Closing Ceremony – La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto

Today we traveled over the hill and through the woods (fording a river long the way) to enjoy the closing celebration for our La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto project. 

We are joined this week by representatives of the Lotus Foundation who provided significant funding to these projects and also to our previous project at Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca. Mark and Margaret are here and they have brought along the president of the board of Lotus, John, and Eric who is also a board member. Yesterday they were able to see the construction of a pilot cistern at Vivienda Urbano after having a presentation at our weekly Rotary meeting from Dr. Adrian Ortega, the absolute guru and expert on our Independence Aquifer and its problems.

Alejandro, Ivar, David H, Tom and Sara also came from Rotary San Miguel Midday. We brought a few other visitors with us that wanted to see in person our water harvesting projects. We arrived early enough so that we could go see five of the new cisterns … moving our group along from stop to stop was a bit like herding cats but ultimately we were able to do this. John and Eric from Lotus had many good questions and observations.

The closing ceremony began about 1:00 pm at the pilot cistern location in Nuevo Rancho de la Banda. There were about 60 persons present including Saul and Chela of CEDESA. There were six person representatives from each of the communities of Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca, Presa Allende, Alonso Yanez, and Lindero. All of these communities are hoping to begin projects soon. We will begin in Alonso Yanez and Lindero later this month. 

We had short speeches from each of these communities as well as from Alejandro for Rotary and Chela for CEDESA. Several people from La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto spoke about their experience with this project. Reina from La Banda explained that she was surprised by how hard the work was being that never before had she had to manage a shovel and mix concrete … she is right; it is hard manual labor. Everyone chuckled a bit and said they would be more understanding of their husbands when they came home from working as construction workers. 

Another person from Montecillo reflected that even though the work was hard, it was really fun working together in the groups. The Montecillo spokesperson pointed out that although they have been waiting two years to get the resources for this project that it has been a good experience and they have learned many other important things along the way. 

Finally, after cutting the ribbon to close the project, we got to the real business of the day: lunch. Many persons brought many delicious dishes and we all left full and satisfied.

After lunch Saul and I returned to Vivienda where the pilot cistern is being built. I watched as Saul taught the work teams to form the cone shaped top of the cisterns. I could only admire the way that the materials (wire and reinforcing) have been mineralized to leave not much more than the “oink” as they say. 

Overall it was another great day in the campo and enjoying the fruits of these projects.

Tomorrow we will be taking the Lotus foundation visitors to see the Ex-Hacienda de Pena  Blanca project where there is already a new group asking us to fund a phase II project for them. We will also visit Juan Gonzalez where we have just recently completed 15 cisterns.

Submitted by: Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday

Global Grant Update La Banda/Montecillo de Nieto: & Alonso Yanez and Presa Allende: January 27, 2015

La Banda/Montecillo de Nieto: The pilot cistern at the elementary school in La Banda is now complete and the communities of La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto are ready to split into three teams and complete 17 more family cisterns. Hierro Comercial is delivering all the materials today and the other components, gravel, sand, plywood, were delivered last week. It will take about six weeks to complete and we hope to have a grand celebration in the first week or March which is also when we will begin a 12 cistern project in Vivienda.

Alonso Yanez and Presa Allende: I continue to go bi-weekly to the communities of Alonso Yanez and Presa Allende to collect water samples from their wells. CATIS and Rotary are doing a simple study to determine how and if fluoride levels rise over the dry season as the wells are drawn down by the extra water being extracted. We have been doing this since the end of the rainy season and plan to continue until the end of the dry season. Talks with the “pozoleros” (persons that take care of community wells in the communities) have told us that the months of April and May are when the extraction is at its greatest. Alonso Yanez is consistently testing at close to 5 mg/liter for fluoride which is the highest we have seen within our municipality (water levels above 1.5mg/litre may have long-term undesirable effects**read more about fluoride here).

We will be building about 46 cisterns in Alonso Yanez and the adjacent community, Lindero, in April 2015.

Submitted by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday

La Banda / Montecillo de Nieto - Pre-Project Planning Meeting -

Tony DeCrosta (Rotary), Saul Juarez (CEDESA) and I traveled to La Banda today to get the second project started for our Global Grant 1422619. The pilot cistern in Juan Gonzalez is being completed this week.

We met at the community center in La Banda. After introductions of everyone in attendance, we talked about the process that had been followed by the persons in these two communities to finally come to the top of the list of those waiting for the Rotary water harvesting project. 

The families involved have done other projects through CEDESA and COCIRA during these two years which included dry toilets, stoves to replace open fire cooking, backyard gardening, and bee keeping. I asked about why they wanted to build cisterns and, in addition to concerns about fluoride contamination, they discussed water quality as it related to the obligatory chlorination of the SAPASMA well.

Next we discussed the importance of viewing this project not as a onetime event to work together, but part of a lifelong process of teaming up to make permanent and sustainable change in their community. This project is just one more step toward improving many aspects of their lives through their own initiative. Water without contaminants is just one step to improving health. Nutrition, relationships, cooperation, and mutual assistance by capitalizing on individual’s strengths are some of the future steps to be considering.

It was decided that the pilot training cistern would be built at the Primary School in Rancho Nuevo La Banda as it is equidistant between La Banda and Montecillo de Nieto. Saul reviewed with the participants their obligations by being a part of this project: 1. Participation in the construction of the pilot is mandatory. 2. Each group must have a qualified construction worker (albanil) on their team. 3. They must form work groups and help build all cisterns within their group. Building the cistern independently by the family only, is not allowed.

In Montecillo de Nieto, there are 8 families and they will all work together as one group. That group consists of: Hilaria Ramirez who is the person responsible for the overall communication within this group and with CEDESA and Rotary as needed. Her telephone number is 415.xxx.3273. Ana Gabriela Jiménez Jimenez is the “second” responsible and her telephone number is 415.xxx.7486. The rest of the group are Liliana Jimenez Damian, Alejandra Morales Jimenez, Angelica Jimenez Jimenez. Fabiola Pastor Ramirez, Maria Cruz Jiménez Balthazar, and Mayra Mirela Pastor Blanca. They will report next week, who will be the albanil to work with them.

In La Banda we will be building 10 cisterns in addition to the pilot cistern. (Total for this mini-project is 19 cisterns.) The Banda group will divide into two work teams as follows. Ma. De los Angeles Ramirez Vasquez was elected to be the overall responsible person in coordinating La Banda. Her phone number is 415.xxx.7246.

Group 1: Reina Ramirez Vasquez, group leader (phones: 415.xxx.0206 and 415.xxx.9420). The rest of the group includes Ma. Carmen Vásquez Ramirez, Concepción Vásquez Caporal, Ma. Elena Ramirez Vásquez and Maria de los Angeles Ramirez Vásquez. The albañil to work with the group is Marcario Ramirez Robles.

Group 2 consists of Ines Ramirez Pastor, responsible with no phone but borrowing the phone of Francisca Ramirez Blanca 415.xxx.3608. The rest of the group includes Carolina Ramirez Ramirez, Ma. Anna Gonzalez Ramirez and Catalina Ramirez Pastor. The will inform us who will be the albanil at the next meeting.

Following this we discussed the timing of this project relative to the upcoming harvest and Christmas obligations. I had been informed this morning that our primary supplier, Hierro Comercial of Dolores Hidalgo, would not be able to receive the special order chicken wire required for the cisterns until the first week in December. They had also called around to many other distributors to see if they could get the wire elsewhere with no luck. Getting this wire has always been a big challenge in our past projects. 

