Juan Gonzalez - Inauguration January 24, 2015

Alejandro Guerra, David Hartman and I traveled to the wonderful community of Juan Gonzalez today to celebrate the completion of another successful water harvesting project. Sixteen cisterns were constructed by three workgroups and 4 water harvesting systems were installed using pre-fabricated plastic cisterns at homes where the owners did not have enough roof to collect water for a 12,000 liter cistern.

This is the second phase of water harvesting in Juan Gonzalez. About one-half of the community’s families now have safe potable water. This is one of the most organized communities that I have observed. The process of working together to accomplish a better life for all is becoming a part of their daily vocabulary. In addition to two cistern projects through Rotary, they have also worked together on developing backyard gardens, dry toilets and testing and adopting water filtration disinfection through CATIS.

We began by having an assembly where many of the people spoke passionately about what has been accomplished and what could be in the future. Saul Jaurez of CEDESA spoke about the success and the hard work that these people put in through COCIRA to become eligible for project funding. After this we all took a walk through the community to see the new built cisterns and also we had a chance to note that the cisterns from the first project of a few years ago are being very well maintained. Many of the new cisterns have been “decorated” with interesting statues at the top of the cone … everything from cats to Cristo Rey and in between.

After a ribbon cutting ceremony at the pilot cistern, we all returned to the elementary school for a diverse and delicious meal cooked by the members of the community. I look forward to more work in this community in the future.

Submitted by: Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday

Juan Gonzalez Site Visit – Pilot Cistern

Today Tony DeCrosta and I traveled to the Juan Gonzalez to check on the progress of the pilot cistern and to arrange the delivery of the rest of the materials for that project which consists of 16 cisterns and 4 Rotoplast installations. 

We had been informed by the community that they wanted us to try to deliver the balance of materials, especially the chicken wire so they could begin the weaving of the wires to form the cylinders.

After a bit of confusion in getting to Juan Gonzalez we finally arrived. Juan Gonzalez is definitely “over the hill and through the woods”. It is about four miles off of the main highway down an unmarked road and across a seasonal river that had been unpassable only a few weeks ago. 

We arrived to find the pilot proceeding exceptionally well. The final plastering was being done on the inside of the cistern under the guidance of our teaching construction worker, Filiberto. They planned to put on the top cap later in the day. 

There were about 8 women and 2 men working and offering much advice to me as well. It is a lovely group of people with good humor and great pride in what they are accomplishing. Consistently it is the women who do the bulk of the work in these projects.

Upon arriving I determined that I had gotten confused over the total number of cisterns being built and had arranged the deliver for 14 more cisterns when, in fact, there are 15 more to be built. Fortunately I was able to reach Hierro Comercial to have them load the additional materials on the delivery truck. Hierro Comercial sent out the delivery truck late today.

Upon leaving as we were going down the four wheel access only road we "ran into" three woman carrying a very heavy cooler loaded with freshly made tamales. I stopped and offered them a ride and they said they were happy to be walking and they were taking the tamales down to the school to feed the kids. They eagerly offered us a few tamales which we more eagerly accepted. A beautiful and delicious finish to a beautiful day in the community of Juan Gonzalez.

This project includes the installation of four Rotoplast (prefabricated cisterns of 1,100 liters each) in Juan Gonzalez. This happens at times for older persons, generally living alone who cannot physically participate in the cistern construction but who have participated fully in the community’s organization for the project. 

Most times, they are also living in a house that has a roof too small to collect enough order over the rainy season to fill our standard 12,000 liter cistern. In Juan Gonzalez, three prefabricated cisterns have been included in the project for this reason. 

At Juan Gonzalez there is a fourth Rotoplast for a member of the community that will participate fully in the construction process but who plans to move houses in about one year. Thus, portability of the cistern is necessary and after much discussion by the project participants we decided this was the best alternative available to handle that situation. The Rotoplast and PVC materials cost $1,900 pesos vs $5,700 for a typical cistern.

