre meeting discussion – approx. 50 families in Corralejo, majority of the men are in the USA working, the age of the community is uncertain, approx. 2 generations.

Introductions & points for discussion/today’s agenda
Cinco Senores – 7 people attending,
San Lorenzo – 2 people attending
Corralejo – 15 people attending incl. Juan Bocanegra – delegado
Villa de Guadalupe – 9 people attending

We introduced ourselves, Chela gave a little history of the collaboration of Cedesa & Rotary on the water projects, including the formation of the Consejo (citizen’s council).

Chela asked for proposals for co-ordinator & record taker, a couple of people pointed to eachother, & we all laughed.

Leonila was elected as secretary (because she can write fastest), & Hilda the Corralejo rep. of the Consejo was elected as co-ordinator for today’s meeting.

Hilda asked (on instruction) what is the purpose of today’s meeting?
- To discuss water
- We’re to talk about the possibility of Corralejo sharing their water with us.
- Humberto said”because Chela told us to & Laura gave us a ride” he’s the young man that has begun working with Cedesa, potentially as a promoter.
- “there’s only a few people from Corralejo community who have come to this meeting, & we cant make the decision for the community, there is a water committee but they didn’t want to come”
- Chela”we’re here to see if we can open a dialogue between the Corralejo & the communities that would like to share the well, what is your opinion & what can you suggest? – Sapasma can intervene but we would like to avoid conflict & just discuss this.”
- Chela “we would also like to talk about the technical aspects, like how deep the well is & the quality of the water”
- “we don’t know that, the water committee does”
- Chela asked if they were invited, & apparently they were but have declined to attend.
- We need to present our findings to the next Regional meeting with the presidencia, as this was one of the topics raised to resolve.
- “we never had water, we did a solicitude & got animated, & worked hard, it took a long time, & the other communities got discouraged & gave up, we stayed the distance”
- Corralejo have had this well for 12 years.
- There was much discussion back n forth about VdG’s involvement or not, & awareness of the meetings, & costs. VdG have apparently made several large payments but according to Corralejo none of the money has reached them, & they believe they are entitled to at least some reimbursement for the large cost they paid to have the well installed, & piped.
- Money has been paid to the presidencia & the large tank & some piping was installed at VdG but there was disagreement between the land owner & the pipes going on their land down to Corralejo from VdG… govt wanted much wider space than was necessary.
- Various amounts were quoted including an amount to build a clandestine well as they were desperate.
- A new pump would be needed as VdG is a long way up hill from Corralejo, & Corralejo currently pay a fee each month for the electricity.
- Chela suggested it is a good idea for the communities to come together to make an agreement & then inform the authorities what they have agreed.
- Leonila said there is very little chance of pulling together a meeting in Corralejo with the water committee, they are not interested, & they fight amongst themselves.
- Both communities asked for our presence at their assemblies, they said it would keep things calmer & more productive, as these assemblies are usually pretty contentious.

Cinco Senores described their water situation, they only have water from the river (during summer very shallow & slimy) they can not dig wells because too much hard rock.

Juan Gonzalez also does not have water.

It seems to make sense for Cinco Senores to join with Juan Gonzalez & ask for a well.

Option seems better for VdG to have their own well, & share with San Lorenzo, than to try to resolve the current issue & to have to pump the water such a long way & all up a steep hill.

Maybe there is a concession that could be bought for VdG & legalise the clandestine well?

It was suggested that we (as a team) go to visit the water committee here in Corralejo & ask if they will attend an assembly on the topic of the well.

General discussion – Saul described a little about the sanitarios secos workshop, they met & wrote up the solicitud, then Holly worked for hours to get it sorted to present to the presidencia. Solicitudes are not just a list of names but a cover letter & also signatures of the petitioners.

Enrique (from Cinco Senores) asked about a solicitude for rubbish collection, Chela & Holly suggested recycling & compost would be a better option.

The meeting finished at 1.40pm

We were treated to a meal of rice, nopal, soy & avocado, beans & tortillas with delicious aguas of Strawberry & Jamaica.

Following lunch the team & some of the Corralejo community walked to the houses of some of the water committee reps. One member came to a mini meeting at which we briefly described what we were trying to achieve, ie a meeting with the committee & the Corralejo community to decide what they were prepared to offer with regards sharing the well & what they expected in return, ie what conditions they wanted to impose.

This meeting lasted approx. 25mins. Margarita will see what they can arrange (15th April not possible)