Hierro Comercial is delivering the balance of materials to Juan Gonzalez this week and they said if there was sufficient wire to do the pilot in La Banda that they would deliver those materials. It turns out that there is not additional wire available at this time.

After much discussion, it was decided that unless the wire could be available within 15 days that it would be better to wait to begin the project until after Three Kings Day on January 6, 2015. ie since the wire is not available, we will wait to begin in January of next year.

I have subsequently talked with Hierro Comercial and I will be providing them with a list of communities and estimated number of cisterns that will be built in early 2015. If there will be a price increase in any of the materials, particularly we normally have price increases in the wire, we will look into pre-paying for those materials so that Hierro Comercial can stock pile the materials in December to be used in January through March of 2015. Hierro Comercial has been the provider of 90% of the materials over the past 7 years and proven themselves to be a trustworthy partner in these projects. Because of that long standing relationship, I am comfortable that prepaying for materials to avoid price increases is a good decision in maximizing our use of funding for this project.

Following the meeting, we had a nice late lunch provided by the members of the La Banda group.

Reported by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday

Water Project Stats to date Jan 2009 - Jan 2011

Here's an update of where we're at, we essentially began the first water project in Nov 2008, the first funding came through in March 2009, so am counting it from 1st Jan 2009 to now...

We now have 330 Families asking for help with drinking water in this region.
They are in 18 different communities that we are now engaged with, from the initial project in Los Torres. All of these communities have come to us, they have seen the results proven & want to be part of the solution.

Following are the statistics:

Water Projects completed from 1st Jan 2009 - Jan 2011
Los torres 52 $21,700 + 12,200 + smcf 1 $2468 smcf 2 2235,
Montecillo de Nieto 30 $16700
Vivienda de Arriba 17
Cruz del Palmar 28 combined $24700
Capaderillo 40 $21850
Palencia 21 $7k (+ balance of excess from other projects)
Total 188 cisterns

More than 1500 people have safe drinking water now & for generations to come!!!

funding
Rotary$81,800
SMCF$4,703
Eco Verde$21,850
Skymed $500
total funding = USD $108,853

A BIG THANK YOU to all the hardworking men & women belonging to the Rotary Clubs & Districts who have been part of this solution:
Tallahassee RC
Trail BC RC
Sechelt BC RC
Tyron RC
Ann Arbor RC
Paso Robles RC
West U RC TX
Richmond RC TX
San Miguel Midday RC Mexico
Districts 4160, 6940, 7670

Current upcoming water projects
Capaderillo II approx $14k (Rotary funding secured)
to commence end of January.

Pipeline projects
Global Grant for $33,500 (Baton Rouge Capitol City RC & District(s)
Pending approval from TRF.

Quantified Need:
Current applications in hand from Families in need 309 from 18 different communities.(excluding the upcoming project of 21 cisterns)

Interested in helping fund the simple solution to this need, please email me... Lauramex@gmail.com

10th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 1
10th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 16.06.10 12.00-2.15
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), more than 35 adults, - mini assembly
Walter, Loy, Doris, Enrique, Gordon, Ivar, - Rotarian Guests
Irma Rosado – NGO liaison – representing the presidencia.
Purpose: mini assembly & fiesta/inauguration of completion of project

There was some confusion about the planned assembly today.
The women had arrived early with their food contribution to the fiesta which had been hurriedly arranged the previous Saturday with Elena & the community. Chela/Cedesa was unfortunately not able to make it today.

The Presidencia & Rotarians were invited to attend the inauguration at the kinder.
Irma Rosado, the NGO liaison attended. As did the above Rotarian guests. (apologies if I have missed anyone, I did not write it down on the day)

The women were all ready & waiting as they had understood the fiesta was to begin at 12, we understood the assembly would take place first & then the assembly.

We had a mini assembly. As we have come in under budget & completed more cisterns than planned for, we have sufficient funding for at least 3 more cisterns. There were 3 people on the list to be part of phase II & so the community has agreed to assist these people build their cisterns (since they were not present at the train the trainer/pilot cistern build at the Kinder.

The names of the additional beneficiaries are
Maria Victoria Palmar Cadena (4 in family)
Censo Pena (3 in young family)
Maria Pena (sister of Censo, & 4 in young family)
(a 4th person Consuelo Pastor had not been contacted & so not included).

I put the question to the community who would mentor/help these new people, since they had received no training?

Group 1 – Maria Palmar – volunteers – Saleta, Enedina, Soledad (will all assist with the weaving of the malla) Contact person – Enedina 415 102 0593

Group 2 - Censo Pena – volunteers – Maria Elena, Griselda & Alicia (will all assist with the weaving of the malla) Contact person – Lorena Ramirez 415 109 1464

Group 3. – Maria Pena – same volunteers & contact person as Group 2.

The wire & malla will be delivered first, & on completion of the weaving the cement will be delivered.
The community (Eva) will order the sand.

The other 27 cisterns (including 1 @ school, 1 @ kinder & 1 @ church) have all been completed.
26 originally budgeted, built 1 extra, now adding extra 3, there will be 30 in total.

John Doherty has kindly offered to make payments for the extra cisterns as Laura will be in NZ for the next month.

The assembly concluded & the inauguration/celebration began.

The children performed a dance, thank you speeches were made, & congratulations were extended to the community on a fine effort & the team that made it possible, the ribbon was cut on the cistern & the feasting began.

I left early to attend a planning session at Cedesa in Dolores Hidalgo – the celebrations were still in full force when I left at 2.15.

Next Assembly in Montecillo de Nieto 21 July 12pm at Kinder
(Report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

9th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
9th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 19.05.10 12.30 – 2.10pm
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), 23 adults including 2 men
Purpose: review of family cistern construction in progress

We arrived late at 12.30, supposed to be 12midday.

The group was assembled & waiting when we arrived.

Elena opened with a blessing, she explained this was a personal thing, not a Rotary thing.
She gave thanks for uniting us in this opportunity, & the harmony gained from working together in a team etc.

Chela called for proposals for a co-ordinator for today’s meeting.
“you have been working in groups so have experience in working in harmony, who do you propose?”
“does everyone know what a co-ordinator is & does now?” Si!!!
Carmela was voted Co-ordinator, with Margarita taking notes.

Agenda
• Revision of work groups/teams
• Revision of progress
• Plan next phase (completion of the remaining cisterns)
• Arrival of materials
• Traspatio (backyard) workshops, do you want them?

Chela asked, “do you want a fast meeting?” – Si!!
“then what do you need to do to ensure a fast efficient meeting?” – Participate!

Revision of work groups
Group 1
The first ½ of the cisterns are constructed, piping not in place yet.
All 6 have been working together with no big problems, all friendly…
Elena mentioned that problems can occur, but they should be considered an opportunity to get together & solve, with the right balance of good & bad progress is achievable.

They have constructed 1 cistern per week for 3 wks, so have now completed 3 cisterns. One has put her pipes in place, but it was after the rain a few days ago, so no water collected.

Group 2
This group is working ok together, it’s taking a while, about 1 mth.
Elena said it doesn’t have to be done fast, just well & with patience, she gave an example of her bougainvillea vine, it’s flowering beautifully, but it is 40 years old, so has taken time to get to this point.