Reported by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday.

Report of 1st visit to Juan Gonzalez

Record of Event

Report of 1st visit to Juan Gonzalez
Where: Juan Gonzalez, primary school
When: Wed 16th March 2011 12.15
Who: Chela, Holly (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 35 adults, uncountable number of kids, + 2 puppies.

Purpose: To begin planning of the Rotary Global Grant 25397 project in this community.
We had an initial breakfast meeting at the house of Audelia (one of the young leaders) on the way. Then arrived to Juan Gonzalez at approx. 12.15.

We have had many meetings which representatives of the Juan Gonzalez community have attended.
This is the first meeting we have held in Juan Gonzalez.

Items
Introductions were made & then agenda for the day was proposed:
• Presentation of communities,
• Purpose of the meeting
• Report of previous Consejo meetings
• Organisation of work
• Meeting of the Consejo in Vivienda de Arriba
There was some discussion about the history of this community, Augustin Gonzalez (another community) & Juan Gonzalez were apparently brothers.

A record of attendance was taken.
Cinco Senores will have 11 cisterns + 1 pilot
San Lorenzo has 4
Juan Gonzalez will have 21 + 1 pilot.

Chela asked what the purpose of the meeting was
Answers were 1. To make work groups for the project, & to inform about the meeting in SMA with Lucy/Sapasma & Desarollo.

Audelia asked what else we want to talk about?
“I would like carificaton on how we will work & what the process is?”

Audelia read out the form which describes the process a little, they had signed the forms but some had forgotten the content, she also described her experience in the training days she had voluntarily attended at the Vivienda Urbana pilot, “the wire weaving was fun & they gave us a lot to eat there!”

Chela reiterated that this project is not just to obtain safe drinking water, but in the process of working in groups on this project everyone learns to organise & the benefits of working in group/co-operatively & it strengthens the community resolve & ties.

“I’m interested because we will have clean water to drink”
“because it’s from the rain & not contaminated”
Chela asked – contaminated with what?
“bacteria & fluoride” Chela – what are the symptoms of fluoride damage, “yellow teeth, pain in the bones”

Laura & Holly noted that the adult’s teeth appear to be fine but the children’s teeth are showing fluoride damage, so this generation has been affected already.
Chela asked who had kids with damaged teeth & sadly the majority raised their hands.
One woman said her Dr had told her it was because kids were drinking too much coke. Chela explained a little more of the symptoms & affect of high levels of fluoride on internal organs, pain in the bones, the other bad food & drink are also aggravating the problem, without doubt the junk food is doing damage. The food is cheap & easy, but has very detrimental affect on the health of the family/kids.

Removing/killing bacteria contaminants is easy (www.sodis.ch) but removing minerals/chemicals is not.

Someone mentioned Chloro as a purification method, Chela explained that in very small doses it can help kill bacteria, but that sodis is the preferred method as it is not harmful. But neither methods remove chemical or mineral contaminants.

Chela also explained that with the cisterns the water during the dry season can only be used for drinking & cooking, it is sacred & needs to be conserved. During the rainy season, if the cistern is refilling daily, they it can be used for other things, but as soon as the rains stop you must revert to drinking & cooking use only.

Information re what happened at the Presidencia meeting with the Consejo (citizens council)
8 people who were at today’s meeting were present, & they were asked who wants to report.
Antonia – 1st we went to ask for an appt, then we were given an appt for 4 of us to meet with Lucy & Desarollo Social (social development), next we attended a meeting on 23.2 in Cedecom, with Lucy & various departments (sapasma, ecology, desarollo social) as well as approx. 16 communities (of the 18)
Lucy invited us to discuss our issues.
Chela asked “what is the importance of this meeting @ Cedecom & why?”
“gave us a chance to inform the departments about our issues”
“is a good chance for us to work as a region on our common issues”
“when we finish our focus on water & resolve that, we can raise our next issues & approach appropriate dept, ecology, obras publicas etc & work on the next focus”
“the work we are doing is not just for water, we will keep working on the other issues, dry toilets, bridges etc”
“Toilets need water so we are working for sanitarios secos (dry toilets)”
Chela – we’re all here to work together on all of the issues, because you guys are all obliged to resolve your own issues – si or no? “si!”
In this manner, with the citizen’s council, you can work together as a region & by community.

