1st Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 2
1st Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

Where: Lomas de San José Community, opposite Candelaria on the Road to Dolores.
When: Friday 29.05.09 6pm – 7.40pm
Who: Enrique Orvañanos & Laura Stewart (Rotary) & 65 adults & 25 kids from the community.
Purpose: Introduction meeting with members of the community potentially interested in participating in a water collection project.

Enriqué visited the tienda (the focal point) earlier in the week to ask if there was any interest in a community meeting to discuss the possibility of a solution to their water issues. He asked the tienda owners to inform the community.

At 6pm Enriqué & I arrived to find a large welcoming group gathered across from the Tienda.

We introduced ourselves & described Rotary & it´s purpose worldwide & told them of the pilot water collection project we completed in Los Torres, & phase II of that project currently in progress.

We took a whiteboard & drew pictures of the cistern & water collection system, & described how it was done. We also passed around the newspaper article published in the Atención that showed the LT kinder & community & the cistern.

We also explained the co-ordination & teaching was done by an organisation called Cedesa.

We asked where they get their water from currently:
• They receive it by pipa (municipality trucks)
• the deliveries are from 8-20 days apart
• sometimes during the rainy season the trucks can not get through to make the deliveries
• They receive 200 ltrs per family per delivery
• They often run out of water between deliveries.
• They do not drink the water, it often smells of chlorine & is a yellowish colour,
• They can not afford the fuel to boil the water so -
• They buy their drinking water
• There are no wells in the community (although a ranch nearby has a well)

We asked if there was any interest in participating in a project if we were to provide the materials & train the trainer, & they build the cisterns in groups for use by individual families. With a show of hands, almost 100% responded yes.

It is very interesting to note that this community was immediately animated & participating in 2 way discussion, other communities that I have visited have been very shy & did not volunteer to “tomar la palabra” (take the word, or speak…),
This community was happily the opposite! They immediately began asking questions & discussing plans amongst themselves.




Record of Event pg 2 of 2
1st Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Lomas de San José Water Project

They asked the next steps –

• since they did not know the size of their community, number of families etc. we asked for them to do a mini-census of those interested in participating in the project
• They were happy to do this in 1 wk
• We agreed to meet the following Sunday at 6pm

Interesting observations:
• Although this community is only 10 minutes from town, the living standards are as bad, if not worse than those of the more rural communities, the rural communities tend to have more space in which to have crops or backyard gardens, this community has smaller (less productive) lots.
• Many of the households are without fathers (working in the USA or absent)
• They have no delegado or community committee organised as they are in the municipality (ie under the Mayor)
• They have no school, the children must attend school in the neighbouring community (apparently a bone of contention)

After the meeting concluded, a number of the people remained milling around asking us questions,
• they would like help to build dry toilets,
• & 2 of the mothers bought forward an 8 year old boy (whose mum was not at the meeting), he does not attend school as his mother can not afford the fees or to buy a uniform, he said he would really like to go to school.

Next meeting Sunday 7 June 6pm – outside the Tienda.

27th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Record of Event pg 1 of 1
27th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project

Where: El Cortijo (behind La Gruta)
When: 22.05.09 10.30 – 12pm
Who: Holly Yasui & Benigno (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary),
Purpose: Discuss some points re Phase II of the project , discuss the school cisterns project & how many families for phase III.

Roofing – we discussed the possibility of not needing to replace the asbestos roofing. Some research has found that drinking asbestos may not be too damaging, compared to breathing it! Benigno pointed out that the roofs get very dry & powdery & we decided it is not worth the risk.

Benigno will get price comparison of three types of roofing
• Plastic lamina
• Metal lamina
• Onduline

Benigno is in Venezuela from 26/5 – 1/6.

Holly is in hospital for hip operation for 4 days, June 4,5,6 & 7, then will be in bed recuperating for 2-4 wks.

B will check emails as often as possible, he doesn’t have email at home, but will check whenever he is at Cedesa.

B will also check that they diverted the first rains at the kinder, he told them they needed to. This is the first visit since some rain.

At the meeting of 28th May we need to discuss:
how many families would like to be involved in phase III.
The plan for the school cisterns (Re the SMCF grant number 2)

There was some problem with the cashing of the cheque that was deposited directly into the account for Hierro Comercial, there is a rumour that the cheque was rejected for some reason, we are therefore not sure if the delivery to the community has been made. B will be checking that today, Holly will check on the Chq when she is in Dolores next.

Later discovered – cheque was rejected, something to do with signatures, not sure why & a fee of $172 was charged, with no proper explanation. A big mystery (& huge hassle!)


Next meeting 28.5.09 Los Torres, 11am @ Chucha’s house.