2 cisterns have been installed 1 still awaiting piping to be installed, has worked well because they’ve been having a few drinks because it’s so hot right now!! (all had a good laugh at that)


Group 3
All have been working well, started well & are finishing well! One of the women complimented one of the young men that has been helping, she said thanks to him working really hard, they have progressed well. Everyone gave him (Gaston) a big round of applause!!

This is really unusual, to have someone not related compliment someone else publicly on their efforts is a first for the meetings we have attended. Chela reiterated the importance of volunteering & helping others, a huge show of respect & solidarity for the community.

They have installed 2 cisterns & just have one cistern piping to install.


Record of Event pg 2 of 3
Group 4
This group is working well now, there were only 4 working but after the mini meeting to resolve this, now 1 of the women not working, is joining in, but one is still not joining in. Maria Cruz is not interested in participating, & the community was asked if there was anyone else in their community who was more worthy to receive these materials…

After discussion, the community decided to build a cistern at the church with the materials originally intended for Maria Cruz.

The church is well attended, & it was agreed the whole community would benefit from this.

Planning Phase II
Group 1, Casilda Micaela & Irene
Group 2 Basilisa , Alejandro, Leonore RV
Group 3 Leonore RR, Soledad, Hermelinda
Group 4, ?? & Consuelo & Church
The cistern at the school will be the last one constructed.

It was agreed ½ of the groups would work on the church & ½ on the school.

Chela asked, at the end of all of this, what are you planning to do?
Someone responded “have a lot of drinks!!” “go to the beach & have drinks” Everyone cracked up, most have never even been to the beach!

Chela reiterated that the people of MdN are a good testimony of triumph of harmony, they have been working well in groups, & it has bought with it a reward, they have achieved a lot!!
They seem to have found it easy, when there were obstacles or problems, to ask questions, & work on things to resolve the issues.

Materials for next phase
Materials were to have been delivered 2 days ago, so should be here any day. They are to be delivered house to house…

Variable materials will be going to Eva’s house again, people need to come there quickly to collect them, rather than leave them there lying around.

Filtration question
One of the women asked if there was a need to filter the water.
Chela pointed out they have been drinking water from puddles in the river & from contaminated wells so this water is 100 x better, & then to be super secure they can use the SODIS method of purification of water.

Laura & Elena explained the very simple SODIS method (www.sodis.ch)
& that it is important to clean your roof between rain falls, ie divert the first rain after a long dry spell, & make sure the containers they use are clean & kept for drinking water only.

Chela - There is a new SAPASMA well being drilled near by. This well will without doubt be contaminated with Fluoride (all water supplies in the area are contaminated). They contain poisons that are slow killers, fluoride, arsenic, manganese, you can not see or taste them, but bit by bit they accumulate in your major organs & do damage.

Traspatios workshop
As promised Chela talked to Benigno about coming to MdN to do the traspatios workshops.
She asked if anyone currently grows their own food, no, they all buy their veges.
Chela asked if anyone has a lot of nopal growing near their place so they could bring the “paddles” to share, to get people growing nopal. There were 1 or 2 people.

Chela has asked Benigno to come to MdN on his way to Los Torres. He will come at 11am – 1pm on 2nd June 2010.

The list of people interested are:

Record of Event pg 3 of 3

Leonore RV, Basilisa, Leonore RR, Eva, Micaela, Audelia, Griselda, Ma Elena, Hermelinda, Elena, Enedina, Lorena, Leonore RM, Maria Blanca, Irene
The traspatio workshop will be at the house of Leonore Medina. They will start on a house in the lower community & then one in the upper one.

At the end of the workshops hopefully everyone will have a beautiful functional backyard & in 1-2 years they will be producing their own food!

Traspatio workshop 2 June 11am-1pm

Next Assembly in Montecillo de Nieto 16 June 12pm at Kinder
(Report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

8th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 1
8th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 05.05.10 12.20 – 1.20pm
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), 12 women & 1 man.
Purpose: Resolve Group 4 work issues

Meeting was called in answer to a request to help resolve working issues in Group 4. 2 women who are supposed to be part of the group are not working with the group, they simply came to see the work being done & then went home. The women who are working would like help to resolve this, & are suggesting another woman receive the materials of one of these women, since she is working with them of her own accord.

When we arrived the women were ready & waiting. They reported they have completed one cistern already, & it has water in it to stop it cracking, this water will be emptied before the rains, so to not contaminate the drinkable rain water.

Elena opened the discussions with a general description about growth, & not asking or relying on others, but taking responsibility for ones own actions, working in harmony & in peace to make success with your own hands…

The materials for just 3 of the 6 in the group have arrived, this is as planned, ie the first 3 cisterns need to be completed before the materials for the next 3 cisterns will be delivered.

Of the 2 women who have said to be not working, one was present & one came later during the meeting. The one woman attending said she could not work because her son was sick.

The other women in the group said they don’t mind if she receives the materials but they don’t intend to help her build her cistern, & they’re concerned this will create a precedent of others wanting to build their own cisterns without helping or co-operating in a group (one of the main objectives of this project is to learn to work in groups to solve issues).

The 2nd woman arrived, & discussion centred around responsibility & being part of a team.

There was a lot of discussion as to how to resolve this, whether the women should receive the materials or whether the materials be given to people who are working & prepared to work.

The woman with the sick son apparently is married to a “mason” who could help with the work of the cisterns. She would ask him.

A proposal was made - if the women demonstrate their motivation to make up for their lack of involvement, ie by bringing meals to the 3 families on the days she is unable to work, they will consider it..

Woman 1 with the sick son – Cruz Jimenez, will do extra work, ie her husband will help.
Woman 2 – Saleta - will provide food on Sat & Sun to the working party (breakfast & lunch), & will work with the group on Mon, Tues & Wed.

It was then raised that another woman – Consuelo Ramirez, had been working extra hard, despite not being on the list to receive materials for a cistern.

Laura suggested that since we are running slightly under budget there is enough $$ to make her the 27th cistern…

After the meeting was closed, Saleta admitted the reason she had not been involved, is she was afraid she couldn’t actually do the work required, she had never done this type of work before. This is why she had jumped at the chance of providing food, since that’s something she knows very well how to do! The others explained how easy it actually was & that she had to get over her fear & just start doing the work - & she’d soon realize how easy it is.

Next Assembly in Montecillo de Nieto 16.6.10 12pm at Kinder

7th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
7th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 21.4.2010 12.15 – 2pm
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), Chela (Cedesa), 19women, 2 men, 8 kids & 2 dogs!

Purpose: Planning of the next phase – ie individual cisterns per families.

Item 1 – Co-ordinator, note taker
Eva was nominated with Margarita taking notes...Margarita was happy to say she remembered the book this time!

Roll was called

Chela prompted Eva to ask her fellow attendees for items for today’s agenda...

Agenda items
1. Who is missing materials
2. Plan the work schedule
3. What to do with those not participating
4. Revision of the work groups
5. Opinions & suggestions
6. Training days in Los Torres (traspatios, backyard production)
7. General

Item 1 – who is missing materials
The crowd was disturbed that only cement, sand & cal has been delivered so far. They are ready for work but are waiting for the balance of the materials.

I explained that Talego had been appointed the new supplier, & they were working hard to get the materials to them. Talego had said all would be delivered Sat, Mon & Tues..

I asked Elena to call Talego while we were in the meeting. She spoke to Fernanda (the daughter of the owner) & impressed upon her the importance of receiving the materials asap. Fernanda said the rest of the materials would be delivered in 2 hours by Rutilio (the owner himself).