“we have never had a meeting with the govt departments before, this was a big advantage to even know who they are & how we can approach them”
“It’s important that the Representatives report back to the communities they represent eg. Letty called a meeting the next day & reported back what happened at the Cedecom meeting to the Cinco Senores community”

Chela – it’s about taking responsibility for your own community development & together your regional development.

Chela asked Laura to describe what happened at the meeting with Dra Mejia (& Irma & Mayor Lucy & Jesus) re the issues in Tierra Blanca & fluoride in the region. Laura also mentioned the good news re the collaboration with Sapasma for the last 2.5 yrs, & the announcement that they would be funding water cisterns project for USD$35k, thanks also in part to Lucy for listening to our requests & asking Sapasma to include water cisterns in their budget.

Organisation of work groups for the Project
Since Cinco Senores & San Lorenzo are small communities we need to combine them (funded by Fondo Verde of the Ecology dept) with the project funded by the global grant in Juan Gonzalez.
Chela asked if the community wants to do the planning now or wait until the FV funds arrive?
“let’s do the planning now & have a brief mtg when the $$ arrive”
“can we do work in groups of 3 or 4?
No, better to have bigger group for level of work involved & get to know more people by working together co-operatively.

Chela asked What does Presta fuerza mean to you?
“I lend you my work & you lend me yours, ie we work together to achieve a bigger result”
The possibility of paying an abanile (expert mason) was discussed as there is a shortage of abaniles in this community.

Cinco Senores Groups (10 families + 1 pilot)*chapel was discussed but changed to JG School
2 groups.


Juan Gonzalez (21 families + pilot in one JG school) 3 groups


It was confirmed that there are 2 abaniles in each group.

It was mentioned that it is important for the groups to work with harmony & openness to achieve a good result.

San Lorenzo (4 family cisterns) very small group…
Audelia, Ana Maria, Esteban, Matilde

Next meeting 23/3 Regional Consejo meeting Vivienda de Arriba 11am

Next meeting in Juan Gonzalez to be announced once all the $$ arrive, Saul will communicate

Meeting concluded at 2.15 & then all ate lunch together.

Mtg 2 of Micro-Region 1 of the Communities requesting assistance with water

Where: Cinco Senores
When: 9.2.11
Who: Communities represented:
Cinco Senores 8, Juan Gonzalez 13, San Lorenzo 2, La Palmita 5, La Tinaja 3, Coralejo 2, La Cienega 3, Villa Guadalupe 2.

Holly, Chela, Saul, – Cedesa, Laura Rotary, Teacher of the school attended, Esaul from Comonfort.

We noted the bed & clothing in the corner of the classroom, the teacher sleeps here during the week & only returns on weekends as it is very difficult to get to this community. We had to cross the river 4 times & drive on big rocky river beds, we were not sure we’d make it at several points!

We all crammed into the small classroom.

Everyone introduced themselves & stated their community… I said a little about Rotary, as ususal.
Chela gave a brief history of the work we have been doing in the region starting with Los Torres, & including MdN CdP, VdA & Capaderillo.

She thanked the teacher for volunteering his classroom for this meeting, & said Teachers are often involved in the development of a community, they are a great source of co-ordination.

Chela said they have excellent young leaders forming in their communities who are great “promoters” /outreach workers, eg Audelia, Humberto, Ana.
One woman spoke up & said she thought Audelia would make an excellent promoter, she is a bit shy but should be proud.

