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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
30th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project
Record of Event pg 1 of 3
30th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project
Where: El Cortijo (behind La Gruta) & Los Torres Casa of Chuy.
When: 23.09.09 10.30 – 1:00pm
Who: Chela (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), Holly(Cedesa), & approx 36 adult community members (including 5 men) (& tonnes of children!)
Purpose: Pre-assembly planning meeting & details catch up.
& Community assembly/meeting follow up.
Chela, Holly & I met first for a pre-meeting planning session & then headed for Los Torres.
.1. the Roll was called (using the list of attenders they have created, & checking th column when they respond “presente”.
.2. Difference between an Assembly & a meeting: Chela re-iterated the difference, an assembly must have a quorum of more than ½ the number of families in the community attending. A meeting is a group of community members gathered to discuss issues & recommend actions.
.3. The purpose of meetings & description of the attendees was discussed. The community commented that it is more than a meeting to discuss water cisterns, it is also for talking about traspatios, grey water etc. Chela called for a name of the group, many suggestions were made,
Eg assembly of progress, communal assembly, assembly of community health, assembly of development & progress, assembly of productive solutions.
Chela concluded that it is a space of analysis, discussion of solutions, & for making decisions.
.4. Chela called for proposals for the co-ordinator & record taker for today’s meeting. It was unanimously decided that Jesus (a young man of about 22) should be co-ordinator, & Concha would take records again.
(This was particularly interesting as Jesus had been involved in an issue during a previous assembly where he was accused of not working hard enough with the group & had walked out of the meeting – it was a meeting while I was in NZ – he had obviously gotten over this & was very keen & did a great job of co-ordinating a really busy meeting!)
.5. Jesus called for Agenda Items
Agenda was set:
1. Invitations to 2 events – Holly
2. Talk about consulting team creation “Equipo de acessoria”
3. Cruz del Palmar women attending – would like help to build cisterns in their community.
4. Review Maria & School cisterns – complete?
5. Conservation of water
6. Purification method
Agenda item 1.
Holly had 2 events to invite the people of Los Torres to attend
a) Adobe domed roof building workshop – this is a workshop being subsidised by a local foundation, for the purpose of teaching rural communities how to construct domed roofs out of compressed adobe.
There are 4 spaces for Los Torres community members paid for. This includes food, & a transport allowance & 3 days attendance at the workshop on 5,6 & 7 October.
pg 2 of 3
One of the women made the point that whoever attends should then demonstrate the building techniques to those that are unable to attend, since they are getting the workshop for free, as a way to share the technology.
Jesus Alvarado, Daniel Garcia (both young men of about 22), Manuel Alvarado & Santiago Cruz all asked to attend, (with Manuel Alvarado snr going as an observer as his hand is still damaged). Holly will co-ordinate via Daniel’s cell phone 415 114 5205.
This was discussed in conjuction with the 2nd Agenda item of creating a consulting team at Los Torres
B) the 2nd invitation was to for the community (whoever would like to go) to attend a Forum on Water, it’s a forum where the people affected by water issues get to share their experiences, in the hope that they can then network with other people similarly affected, & to meet representatives from organisations that are working in the field of water.
Holly asked if they would care to speak at the forum, on 2 topics, both the problems they faced & the solution they have implemented. A committee was formed
Marta Y Manuel, Chuy, Ofelia, Reyna, Carmela, Maria, Piedad, Carolina & Delfina.
A mini meeting is planned for 21.10.09 at 4pm, to work on the presentation.
Agenda item 2. Forming a Consulting team in Los Torres.
Laura & Chela proposed that a consulting team be formed, that can then work as technical consultants & trainers of future projects & for other communities.
There are many people in Los Torres that are able use their newly learned skills & experience to help others. For future projects we need to employ technical consultants, why not use the people of Los Torres?
It was suggested the team should be 3 or 4 people, & proposals were made
Juan Alvarado, Jose Miguel Cruz (delegado), Rafael Cruz, Guillermo Alvarado.
Most of the men were not present so their wives need to propose this to them & report back at the next meeting.
Agenda item 3. Cruz Del Palmar solicitation
This was a particularly exciting part of the meeting – the dream of this project was that this method of catching & saving water be replicated in as many communities as possible.
Today, 2 women from Cruz Del Palmar – a neighbouring community, especially came to the meeting to ask for help in implementing Cisterns in their community!
(Teresa Gonzalez & Lucia Ramirez Ramirez of Bella Vista in Cruz Del Palmar)
They stood & introduced themselves (no mean feat in front of such a large audience) & described their problem & asked for help. They were asked what they had found out about the LT Water project, & they said they found that everyone liked it & that it’s working. Chela asked them how they thought LT had done it – they responded “in groups!”
