Report 8 Vivienda de Arrba Assembly. 7 de julio del 2010

Report 8 Vivienda de Arrba Assembly. 7 de julio del 2010

Where: Vivienda de Arriba Chapel
When: Wed, July 7, 11 a.m.
Who: Chela, Holly and Saul Juarez (Cedesa), 27 people from Vivienda, 2 from La TInaja, 4 from Presita de Santa Rosa and 2 from San Lorenzo.

Ana Maria Torres was designated as coordinator of the assembly, she also took roll. There were four new people from Vivienda de Arriba at this assembly, Marta Maria Ramírez, Azucena Ramírez and Irene & José Luis López. They are interested in phase II.

Saul Juárez was introduced as a new CEDESA promoter in this region.
The progress of the current cistern construction was reviewed – all are finished except a few need to be waterproofed and connected to the roofs. Roofing materials has arrived for Lorena, but there are two more roofs that are problematic – very rusty lamina (Tomasa), and dirty clay shingles (Andrea Granados). They asked if they could also get lamina, but Holly said she thought the project was closed, she would have to confer with Laura.

Chela asked: What was the experience like? It was hard work! “We enjoyed working together even though it was hard, especially putting the ‘hat’ on the top of the cistern.” “I liked it a lot, we got along well. Gloria is really good with the shovel!” When someone couldn’t come to a work-session, they sent someone else in their place, or doubled up before or after their absence. “I had to miss a day, but the next day I made my husband come with me.”

“How do you like the cistern that was made by all the old people? Did you see how the cap came out, all crooked! But it’s only that one came out badly, all the rest look nice. Each cistern is different and some of us have decorated our cisterns.”

“Many thanks to Lupe, who helped with the cuchara (skilled masonry work), and also Don Carlos, Don Felipe y Andrés. We now have technicians who can help in our second phase and other communities. We all know how to weave and make the cement mixture now.”

In Group 1, everyone went home for lunch, “that gave me a chance to feed the pig!” said one woman. In Group 2, the “host” of the house where they were working provided meals, almuerzo around noon and comida at 3 or 4 in the afternoon.

“We are happy to see the level of water in the hose. It was worth it, even though we had to postpone planting in order to finish the cistern.”

“We had fun, laughing and talking together. We worked really hard. But now, every morning it makes me so happy to see the cistern. The water is really delicious, it tastes better than the water you buy in bottles.”

Some people asked about disinfecting the water and Holly explained the SODIS process, and promised to bring a sheet on maintenance and SODIS to the next assembly.

Ana announced that the people of Vivienda would like to celebrate the finishing of their cisterns with a “convivencia” including a reflection on the importance of water, a mass by the priest from Cruz del Palmar, a tour of some cisterns, and lunch. She asked when Laura would be back, and Holly told them July 20 so they chose Friday of that week, July 23. Holly was asked to invite the Rotary Club and government officials.

Chela in turn invited everyone from Vivienda to attend the “Food Sovereignty” event at CEDESA, which would also include a reflection upon community development work. A list of 10 people wanted to attend; Holly agreed to arrange for transportation (it turned out that 17 people from Vivienda attended – the largest turnout at CEDESA from any single community!)

A list of names for Phase II was compiled (after some discussion about whether or not people who are in the U.S: qualify .- the decision was to give priority to people who live full-time in Vivienda, but to keep a second list of people who are in the U.S. but have representatives who will work for them – in a later conversation, Ana told Holly that if neither of her brothers-in-law are included in Phase II, she cannot volunteer to be the community contact any longer):

People living in Vivienda de Arriba:

1. Gloria Arreiega (also helped in Phase I)
2. Luisa Vargas
3. Rogelio García
4. Francisca Ramírez
5. José Guadalupe Ramírez
6. Marta Ramírez
7. Ubaldo Granados
8. Irene & José Luis López
9. Cristina Morales
10. Leovardo Ramírez

People who are in the U.S.:

1. Juan Carlos Ramírez (represented by Nicolasa)
2. Gerardo Ramírez (represented by Acuzena)
3. Frederico Ramírez (represented by Azucena)
4. Adelino Ramírez (represented by Azucena)
5. Santos Torres (represented by Bernardo)
6. Noe Granados (represented by Alma Lorena)
7. Valentin Ramírez (represented by Marcelina)
8. Salomon Ramírez (represented by Ernesto)
9. Elias Ramirez (represented by Fili)

The next assembly at Vivienda de Arriba will be Wednesday, August 4 at 11 a.m.