Chela mentioned we are always talking as a team about how great the young leaders are & that they are already working to make a better future for this region & “god put Rotary in our path”, Rotary has the conscientiousness, & understand the problems to work on & resolve, with dignity & allowing the recipients their dignity.

What do all the communities have in common?
“the necessity for water” Water is very scarce & contaminated.
“Pedro & Jesus G. were working here with FAI (Save the Children) which is when the cistern for the school was constructed (there is a big cistern behind the school). They stopped coming & we didn’t know where to find them.”

Meeting began proper:
Saul explained the meeting process, eg elect a co-ordinator & secretary, he explained their roles including calling for agenda.
Letty was elected Co-ordinator, & Humberto to take notes.
Agenda
1 commission to presidencia report
2 dry toilets, how do they function
3. presentation re the climate workshop at Cedesa
4 rules of the communities
5 plan the meeting in Juan Gonzalez, re the Fondo Verde next grant

Item 1 presidencia commission
It was noted that Villa de Guadalupe & Tierra Blanca were not present, but all else sent representatives to the Presidencia to ask for an audience with mayor Lucy, approx. 20 people attended.

Item 2 dry toilets
Chela asked who knew how dry toilets function? Holly knows as she has one at her house.
They were described as ecological, economical (don’t need water), they don’t contaminate & you can use the compost, they don’t put fecal matter in the air (like current poo in the wild method!), the fertilizer is organic.

Chela asked if the other types of toilets were good – no, they waste water, contaminate the environment, including rivers, drainage, sewage…The 2 vital points about dry toilets,

They don’t require water & they don’t contaminate the environment, in fact they reduce contamination.

Of the communities represented at this meeting only 3 have toilets.
Cinco Senores, Juan Gonzalez & Villa de Guadalupe.

Cinco Senores, have about 15 toilets, but no-one using them as toilets, in fact when we visited one after the meeting, inside it had grain & tools & I opened the back door underneath, where the poo bucket should have been, only to find about 10 hens all clucking madly & so quickly shut it up again to keep them safe for the night!

They don’t use them because they don’t function well, they have only one chamber & the collection unit is a big shallow open bucket, not ideal, as the pee & poo don’t separate & never really dry out…

We spoke with one of the men in the community & described what needed to be changed for them to function, they need to be divided into 2 chambers by placing a wall down the middle, then use one side for six months & make a hole the other side for the toilet to move to that side for the next six months, while sealing the first chamber until it dries. The pee should also be separated, & can be done by attaching a hose to the front of the toilet vessel. Holly mentioned she would see if Benigno had time to come to Cinco Senores, but would at least get a copy of the toilet manual to them in the meantime.

Juan Gonzalez they have the 2 chamber toilet & do use them. Their model does not separate the pee & poo at source, it has a separate lower tank that the pee drains into. They put sawdust, ashes & lime in the loo each time they use it. They do have flies & mozzies in the warm season.

Villa de Guadalupe
These guys have the rolls Royce of dry toilets, they have 2 chambers, pee/poo separator, & even have water collection with which to wash their hands (in hand basin attached to outside of the building).
There was a 6mth project to build & educate people in the use of these toilets which finished late last year so they are using them.

There was more discussion on what should be added to the toilet after use, many people don’t have access to sawdust, no trees nearby, some are using leaf litter, Chela said better to leave leaf litter for the trees & just use Cal or dirt.

Item 3 workshop on climate change de-brief
Saul described the workshop they had at Cedesa on the 28/29/1 for all campesinos. Several of the young people at today’s meeting had been to the workshop & have prepared a presentation for the meeting today.

The subject was protecting the environment, reforestation, not removing sand/extraction, analyzing the existing situation, preserving heritage seed, damage to rivers, reduction of fertilizers, use of organic fertilizers only, etc.

They were very well prepared & had posters to describe/illustrate the points.
Saul mentioned “if we don’t take notice of what these young people are telling us we will have issues in the future”.
Another woman in the meeting said “my father is in his 80’s & gave us his land, & told us it is soo important we continue to work it & don’t be tempted to sell it, as smaller parcels are harder to make productive”.