Item 2 – planning the work schedule
Chela asked what the benefit of working in groups was called, & various terms were mentioned, including solidarity, & mutual work groups.

They agreed that each group would work on the first 3 cisterns in their group, complete those & move onto the next 3.

Chela asked if everyone agreed – all said yes.

They were asked if they all knew how to do the work – some said they had forgotten, & I mentioned Rafael (the LT technician) is available to assist for 1 day of troubleshooting for each group. Hence they could call on him to come one day & visit all groups, at each stage of construction, or however they chose.

After some prodding they agreed they probably did know how to do it, but felt a little under confident.

Gaston said he knew the process & I lent him the copy of the Cedesa Cistern construction booklet as a refresher.

They have Rafael’s contact details & will co-ordinate with him. They were clear on the 1 day per group allowance...





Record of Event pg 2 of 3

There was then discussion on which day to begin the work, at which time Elena suggested calling Talego again, to confirm absolutely their commitment to the delivery of the rest of the materials.

We called again, this time Elena then Chela spoke to Rutilio, the owner, who said all but one of the products was able to be delivered today, but they were waiting on one type of wire from San Luis Potosi, & that all should be delivered in fact by Friday latest.

The groups then decided best to start work on Monday 26th April, to be certain all materials were received. Incidentally, the MdN primary school is closed & kids off school, on Thurs & Friday, so not so easy to start while they are off school anyway.

There was discussion about the start time each day, Group 1 was asked first, but couldn’t decide, it took more than 5 mins with no answer, Elena & I had been sitting next to Gaston, & prompting him for answers, Elena quickly & quietly asked Gaston what time Group 3 wanted to start & he was very decisive with his response of 9am, with that Chela asked the rest of the groups, “so do you want to start work at 9am too?” all agreed except group 2, they will start at 1pm (?!).

Group1 – Margarita, Eva, Cacilda, Blanca, Michaela, Irene start 26/4 9am

Group 2 - Carmen, Nanci, Baseliza, Leonor V, Secundino, Victoria Start 26/4 1pm

Group 3 – Gaston, Aurelia, Enedina, Leonor R, Soledad, Hermilinda Start 26/4 9am

Group 4 – Griselda, Ma Elena, Lorena, Ma Cruz, Alicia, Saleta Start 26/4 9am

Eva will call Rafa & ask if he is able to come to MdN on Monday, & then they will have 3 more days of his assistance at their disposal.

They estimate it will take about 3 wks for each group to complete all 3 cisterns. So should have them completed by the next assembly.

Steps are
Crocheting
Putting the cylinder in place & leveling it.
Husbands will help in the afternoons. (chela said it’s still daylight at 10pm)

With one month to complete all the first lot of cisterns do you think you can do it? They all answered SI!!

Item 3 – what to do with people not participating
There are 2 people that have not been attending meetings.
1 without any excuse is Victoria.
The community would like to know what to do about Victoria.
Sand has been delivered to her.
Gaston suggested visiting her, asking why she´s not coming & if she´s still interested si or no…if no we should give it to someone else.

Another commented “she should show up, we shouldn´t have to chase her.”
Someone else suggested we give her cistern to someone else.

Chela pulled the conversation back to – do you think Victoria is entitle to a cistern si or no?

“if we leave her out of the project it will be an example to others, participate or you´re out!”

It was to be a decision of the whole group, so each person was questioned in turn, & each in turn said, si, she should be removed from the list, then one woman said she had spoken with Victoria who had said she wasn´t interested (we wished she´d spoken first!), so all voted, remove her from the list.




Record of Event pg 3 of 3

Victoria was in Group 2.
The new person in group 2 was decided – Alejandro Garcia, has a family of 6 or 7, from Los Torres originally, have lived in MdN for 3 yrs.

Item 4. Revision of work groups (completed above)
Item 5. Opinions & suggestions
(not really discussed as a separate topic.

Item 6 Traspastios (back yard production) workshops
Benigno from Cedesa has been going to Los Torres on 1st Wednesday of the month, for 2 months. The MdN community was invited but through a series of miscommunications have not been attending. Chela asked who was interested, & suggested Benigno could stop in MdN on his way to Los Torres for a couple of hours each month.

She reiterated, this is for free, Cedesa are not paid for this, & are happy to do it but only if the people are motivated to attend & learn & put the methods into practice. There needs to be a group of more than 10 to be worthwhile driving all the way from Dolores Hidalgo.

People volunteered, Leonor R, Lorena, Vaselisa, Leonor V, Aurelia, Micaela, Ma Elena, Ma Cruz, Griselda, Eva, Hermelinda & Enedina.

Chela will check with Benigno & advise MdN next month.

Item 7 General
What´s pending apart from materials…
Will need to move the sand from Victoria´s to Alejandro & advise them both.
Doors are in production & will be delivered (once the ordered “niples” have arrived & I deliver them the door guy).

Info – there are approx 60-70 families in MdN.

Rafa has the list of the balance of the measurements for the 2nd delivery of the final 13 cisterns in the project. That needs to be given to Laura to place the next variables order.

Next assembly 19.5.10 at 12pm

Ma Elena is excused – she has a doctor´s appt, she jokingly asked that they don´t give her cistern away since she wont be attending the assembly, everyone had a good laugh.

Next Assembly in Montecillo de Nieto 19 May 12pm at Kinder

Report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart

6th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 2
6th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 17 March 2010 12-1.30
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), Hector & Leon &(woman teacher) primary school teachers, +21 community members.
Purpose: Review the Pilot project, & plan the next phase – ie individual cisterns per families.

Chela was sick today, Elena & I decided it was to crucial to postpone, so we had the assembly without her.

We arrived at 12 & most of the women were still at the Primary school, there were inoculations going on today, kids & dogs!!

We gathered back at the kinder & began the assembly approx 12.20.

We asked if they had the book to take the roll, & Margarita had left it at home, so went home to get it, while we waited we chatted.
• They finished the cistern on the 21st January.
• The next week it rained & ¾ filled the cistern!
• Kids are drinking water from the cistern already
• The kids know how precious the water is, & they don´t touch the tap. The teacher fills a garafon.
• The teachers from the primary school came to the kinder meeting too – although they have an ecology dept. model rainwater collection system, it doesn´t work & they want one of our cisterns.
• We have 26 cisterns avail, 1 constructed, a list of 24 families, so one spare for the school potentially.

Margarita was voted co-ordinator of the meeting. & Enedina as record taker, it turned out that Margarita did both…

We called for agenda items:
• Attendance
• Review of what has been done to date
• When will the materials for the next phase arrive?
• Which houses will receive the materials first (planning next phase)
• How many cisterns can be being built simultaneously?
• Unity & communication in the community
• Program the next meeting date.

Item 1. Roll was called.
Item 2. Review of pilot project
Everyone was very happy with how the cistern turned out & the timing, ie just before it rained.
The kids are drinking the water, & everyone is very keen to have their own cisterns now (especially before the rains in June).
A comment about volunteers was “some came because they had to volunteer, others came because they wanted to learn”
There was one person who didn´t attend & 1 person who is not on the list who did attend the training days.

The person not attending has been removed & the new person invited to join the list (as per the meeting consensus).