They have sporadic water delivery in their part of CdP, some of CdP has water from a community well on tap, others have none. We have no information of level of Fluoride contamination in this community.
pg 3 of 3
The LT people had various suggestions for them – including,
• form a group of people to do the initial work,
• then go door to door & survey the people in the community to see who would be interested in being involved in a water cistern project
• gather statistics (size of families etc)
• come back to the next meeting with the information they have gathered.
• Don’t expect the whole community to be involved, the LT people at today’s meeting are the ones interested in the LT community for example.
• CdP people could come & participate in the Phase III project to learn the process.
• The work has to be done in groups, it doesn’t work individually & you need to involve the whole family (including the kids) in the process
The LT people have become expert in the process of solving their own issues, so much so, that they are able to advise people in their situation!!!
Dependant on what information the women from CdP come back with, ie description of need, & statistics, Rotary may help in this community as well. We could apply for funding from SMCF again, so that we can do a demonstration training day.
The main point is - that word of the success of the LT project is getting around & the project is growing legs!
The women were invited to present their info at the next meeting.
There was a big round of applause for the women of CdP!!
They thanked us all & left.
Chela took the opportunity to discuss more general information about the watershed & the environment (this is her true passion),
Agenda item 4 Review of Maria’s & the School’s cisterns
Maria’s cistern is completely finished (as are all of them now), most of them are more than ¾ full, the delegado has added ANOTHER piece of roof & piping, so his is overflowing!!
The school cistern needs more piping, after discussion of how to solve this, Chela offered that Benigno would return to LT, assess the situation & purchase the necessary pipes (he has access to the funds needed & it would be more complicated to get someone from LT to do it re funds)
The School kitchen roof (for 1 of the 3 cisterns) needs to be covered – even if is only for the next few weeks of the rainy season, as the roof is asbestos & there is no more money in the budget to replace it.
Items 5 & 6 to carry over to next meeting. We ran out of time.
Next Community assembly 28.10.09 10.30 am
Forum planning mini meeting 21.10.09 4pm
Domed adobe roof building workshop (cedesa) 5,6,,7 Oct all day.
Forum for people affected with water issues, 24 October 9-6pm Near the Presidentia
30th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project
Where: El Cortijo (behind La Gruta) & Los Torres Casa of Chuy.
When: 23.09.09 10.30 – 1:00pm
Who: Chela (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), Holly(Cedesa), & approx 36 adult community members (including 5 men) (& tonnes of children!)
Purpose: Pre-assembly planning meeting & details catch up.
& Community assembly/meeting follow up.
Chela, Holly & I met first for a pre-meeting planning session & then headed for Los Torres.
.1. the Roll was called (using the list of attenders they have created, & checking th column when they respond “presente”.
.2. Difference between an Assembly & a meeting: Chela re-iterated the difference, an assembly must have a quorum of more than ½ the number of families in the community attending. A meeting is a group of community members gathered to discuss issues & recommend actions.
.3. The purpose of meetings & description of the attendees was discussed. The community commented that it is more than a meeting to discuss water cisterns, it is also for talking about traspatios, grey water etc. Chela called for a name of the group, many suggestions were made,
Eg assembly of progress, communal assembly, assembly of community health, assembly of development & progress, assembly of productive solutions.
Chela concluded that it is a space of analysis, discussion of solutions, & for making decisions.
.4. Chela called for proposals for the co-ordinator & record taker for today’s meeting. It was unanimously decided that Jesus (a young man of about 22) should be co-ordinator, & Concha would take records again.
(This was particularly interesting as Jesus had been involved in an issue during a previous assembly where he was accused of not working hard enough with the group & had walked out of the meeting – it was a meeting while I was in NZ – he had obviously gotten over this & was very keen & did a great job of co-ordinating a really busy meeting!)
.5. Jesus called for Agenda Items
Agenda was set:
1. Invitations to 2 events – Holly
2. Talk about consulting team creation “Equipo de acessoria”
3. Cruz del Palmar women attending – would like help to build cisterns in their community.
4. Review Maria & School cisterns – complete?
5. Conservation of water
6. Purification method
Agenda item 1.
Holly had 2 events to invite the people of Los Torres to attend
a) Adobe domed roof building workshop – this is a workshop being subsidised by a local foundation, for the purpose of teaching rural communities how to construct domed roofs out of compressed adobe.