There was talk about prepared food versus traditional meals, beans, rice tortillas, Chela pointed out what you consume affects your whole body, artificial flavourings & colourings & sugar are not good for you, in fact they poison your body/blood.

One mother joked “I eat only healthy food & don’t get sick, not like my daughter (she pointed her out, presenting at the front of the meeting),who always gets a cold!” everyone laughed.

Chela asked everyone to sum up in points
• Plant more plants
• Retain/rescue your traditions
• Conserve seed
• Plant & maintain productive foods/fruits/medicinal foods/calabasa/trees
• Defend the earth & seeds
• Be conscientious
• Retain community/maintain community/build community
• Include the young people, they are interested & positive & want to work in the campo

Saul & Chela reiterated, we cant decide for you what will happen you your communities, you need to take responsibility for this yourselves.

Item 4 Rules of this Micro-region (Micro region 1)
During the last regional meeting it was suggested each micro-region should create their own rules.
After discussion it was decided
• Participation compulsory
• Punctuality important, if 1 hr late you will be marked absent
• Need to create an attendance list & take the role each meeting.
Chela pointed out for example Villa de Guadalupe had not attended the regional meeting or the commission to the presidencia, so what should happen?
Someone added “maybe they have justification?”
One of the Villa de Guadalupe people said they didn’t have transport to the presidencia, everyone said this was no excuse, they all have the same issue.

One of the other women from VdG said she & others are interested but the reps. they have in the consejo are not interested in Cisterns or dry toilets so they’re not that motivated, this woman asked if she could go instead, & they said, no because she was not the official rep.

Chela pointed out, it is very important for each community to ensure the best representatives are selected, that they will represent their community well & with conscience.

Spirit of service is very obvious in the youth in this area.

The meeting all decided that the priority of who gets water cisterns next should be changed, Villa de Guadalupe should forfeit one position as a consequence for non attendance at 2 events.
Priority for the cisterns is now
Juan Gonzalez/San Lorenzo, Cinco Senores, La Cienega, Villa de Guadalupe & La Tinaja
Priority for the sanitarios secos is now
La Tinaja, La Palmita, Coralejo, Cinco Senores, Juan Gonzalez & La Cienega.

Item 5 – Presidencia commission report
Saul mentioned we need to plan for the first meeting with Lucy, 4 representatives will meet with Lucy on the 16th feb at 11.30am.

There is a tentative meeting planned for the whole region to attend at Cedecom presidencia bldg. on 23rd Feb. Topics to include water, toilets, bridges & roads.

There were issues when the 20 representatives went to ask for a meeting with Lucy. Although they went entirely passively they were perceived as threatening.

There was discussion regarding govt. obligation & that water is a basic human right. Rotary has provided a large amount of funding but it is not an obligation that Rotary do this, they do it out of service.

Chela suggested people could read the constitution which is available at every papeleria
Someone asked why Chela can’t come to the meeting on the 16th with Lucy, & Chela pointed out it is not up to her, but that they are able to represent themselves & their issues & reach a solution.

There will be one more micro regional meeting in March & after that there is probably no need for both micro regional & regional meetings, as well as project community meetings.

Item 6 – Juan Gonzalez/San Lorenzo project planning meeting
The next project to begin will be in Juan Gonzalez/San Lorenzo. This project will be funded by fondo verde, & topped up by a $2k contribution from New Braumfels RC in Texas.