Item 3. Materials/Planning for the next steps
I explained the next steps,
1. They needed to measure the tubes & elbows etc needed at their specific location. – they have done this, & have a list per family, per group.
2. They need to co-ordinate a time for the community & Rafael Cruz (who will be technical co-ordinator on this job – from the Los Torres team of Experts)… to come to check the measurements house by house. He suggested 5th April is soonest. They have his phone number & will co-ordinate direct.
Record of Event pg 2 of 2
6th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

3. When he goes to do the measurement he will also need to determine with the community where & when they wish to have the materials delivered.
4. Rafa will need to collate the order, 24 x the standard materials list, + each list of variable materials per family into one bulk order for the variables.
5. Suggest – 1 big order of the variable materials is delivered to 1 spot, & each family comes with their list & collects what they need.
6. The Standard materials (ie cement, mesh, wire etc) is delivered 2 cisterns per group at a time, until the cisterns are built & then order then next lot.
7. Rafa will need to place the order with the supplier. (NB we still need to sign the supplier contract, & negotiate best option)

There was some discussion re how to best build all the cisterns for each group. Gaston said he feels it´s better to do one cistern at a time, not 2 concurrently. Since there are only 6 families in each group this is probably a good idea.

Item 4. Unity & Communication
Elena talked about how important it is to communicate with eachother, for example the woman teacher from the primary across the road had not visited to see the cistern at the kinder…


Item 5 26th Cistern to be for the primary school
I asked the teachers why since they already have a 30,000 ltr tank supplied by Ecology, they want an additional cistern (they have 65 kids in the school). They explained it does not work, & to make it function properly more money has to be spent & the Eco. Dept wants to excavate & have a below ground tank. This project cost approx US$11k, I explained the big project providing 26 cisterns cost not much more than that.

The teachers agreed they did not want to spend more money on this other project, & really do want one of our cisterns.

The people in the meeting agreed since their kids all go to the school that the 26th cistern should go to the school. All groups will participate in the constr6ction, & only once all of the cisterns are built.

They will have keys to allow Rafa access to decide the best place to put the cistern at the school.

Item 6 important dates
Traspatio workshop at Los Torres 7th April (1st Wednesday each month)
Proposed check measurements date with Rafa 5th April
Proposed collation of order by Rafa 6th April,
Proposed place order by Rafa – to supplier – 7th April
Proposed 1st delivery of materials to community 8th April

Next Assembly in Montecillo de Nieto 21 April 12pm at Kinder

5th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
5th report of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: Montecillo de Nieto Kindergarten
When: 18,19,20 & 21st January 2010 9am-1.30 & other times
Who: Elena & Laura (Rotary), Benigno (Cedesa) , Rafael & Jose Miguel Cruz (Los Torres Crew) + approx 12 others.

Purpose: Train the trainers demonstration, & instructional build of the 1st Cistern in the MdN water project.

Take a deep breath, there’s lots to read here!!!

A bit of background & how the day was saved!
The date for these training days was set at the previous assembly on 16th December.
During this assembly, Chela was very keen to set a date for the beginning of the training (ie the first actual action) since we had met 4 times with only talking meetings. We all optimistically believed the money would be well in hand by this stage, & I had thought to myself, well it’s only 1 cistern I could bridge it if need be...

Chela & us, would be meeting on the 13th January to nut out the details, & make sure everything was in place, so in December we thought we had it sorted.

On the 13th Jan (the supposed next meeting time for Traspatio workshop in Los Torres) it was pouring with rain!!! Great for the cisterns already constructed! – not so great for outside backyard training sessions – so we cancelled.

This had great ramifications, 1st. We were not able to get hold of Los Torres to cancel the session – so hoped they assumed like us that it was off, & left a message on the only cellphone they have... 2nd we didn’t get to plan the purchase & delivery of materials in time for the 18th or make sure the Cedesa technician was booked to appear that day!!

At midnight on the Fri 15th as I was climbing into bed, it suddenly hit me, Monday was the 18th & they had no materials or trainer!!!! I emailed Holly (our contact with Cedesa) & explained the issue, quietly hoping Chela (from Cedesa) had all of this in hand, since they always organised this side of things, & it was her that booked the dates!!. Luckily Holly was going to Cedesa the next day (Saturday) & was able to order the materials (for delivery on Mon. 18th) & book Benigno (the technician), & we put in an urgent call in to Los Torres to see if the LT Crew could come to train the MdN people on Monday.
Holly & the LT crew saved the day!!!

It snowed that night in San Miguel for the first time in more than 30 years!

What next?!
Elena & I headed to MdN on Monday morning, not really knowing what to expect. The day was crisp with blue skies.

We were greeted by Jose Miguel (one of the Los Torres Crew), he was there waiting with his bicycle!
We headed down the path to the kinder & found a few people milling around (whew, at least they remembered) & explained we were just waiting for Benigno & the materials.

Secondino – one of the men who had attended all meetings & was confident they didn’t need the LT Crew & that he knew how to do it all, was absent, he sent his son instead, who informed us his dad had a sore foot & couldn’t make it. The son said he could attend Monday & no other day, & Elena told him if there weren’t people there for the whole 4 days, they wouldn’t know the whole process. She mentioned if they couldn’t find the team in MdN we could move to another community that was ready. Within an hour 3 more men arrived! & a few more women.

The truck arrived at 11am, the MdN reps. Checked off the invoice, & then the rest of the team unloaded the truck, men carrying 1 bag of cement each & women, carrying 1 bag between 2. It was stored in the corner of the little classroom, (in case we happened to get any more of this unseasonal weather), & by the time Benigno arrived at 11.30 the metal mesh was laid out & the people were already binding it together with ganchos “metal crochet hooks”, under the LT crew’s instructions.
pg 2 of 3

MdN people bought tools with them, including a ladder that was too short, so Rafael stood behind it & held it vertical for his brother Miguel to climb onto the roof & begin the measuring!

We met the Maestra, Mireya Figaroa, very kind & accommodating, & she was happy for Elena to tell the kids what was going on in their playground.

When Benigno arrived he joined the work crew, & during a break explained more about the water situation & reinforced the purpose of building a cistern, & the beauty of solving their own issues!

We spoke with the LT Crew (in this case the Cruz brothers) & confirmed they were confident about what additional materials they needed to purchase - sand, Gravel, bricks, glue, wood & the door to the cistern, along with a couple of things missing from the delivery.

I asked their estimate for cost of these materials & after discussion decided $4000 should cover it.
We confirmed they were able to work the 4 days & complete the training & the cistern.

There were more people than ganchos, so one of the guys bought a grinder from home & cut some lengths of rebar, sharpened them with the grinder & bent a handle on each, then there were plenty.

As we were leaving one of the women arrived with 2 big buckets, one with food & the other with agua fresca... they insisted we have a snack before we left. We had tostadas with TVP, which was miraculously like chicken, with onion, tomato & cilantro, & horchata (rice drink), both delicious!

Day 2. Tuesday
We had Rotary Committee meeting from 10am, & midday meeting didn’t finish until 3pm, Elena drove out to MdN early morning & peaked through the fence, the cistern was already standing upright! Great progress! & bricks, gravel & sand were there, the Crew had done their ordering.

Day 3 Wednesday 20th Jan.
This was Los Torres Assembly day (see separate report), on the way back, at 3pm we “popped” in to MdN Kinder to see what was going on.

Again good progress, both men & women were working, & a group of about 5 very small kids were playing building games in the sandpit! They had their mini shovels out & were filling plastic containers with sand, & moving them to their own construction area! Everyone was busy!

Day 4 Thursday 21st Jan
Elena & I headed out to MdN about 12midday to find a hive of industry. The top of the cistern was being plastered, Cal (lime) was mixed in a big bucket with chunks of Nopal cactus, which adds elasticity, essentially “self heals” small fissures.