12:30 p.m. - La Tinaja
Two representatives from that community, north of Vivienda off the highway to Guanajuato (about 30 minutes drive), Adela Ramírez and Maria Candelaria Mosqueda.
There about about 250 inhabitants, 50 families in the community, it is near the ejido de Peña Blanca. The water there is good, that’s not a problem, but there is a group of about 35 people interested in dry toilets.
They have seen different models. Chela: “The ones in Rancho Nuevo de Guadalupe are very expensive, we would need to do a more economical model, and you will build them in mutual-aid groups, we won’t send someone in to make them for you.”
Fili knows where the community is, he will guide us there. Meeting set for Thursday, August 5 at 12 noon.

1:00 P.M. – Presita de Santa Rosa
Four representatives from that community, near Banda, also off the highway to Guanajuato – nearest community in which we are now working: Capaderillo. Rita Gabriela Hernandez, Jose Luis Ramirez, Antonio Vazquez and Rosalia Ramirez.
There are about 200 inhabitants, 40 families. They share a well with 5 other communities, so there isn’t enough, we are the ones who run out. The other communities are Banda (ejido), Bandita (small property owners) Rancho Nuevo de Banda, Artesano de Banda, and San Isidro Bandita. Before the well was drilled, we had artisanal (shallow hand-dug wells) – observation: their teeth are stained.
They have done some community work before, they built an extra room in the school with a small loan, with the local people providing the labor. They will attend the July 14 meeting at Capaderillo to see how the cistern-building project gets organized.

1:30 p.m. - San Lorenzo
Two representatives from this very small community – actually just four houses belonging to members of the same family (Umberto Ramirez Lanas and Audelia Ramirez Lanas), across the river from the community of Juan Gonzales (about 50 families, 200 people). A friend of theirs, Doña Antonia from Vivienda told them about the cisterns. In Juan Gonzales they have only hand-dug wells that dry up during the dry season. In San Lorenzo they don’t have any tap water, they have to haul it in.
It was decided to put the four families of San Lorenzo together with Vivienda Phase II.

2:00 p.m. - San Isidro Capadero
At lunch with Doña Teresa, Jesús Rico of San Isidro Capadero arrived with a list of people from his community. San Isidro is located between Cruz del Palmar and Vivienda and has a primary school and kindergarten. There are about 150 inhabitants, 30 families, and they have no water on tap. No arrangement was made to visit the community, but we later discussed visiting San Isidro Capadero on the same day as Cruz del Palmar.
List of persons from San Isidro Capadero (I think this is a complete list of the community compiled by Jesús; we have not visited there yet):
1. Jesús Rico Franco
2. Antonio Rodríguez
3. José Rodriguez
4. José Ramirez
5. Remijo Ramirez
6. Francisco Curato
7. Trinidad Rodriguez
8. David Rodriguez
9. Javier Rodriguez
10. Rafael Ramirez
11. Troncito Ramirez
12. Roberto Ramirez
13. Leonardo Ramirez Pérez
14. Mario Ramirez Trejo
15. Luis Rodriguez
16. Yolanda Rodriguez
17. Yolanda Ramirez
18. Santiago Banca
19. Cirilo Reyes Ramirez
20. Galdino Reyes Tellez
21. Lorena Ramirez Colunga
22. Faustine Reyes Tellez
23. Miguel Banca Luna
24. Guadalupe Banva
25. Francisco Rodriguez
26. Roberto Reyes
27. Jesús Cerrafa
28. Cirilo Rodriguez