The project planning meeting will be at 10am on the 2nd March in Juan Gonzalez (Same day as the potential next regional meeting)

Next Micro region 1 meeting 9th March 2011 at 11am at La Tinaja at la clinica

(meeting concluded at 4pm – we were treated to the usual local banquet of tortillas beans rice, chicheron, chick peas, & then meandered our way along the river bed, weaving back n forth over huge rocks & puddles until we finally made it to the highway…)

Report of 1st visit to Juan Gonzalez, Cinco Senores

Record of Event
Report of 1st visit to Juan Gonzalez, Cinco Senores
Where: Cinco Senores, out behind Vivienda de Arriba
When: 29.09.10 10.30 in Juan Gonzalez, 11.15 in Cinco Senores.
Who: Saul, Chela (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 20 adults incl. 1 man, 4kids, 2 dogs

Purpose: We were invited to visit these communities to talk about water issues & the potential of a water project in these communities.

A group of representatives of Juan Gonzalez, Cinco Senores & San Lorenzo, have attended several assemblies in neighbouring Vivienda de Arriba, as well as Capaderillo.

Juan Gonzalez, Cinco Senores & San Lorenzo are all within about 35 mins walk of each other.
They are in a little hidden valley with a small river running through it.

We met Saul on the highway & turned off on an unmarked dirt road just past the entrance to Vivienda de Arriba. We kept driving straight & down, past a few houses, & along a long potholed, dusty “road” & arrived at a river which we needed to ford. The River was deeper than expected but rocky so Chela just planted her foot & we ploughed through.

We rounded the corner through a bank of trees & discovered a little community, church, a couple of tienda’s. This is Juan Gonzalez, we were met by 5 women, who after much deliberation took us in the agreed best direction… we noted a few men on horseback & decided this was the preferred method of transport, especially after driving a little further!

We had to push our way through huge muddy puddles, through bushes overlapping the “track” & forded the river again, we drove at an almost 90degree sideways slant, with lower wheels on the road & upper wheels on the “other part of the road”… finally we reached another part of the river to cross, but were very perplexed as to us it looked like huge stony river banks with no crossing possibility!
We tried in one spot, & got stuck, so all the women jumped off the back & we pushed Chela’s pickup back out to solid ground, parked & walked!

We walked about 20 mins, scrambling under barbed wire fences, through maize taller than us, & along the river banks, much easier by foot! Eventually we arrived at the “meeting” house…

We had a discussion before beginning the meeting, here are some points
• Juan Gonzalez is Ejido (communal) land.
• Cinco Senores is privately owned.
• One woman visiting was originally from Shotolar – they have 6 families there, with no water or electricity (it is the furthest community of the municipality of SMA, they grow maize & frijoles same as Cinco Senores.
• Saul handed out forms for each of the communities to fill in (Juan Gonzalez, Cinco Senores & San Lorenzo – each received 1 for the community & 1 for each family wishing to participate in the project.
• There is lots of water in the river at the moment, so things are extra green, the river always has some water in it.
• It’s very tranquil & peaceful here, a little secluded valley (hard to find)
• Juan Gonzalez people all have bad teeth, from the water in their wells, Chela described the issues caused by Fluoride contaminations – bone problems, osteoporosis, brain, teeth, major organs.

The community insisted we eat first & provided a feast of calabasa casserole, garbanzo casserole, chicheron (pork skin), beans, rice, & the most delicious flour tortillas I’ve ever eaten!

Introductions
San Lorenzo
Humberto Alonso,Odelia Ramirez

Juan Gonzalez
Maria Gloria, Enedina Palma, Maria Elena Ramirez, Salvador Torre (represented by his wife!), Antonia Bocanegra, Marta Lanas, Margarita Hernandez.

Cinco Senores
Leticia Lopez, Beatriz Bocanegra, Josefina Herrera, Adelita Gonzalez, Maria Ramirez, Angelica Correr, Leticia Ramirez, Felisa Bocanegra, Ma Elena Bocanegra, Ester Lana, Valentina Morin (Ex Sholotar).

We then introduced ourselves too.
Laura from Rotary (& brief description of Rotary), Chela described Cedesa & the work they do to
Conserve traditions, Training of Campesinos in the region, 40 years working in the region, a commission from Presita de Santa Rosa had visited Cedesa to know more, Cedesa began work in SMA only 2 yrs ago, with Rotary.