We collected the “receipts” for materials that had been itemised for us, & paid the LT Crew.
We also made arrangements to meet Miguel & Rafael Saturday morning at an alternative materials supplier here in SMA (the other one we have been using is in Dolores Hidalgo, which is too difficult for the LT crew to get to), Enrique (another Rotarian) will accompany us on Saturday, to negotiate better prices & put in place arrangements (for the LT crew to sign for & Rotary to pay) for the materials, in an effort to simplify the process.

Some other things that happened-
There was a small dead rabbit in the grounds, the kids had found, they were very carefully inspecting it with sticks, & discovered the cause of death was ticks that were still attached to it’s ears.
They discussed it amongst themselves & decided they should bury it under the tree where it lay.
They asked one of the mums if they could use her shovel, & the smallest boy tried to dig a hole, then handed it to the biggest girl. She dug the hole to agreed specifications, & the smallest boy then gently moved the rabbit into his final resting place with the shovel (they already knew not to touch it with their bare hands!). Then they carefully placed the dirt on top, & ran to the flower garden & returned with bunches of geraniums & handfuls of green weeds & decorated the grave!

We advised MdN of the forthcoming monthly workshops in Los Torres, to which MdN is invited. NB Cedesa is doing this with no funding from us, it is their own initiative! (again see Los Torres next report),
pg 3 of 3
1st Wednesday of each month is to be a Traspatio workshop (backyard food production)

3rd Wednesday of each month is Health workshop (natural health methods),

In March Cedesa will begin bee keeping workshop on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
There were some cups with bees trapped in them with stones on top, I thought this was a great sign, since bee keeping training is starting in March!
Miguel (from Los Torres) proudly mentioned that their cisterns were overflowing again, thanks to the unseasonal rain last week. The cistern at the school that was half full is now full!

The other model of cistern the Ecology dept. installed at the MdN primary school (across the road from the kindergarten) is still empty, despite the rains, & the school teachers both asked if there was a chance we could build one our ferro cement cisterns there!
We told them we might be able to as, so far we have budget for 26, built 1, & have names down for 24, & to raise the issue at the next assembly.

They asked when the rest of the materials could be purchased, I said still waiting on money to arrive to the right place, & hopefully should be 1 month.

They wrote a big schedule of the workshops at Los Torres & intend to attend! Elena organised with Benigno from Cedesa to bring a big van & stop in MdN on the way to the workshop each Wednesday, to collect anyone interested. They informed us the ones that go will spread the info to the ones that can’t.

3 of the women asked what happens to the materials for the families of the people who committed to attending but haven’t shown up. We explained it can easily be made available to the people that did turn up, & it would be discussed at the next assembly.

One cistern up, 25 to go!!

NB Next assembly will be scheduled by phone on confirmation of receipt of all funds into the Frost Account.

4th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 2
4th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: El Cortijo & Montecillo de Nieto Primary School
When: 16 December 2009 11.20-12.10, & 12.30 – 2pm
Who: pre planning meeting –Elena & Laura (Rotary), Chela Cedesa.
Assembly, Elena, Laura & Chela, Hector & Leon (2 professors), 25 women, 4 men, 1 youth about 17yrs & many children.

Purpose: Pre planning session at El Cortijo & then Community Assembly at MdN Primary School – continuing planning of the project, including designation of training days & sessions.

Summary of proceedings
It was a cold day so we held the meeting inside the classroom, in traditional classroom format. Chela led the discussions, from the front of the room. As an observation, there seems to be less participation with this format, v the sitting in a circle, which encourages more participation & eye contact.

When we arrived Hector (one of the teachers) greeted us & asked how long our session was going to take since they had another meeting planned after ours. We optimistically said we thought it should only take half an hour or so! Famous last words!

First was creation of the agenda
1. a quick review reiterating the objective of construction of the cisterns, with a Q& A session.
2. Planning of construction of the first cistern, where, when, who
3. Invitation to a traspatio (back yard) design workshop being held in neighbouring Los Torres on the 13th Jan.
4. Brief explanation of SODIS, solar disinfection purification method
For speed, Chela was the co-ordinator & the teachers were taking notes, as well as calling the roll.

Item 1. Review of objectives of cistern/water collection project.
Q&A re water quality, scarcity, pollutants etc.

Item 2. Training days/Demonstration build
The primary teachers proposed the primary school (as an aside interesting that the teachers at the primary school were keen to have the 1st cistern built at the school, despite the fact they have the ecology department model there) & others suggested the Kindergarten.

It was put to a vote & majority decided the kinder should be the first site.
a. lots of the community benefit (as will future generations)
b. they don’t currently have safe drinking water
c. the kinder teacher is very keen.

Chela confirmed the number of families on the list is still 24, (although we have a budget for 26, so this means enough to build the cistern at the kinder, & 1 spare for any late comer).

One family – Lorena asked to be removed from the list as she is moving from MdN, & another family asked to take their place Leonore Ramirez, so the list stays at 24.

More items decided/informed:

• They have already decided on 4 work groups at the previous assembly.
• The training/demonstration build takes place over a 4 day period.
• The attendees voted to start at 9 & finish at 5 each day (after much debate!)
• As many people as possible from each group need to attend as many days as possible - to ensure a full skill set.
• A minimum of 2 people per group should attend each day.
• Chela described each of the days’ processes involved, & that the first 2 days tasks are ideal for women as they involve essentially “hooking together” 2 layers of wire using a metal hook.
• There was some discussion about each cistern taking 4 days, but it was explained that while it takes 4 days to make a cistern, more than 1 cistern can be constructed in 4 days, they could do as many as 7 or 8 cisterns per 4 days per group of 8.
• There are 22 kids currently at the kinder.
Page 2 of 2
• Secondino Jimenez is an abanile (experienced builder) & has volunteered to help train during the demonstration build, they think they don’t need much help from the Los Torres crew (seemed to be some good hearted neighbourly rivalry).
• Many people have tools they can bring “ganchos” (hooks) & wire cutters.


The days for demonstration build are 18th, 19th, 20th & 21st January.
Each of the people in each group then committed to attending which ever days they could, a list was made. (Teachers & Chela have the list) This took quite some time!!

One woman raised a point
“if there are people that have kids at the kinder that haven’t volunteered to participate in the families cistern project then what?”

Solution was decided – Eva & Erendina will talk to the Maestra & ask her to co-ordinate the participation of those parents that have kids at the kinder but are not involved in the big project.

We asked where the materials should be delivered, ie a secure spot, & it was decided that into the kinder grounds was best.

Eva & Erendina will be responsible. Erendina’s cellphone number is 415 10 60 318.

Item 3. invitation to traspatio workshop.
Chela described briefly what a backyard garden was, & discussed what could be grown in it, answers were yelled out, carrots, onions, chilli, cilantro, beans, trees, fruit trees, cactus, magueys, tunas (a type of cactus fruit), herbs, chickens, etc,

The workshop is about producing your own food, first for the family & then excess to trade or sell. Money is hard to come by, so the more food you can grow yourself the better, also it is more healthy, no pesticides & not junk food.

Anyone interested in learning more about this was invited to be waiting at 11.45 on the 13th Jan when we would be driving by on our way to Los Torres. We will give them a ride.

Item 4, Sodis Solar Disinfection purification method
Laura & Elena briefly described firstly bacteria, & how they can occur & how kill them using the solar purification method. See www.sodis.ch for more info.