There are 4 spaces for Los Torres community members paid for. This includes food, & a transport allowance & 3 days attendance at the workshop on 5,6 & 7 October.
pg 2 of 3
One of the women made the point that whoever attends should then demonstrate the building techniques to those that are unable to attend, since they are getting the workshop for free, as a way to share the technology.
Jesus Alvarado, Daniel Garcia (both young men of about 22), Manuel Alvarado & Santiago Cruz all asked to attend, (with Manuel Alvarado snr going as an observer as his hand is still damaged). Holly will co-ordinate via Daniel’s cell phone 415 114 5205.
This was discussed in conjuction with the 2nd Agenda item of creating a consulting team at Los Torres
B) the 2nd invitation was to for the community (whoever would like to go) to attend a Forum on Water, it’s a forum where the people affected by water issues get to share their experiences, in the hope that they can then network with other people similarly affected, & to meet representatives from organisations that are working in the field of water.
Holly asked if they would care to speak at the forum, on 2 topics, both the problems they faced & the solution they have implemented. A committee was formed
Marta Y Manuel, Chuy, Ofelia, Reyna, Carmela, Maria, Piedad, Carolina & Delfina.
A mini meeting is planned for 21.10.09 at 4pm, to work on the presentation.
Agenda item 2. Forming a Consulting team in Los Torres.
Laura & Chela proposed that a consulting team be formed, that can then work as technical consultants & trainers of future projects & for other communities.
There are many people in Los Torres that are able use their newly learned skills & experience to help others. For future projects we need to employ technical consultants, why not use the people of Los Torres?
It was suggested the team should be 3 or 4 people, & proposals were made
Juan Alvarado, Jose Miguel Cruz (delegado), Rafael Cruz, Guillermo Alvarado.
Most of the men were not present so their wives need to propose this to them & report back at the next meeting.
Agenda item 3. Cruz Del Palmar solicitation
This was a particularly exciting part of the meeting – the dream of this project was that this method of catching & saving water be replicated in as many communities as possible.
Today, 2 women from Cruz Del Palmar – a neighbouring community, especially came to the meeting to ask for help in implementing Cisterns in their community!
(Teresa Gonzalez & Lucia Ramirez Ramirez of Bella Vista in Cruz Del Palmar)
They stood & introduced themselves (no mean feat in front of such a large audience) & described their problem & asked for help. They were asked what they had found out about the LT Water project, & they said they found that everyone liked it & that it’s working. Chela asked them how they thought LT had done it – they responded “in groups!”
They have sporadic water delivery in their part of CdP, some of CdP has water from a community well on tap, others have none. We have no information of level of Fluoride contamination in this community.
pg 3 of 3
The LT people had various suggestions for them – including,
• form a group of people to do the initial work,
• then go door to door & survey the people in the community to see who would be interested in being involved in a water cistern project
• gather statistics (size of families etc)
• come back to the next meeting with the information they have gathered.
• Don’t expect the whole community to be involved, the LT people at today’s meeting are the ones interested in the LT community for example.
• CdP people could come & participate in the Phase III project to learn the process.
• The work has to be done in groups, it doesn’t work individually & you need to involve the whole family (including the kids) in the process
The LT people have become expert in the process of solving their own issues, so much so, that they are able to advise people in their situation!!!
Dependant on what information the women from CdP come back with, ie description of need, & statistics, Rotary may help in this community as well. We could apply for funding from SMCF again, so that we can do a demonstration training day.
The main point is - that word of the success of the LT project is getting around & the project is growing legs!
The women were invited to present their info at the next meeting.
There was a big round of applause for the women of CdP!!
They thanked us all & left.
Chela took the opportunity to discuss more general information about the watershed & the environment (this is her true passion),
Agenda item 4 Review of Maria’s & the School’s cisterns
Maria’s cistern is completely finished (as are all of them now), most of them are more than ¾ full, the delegado has added ANOTHER piece of roof & piping, so his is overflowing!!
The school cistern needs more piping, after discussion of how to solve this, Chela offered that Benigno would return to LT, assess the situation & purchase the necessary pipes (he has access to the funds needed & it would be more complicated to get someone from LT to do it re funds)
The School kitchen roof (for 1 of the 3 cisterns) needs to be covered – even if is only for the next few weeks of the rainy season, as the roof is asbestos & there is no more money in the budget to replace it.
Items 5 & 6 to carry over to next meeting. We ran out of time.
Next Community assembly 28.10.09 10.30 am
Forum planning mini meeting 21.10.09 4pm
Domed adobe roof building workshop (cedesa) 5,6,,7 Oct all day.
Forum for people affected with water issues, 24 October 9-6pm Near the Presidentia
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