Chela went on to talk about fluoride, how it occurs, it’s causes,
The women asked questions
• Is fluoride bad for you? How?
• How can we remove it?
• Is arsenic the problem in Tierra Blanca?
• How can we prevent this?
• Did you advertise on the radio?

Chela responded with these points
• When the water comes from the wells in this area it’s contaminated.
• Not just this area is affected also Dolores Hidalgo
• It’s damaging the health in this region
• It’s a problem with the watershed, which covers an area of 6 municipalities
• It is naturally occurring, leaching from the types of rocks in this area,
• All of the internal organs are affected by excessive fluoride.
• There is also manganese & arsenic in some areas
• The only way to prevent it is to stop drinking the water.
• This is why we started work in Los Torres, to help the people provide options for safe drinking water.
• Bacteria can be killed by the sun, but the water needs to be distilled to remove fluoride.
• That’s why we’re here today, people saw/heard about the cisterns in Los Torres & the word spread to different communities, & new project sites.
• The only information spread has been word of mouth, we have not advertised these projects on the radio.
• So far 52 cisterns in Los Torres, 30 in Montecillo de Nieto, 17 in Vivienda de Arriba, 27 in Cruz del Palmar, 40 in Capaderillo. Rotary has funded the projects in all communities, except Capaderillo, which was funded by the ecology department’s green fund.
• Chela briefly described the hydraulic cycle, in part explaining the process of distillation.

The women were interested to know where Laura came from – so there was a brief discussion about New Zealand & how long it takes to get there…

Chela asked
Why do you want to be involved in this project?
• Safe drinking water,
• Someone suggested it might be safer to drink coke! Then someone else responded then we’d all get diabetes!
• The pozos (wells) are dry when the rains stop.
• We have to carry the water a long way, if we need to get it from the river
• Some people upstream from this community have flush toilets & they are contaminating the river with fecal matter
• There are machines working in the water (to dredge out sand & rocks) & their oil contaminate the water
• “Sometimes the rocks in the river are clean, other times they are black, - can you imagine drinking this water?”
• we had analysis done – 4 tests for 600 pesos per test, I went to get the tests but they were not complete, we had tests done for fluoride, fecal matter, ecoli & bacteria (a promoter from Desarollo Social – Social Development – Helped us.
• San Lorenzo is only 4 families, so good idea for them to combine with these communities

Chela asked who wishes to participate from the community of Juan Gonzalez
They responded they were not sure how many people could come to today’s meeting so only sent representatives.
There was continued discussion re how many people wish to participate v how many people are attending the meeting today.

Chela suggested we can meet in each community separately, but it is more efficient to combine communities into one meeting, & meet in a central location, good for everyone, & with shade…

There are 17 from Juan Gonzalez on the list, 16 from Cinco Senores, & 4 from San Lorenzo.

Saul described the 2 forms, & how to complete them. The community form, describing the general water situation of the community, & the family form to list the people wishing to participate.

Chela described the meeting planned for 22nd Oct. in Capaderillo, an inauguration, but also a chance for a regional meeting, & to present requests of assistance to the municipality…

At the 22nd Oct meeting the date for the next meeting for this community will be set.

We also talked briefly about the ecocina stove project.
We asked about their current cooking arrangements, they showed us 2 kitchens, (with permission I took photos), these kitchens were blackened with soot from the open fires they use to cook their tortillas.

We also looked at the dry toilets some houses had, as part of a govt program.

The ones we looked at were not in use, the big bucket that was in place under the toilet to catch the fecal matter, had been removed & was in use as washing bucket. The toilets had been relegated to storage sheds.

I saw 2 toilets out in the middle of no-where, with signs proclaiming the program nailed to stumps.

The meeting concluded at 1.25pm, we began our “journey” back to the highway, & headed to Guerrero for our 3pm assembly.