Actually, I think most had discounted this, since they figure the water they get from their roofs will be many times better than the water they have been drinking for years from who knows where (truck deliveries).

We concluded the assembly at 2pm. (so much for ½ an hour!)

NB Next assembly date was not decided upon, we will need to decide that at the demonstration build days on the 18th-21st..

(note from me – I noticed there were more men at this meeting, could be they had nothing better to do & it was a cold day, or hopefully, they wanted to know more & are keen to get it going, they certainly seemed to think they would not need much help from the demonstration team. Hmmmm....)

3Rd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 3
3Rd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: El Cortijo & Montecillo de Nieto Primary School
When: 18 November 2009 11.20-12.10, & 12.30 – 3.05
Who: pre planning meeting –Elena & Laura (Rotary), Chela Cedesa.
Assembly, Elena, Laura & Chela, Hector & Leon (2 professors), 26 women, 1 man & many children.

Purpose: Pre planning session at El Cortijo & then Community Assembly at MdN Primary School – continuing planning of the project, including deciding which families will be receiving cisterns in the first phase, (limited to 26 cisterns) & establishing working groups.

We decided to hold the meeting outside under a big tree, so we could sit in a circle, & be less constrained by the desks & layout in the classroom. It was more conducive to participation & involvement.

When we first arrived only a few women were there, & about 6 women were washing dishes after the lunch. (Feed the Hungry provides this school lunch program).

Elena & I looked more closely at the water collection system the municipal govt. had put in place. The membrane tank & it´s lid are ill fitting, for the support structure, & when we peered into the tank the level is only about 3 inches of water at the bottom. This is at the end of the rainy season, so the tank should be almost full!

We walked around the tank, & found a slimy puddle leading from under the tank, which seems to indicate there is a slow leak. We mentioned this to Leon (one of the teachers) who said they know about it & have informed the Ecology department, who are waiting for it to empty before repairing. This is additional confirmation for us that the ferro cement tank is the better solution.

Chela, Elena & I asked to be shown the kindergarten, which is across the road. We were led there by Eva & Enerina. Chela asked lots of questions about the community. The kinder is a lovely building with a grove of about 8 mature mesquites shading most of the grounds. They have a 1500ltr tinaco (plastic tank) at the kinder, not connected to the roof, but for delivery by the water truck.

Most people in the community have sold their land to foreigners. Only about 3 locals still own parcels of land. The lots they now live on are small unproductive lots. The people sold their land out of ignorance, & have spent the money in most cases.

There is a small springfed creek at the back of the kindergarten, but it is dry except in the rainy season, most of the year the “spring” is dry.

The meeting started at 1.20pm.
1. Hello & thank you for coming. (Chela)
2. “Reflection” (Elena)
a review of what has happened since the last assembly 1 month ago.
The women who committed to collecting a census of the community, listing who would be like to participate in the project, collected all the names & ages of each of the members of all the families (42 in total).

Elena thanked them for their hard & excellent work. She thanked everyone for coming today, walking here to attend the meeting, & described this as the seed, or beginnings, & congratulated them on their motivation to attend.

Is there anything pending from the previous meeting? No.

3. Chela engaged the community´s responses with a number of statements & questions
• It´s important for everyone to take responsibility in their own hands & make their family & community wellbeing a priority.
• “in this community you have a problem with water – what´s the problem?”
• They all responded the water is contaminated, & that fluoride was the contaminant. Chela gave a bit more background re the contamination issue around their region.
Page 2 of 3
• “You have yellow teeth from drinking this water, we are here to work to solve this issue for who?” & they all responded “for our kids!”
• How many people are at today´s meeting who also attended the 1st meeting – 20 people raised their hands. She congratulated them for organising themselves to attend this 2nd meeting.
• Is it a free project? – no! we need to work.
• People have rights, but with rights come obligations.
• Chela asked where else it talks about rights & obligations, Elena offered – in the bible, & Chela said, also in the Constitution of Mexico, & talked a little about the rights of the people as described in the constitution. An example was described using a book the teachers use in the 3rd grade class.
• The right to drinking water is a basic human right.
• One of the men at the meeting has been buying bottled water for 30 years.
• They all want clean water for their kids & grand kids.
• “you can all speak, not just listen”
• What are you prepared to do for safe drinking water – work & participate, by building the cisterns & attending the meetings.

They all recorded their names in the “roll book” from the first meeting.

4.What future do you see for your kids? What can you imagine?
Interestingly, this was a difficult one for the women to answer. Either they were trying to work out what it was we were expecting them to say, or they weren´t able to visualise anything for their kids´future… I suspect from their eventual answers, it was the former.
a. safe drinking water
b. the awareness to conserve water (because it´s not a renewable resource!)
c. for the kids to learn the bible, know the words of the bible. (living in harmony with eachother & resources, learn values).

(I was imagining how a group of American women would answer this question, with things like to be happy, to have good jobs, be passionate about what they do, be successful in their fields, travel the world, be good people, but nothing like this came up, again maybe they were wanting to provide the “right” answer).

5. Phase 1 Participants selection
The list of people interested in participating has 42 families.
The scope of this project (at least phase 1) is 26 cisterns, we communicated this & then set about determining who the first 26 families would be.

There were 28 people attending the meeting. We worked through the attendees, & called out the name & asked each person how many in their family. This is how the list transpired.
1. Maria del Carmen Villa Franco 7 people (2 families will share, 1 of 3, 1 of 4 people)
2. Margarita Pastor 6
3. Irene Jimenez 8
4. Maria Griselda 5
5. Soledara Ramirez 5
6. Alicia Peña 8 (2 families will share)
7. Marie Elena Cortez 6
8. Nancy Galvan 6
9. Lorena Garcia 5
10. Maria Irene Ramirez 6
11. Emelia Ramirez 7
12. Gloria Peña 6
13. Maria Cruz Jimenez 13 (2 families)
14. Victoria Vazquez 5
15. Lorena Ramirez 3
16. Hermalinda Barranca 7
17. Micaela Muñoz 7
18. Casilda Ramirez 8
19. Aurelia Peña 7
20. Secondido Ramirez 11 (3 families)
21. Eva Garcia 5
Page 3 of 3
22. Enerina Ramirez 3
23. Irma Carmona 9 (2 families)
24. Maria Blanca Ramirez (Taboada) 4

One elderly woman (with just her & her husband) said her husband can not help build it since he has a job, but she still wanted one, we pointed out that she could do the work herself, but since there are only 2 of them, maybe she could share with her close neighbours (family), she said she had not organised this, in the meantime we have her as the next phase, in an attempt to maximise the number of people we can serve.

We were lucky that so many families have chosen to co-operate as this will definitely maximise the solution!

6. Dividing into working groups
We explained the process of work groups, ie to build one cistern would take 1 family for days, but that 7 families could build 7 cisterns in 4 days, & that the group was collectively responsible for ensuring all cisterns are built.

There are currently 24 people on the list (with a space for 2 more if they attend the meetings in future & seek permission of the community).

It was decided to work in 4 groups of 6 (not 3 groups of 8). The names in bold are the leaders of each group.

Group 1. Group 2. Group 3. Group 4.
Margarita Carmen Griselda Gloria
Casilda Victoria Alicia Soledad
Eva Secondino Elena Audelia
Micaela Emelia Lorena R Enedina
Irene Nancy Maria Cruz Lorena G
Maria Blanca Maria Irene Irma Hermelinda

The next Assembly (#3) date was set for December 16th at 12.30
With luck we will have the funding approved by TRF, & be ready to begin the project by this date.

Photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=steve.mckee&target=ALBUM&id=5395898476865345153&authkey=Gv1sRgCN3a_7DOi7iACg&feat=email

2nd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 2
2nd Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Montecillo de Nieto Water Project

Where: El Cortijo & Montecillo de Nieto Primary School
When: 21 October 2009 11.20-12.10, & 12.30 – 2.45
Who: pre planning meeting – Bob, Elena & Laura (Rotary), Chela & Holly Cedesa.
Assembly, Bob, Elena, Laura & Chela, Hector & Leon (2 professors), + 32 Adults (including 1 man, Luis from Taboada), & 6 kids, with about a million kids playing outside in the school grounds.

Purpose: Pre planning session at El Cortijo & then Community Assembly at MdN Primary School – first public notification of possible project & call for interest in involvement in this project.

We arrived to the school & were welcomed by a bunch of happy & curious school kids, we entered the class room & the Teachers had already written up an agenda for the day, including the first item, which was a visit by a Govt. Official inviting parents to become involved in a program on parenting & health. The mums sat there pretty passively, looked at the handout books & were advised to attend the kinder if they were interested.

Next it was our turn, more people came in, a total of about 32, + the 2 professors who were very helpful, & co-operative, preparing printouts for people to sign their attendance & chalk for blackboards etc.

One of the teachers speaks English well, & was able to help with translation on a few points.

1stly Chela introduced us all, & spoke a little about Rotary, & Cedesa & what we were there for.
• The theme of the meeting was noted as water, & they were asked for their input on what they knew about water in the area. Some of the responses follow
• We have contaminated fluoride
• Contaminated by rubbish & drains
• & high fluoride
Chela asked what they knew about fluoride contamination, they were aware that it damages teeth, & she added that it also damages bones & major organs.

Chela asked them if they thought this was a problem or not, there was a resounding yes...

Chela talked about the watershed in general & the fact that the aquifer is reducing at a rapid rate & asked me to explain more, I talked about the slow recharge rate, that the water moves 1 mtr per year, so for example the rain we receive today will not enter the aquifer for 60 years if the water table is 60 metres deep in this area, in many areas the wells are deeper than 180 metres!

There was talk of pipes being layed to pipe the water from the Sapasma drilled well in Los Torres to MdN, but there has been no further action by govt on this. There has also been a rumour they might drill another well in MdN, but apparently this would go against current policy, re proximity of wells in regions.

Next we talked about a solution.
Only 2 people were aware of the Los Torres cisterns, but all were aware of the govt. Project to catch water at the school The tank is made of polypropelene (?) & is essentially supported in a structure with a loose fitting lid. There are mosquitos in the water. They have pumps & filters.

Pg 2 of 2
The most crucial point is that although there is a capacity of 30,000 litres it is estimated to be only 1/3rd full at the end of the rainy season. This is because only a small part of the available roof was piped to the cistern, it seems no followup has been done to check the efficiency of
the project, or they would have added the additional piping required to fill the tank. Pipes are cheap!

It was discussed that the community are not able to replicate this model (incidentally the same model as the project Rotary did at San Miguel Viejo, prior to our new development approach & revised model).

The maestro also mentioned that this project was very expensive, 1million pesos for just 9 schools.

Chela invited us to describe what Rotary was offering, & also asked why we were doing this.

Elena kindly translated for me, & in many cases guessed what I was going to say next & said it for me!!
We explained what Rotary was, & that there are members globally that care about the rest of the world & want to assist in making the world a better place.

We described the process of the project completed in Los Torres, including census, working in groups & positive outcomes. We handed around the instruction booklet which describes the process.

We also pointed out that there were many more families involved at the beginning, then some dropped out, & then some came back on board & that this was normal in the process.

We asked if they would like to be involved & all agreed.

We explained the next step was to form a mini committee.
5 people volunteered
Margarita (MdN)
Carmen (MdN)
Luis Cisneros (Taboada)
Irene Jimenez (MdN)
Emilia Ramirez (MdN)

These people will go house to house & explain the project, & ask who wants to be involved. They will record
Families, no. of people, roof material, size of roof
& they will invite them to attend the next meeting.

The committee will report back to the next meeting. (they agreed to do the census by Monday)

Next Meeting Wednesday 18th November 12.30 at the MdN School

Photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=steve.mckee&target=ALBUM&id=5395898476865345153&authkey=Gv1sRgCN3a_7DOi7iACg&feat=email

quick update MdN - Report 1 MdN Project Montecillo de Nieto

Hi guys,

Bill, let me present you to the team - Bob (I know you've met), Elena & Holly (whom you will meet in person on your forthcoming visit).
We have had 2 previous planning meetings, with this community, one at Casa de Aves (a local hotel that employs a large number of the community of MdN) & also the delegado (whom we have met previously at Presidential meetings involving his & the Los Torres communities).

These meetings would be considered pre-planning meetings, a handshake session, with a little bit of information imparted by both sides. Essentially to prove that the community is keen to be involved in this project, as they have seen at their neighbouring community Los Torres.

Thanks to Elena we had a very successful visit to MdN this morning. (Bob sorry that you were sick, hope you are feeling better).

We met with the 2 profesores of the MdN school - Hector Rivas & Leon Morales as planned.
They were very accommodating & organised, & had copies of the emails Holly & Irma & Elena had sent regarding the various things going on in MdN right now.

Re the Adobe Boveda Workshop - they are meeting with the community this Thursday & will choose 2 people to attend the workshop.
They have Holly's email address & agreed to send contact information & the 2 names to her after the meeting on Thursday.

Re the Foro
They will raise this topic at the Thursday meeting also & will forward details to Holly in the same way.
They said they will do their best to convince a couple of members of the community to present at the foro, but if not able to find someone for the presentation side, then they will at least impress upon them the importance of attending the Foro.

Re the MdN Community meeting on the 21st October
Change of time - now 12.30midday at MdN (they had a clash at 12 midday),
The community will be there & ready.

Re the Water collection project in general - they have some awareness about this already from a presentation by the Ecology dept, & a poster demonstrating the Water tank idea, & the project the Eco. dept has implemented at the school.
They feel sure that the community are very pleased to be involved in this.
A few facts:
the school has 64 kids
the kindergarten across the road approx 23 kids
there are approx 20 kids attending from nearby Taboada
the number of families in MdN was estimated at 45
the number of families in nearby Taboada is estimated at 10

It was agreed that Taboada should be included in the MdN project, as they are very close neighbours, & have the same water issues, they will also be invited to attend the 21st October prelim community assembly.

We explained we have sufficient funding (thank you Tallahassee!!) to begin a phase I of 26 cisterns.

As an aside - we had a look at the water collection system that the Ecology dept. has installed at the school.
Interestingly, despite having a capacity of 30,000 litres, the tank looks to be less than 1/2 full, which is less that should be at the end of the rainy season.
Only a small part of the roof has been included in this project, we could mention this to the dept of ecology, or we could maybe assist them to include a larger portion on the roof, to maximise this expensive storage system.

The meeting was from 9.30am to 10.30 am (Elena & I then spent some time exploring the neighbouring communities, re possible future projects.

Next Meeting 21 October at 12.30 at the MdN School,
with another meeting (a mini meeting with committee on foro, & proposed technical team) on 21st Oct at 4pm in Los Torres.