12th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Capaderillo Water Project

Record of Event

12th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Capaderillo Water Project

Where: Capaderillo Soccer grounds beside the Primary School
When: Friday 22nd Oct 2010 11am – 3pm
Who: Communities represented: More than 250 Adults from:
Los Torres, Montecillo de Nieto, Cruz del Palmar, Vivienda de Arriba, Capaderillo, Tierra Blanca,
Vivienda de Abajo/Urbana/Viviendilla, La Aurora, Guerrero, Presita Santa Rosa, San Lorenzo,
Cinco Señores, Juan Gonzales, La Tinaja, San Isidro Capadero, Correlejo de Abajo, Nuevo
Rancho Villa de Guadalupe

Government officials
Presidencia (Vinculacion con ONGs) – Irma Rosado
Fondo Verde – Ignacio Soto
Ecologia – Julio Bernal, Helio Bastien
Desarrollo Social – Miguel Gil
Ayuntamiento (Regidor) – Jaime Martínez

NGOs
CEDESA (Graciela Martínez, Jesús Guitierrez, Holly Yasui, Abel)

Club Rotario Midday (Gary Peterson, Walter Scott, Liz Powell, Enrique
Orvañanos, Miguel Gil, David Bossman, Laura Stewart)
(Rotary Volunteers/guests Patricia Stewart (Laura’s mum), Gary Reid – photographer)

Unitarian Universalists Fellowship – Cliff DuRand

GAIA – Grupo de Acción Interdisciplinaria Ambiental – Citlali Caldera (and her partner, Mario)


Purpose: Inaugurate/celebrate the closure of the 40 cistern project funded by Ecologia’s Fondo Verde, & to have a regional meeting of all the communities who have been attending assemblies & asking for guidance on how to create a water project to construct water cisterns in their communities.

The Event was originally planned for 11am but was moved to a later start time to accommodate the Fondo Verde people who had a time clash.

The communities met at 11am to register, plan & prepare for the presentation.

We arrived at 10.50 to find Capaderillo a hive of activity. There were balloons strung around all the visible cisterns on the way into Capaderillo, many tarpaulins had been strung up from the goal posts to supports on the soccer “field”. There were chairs, tables, posters, women carrying buckets full of food topped with brightly embroidered cloths, people running hither & thither, & Saul was in the thick of it, speaking with all the communities as their representatives arrived.

Holly began passing out cardboard & pens for communities to write up their community signs, Chela arranged the seating in a semi circle – league of nations style, with people holding up their community signs & their representatives clustered behind them, tables for the food were arranged in an outer layer.

All the while the blue tarps & balloons were flapping in the breeze, the kids were running around & the dogs were trying to find their place…

I collected the completed forms 1, for each community, & 1 for each family wishing to participate in each community. We now have requests from more than 300 families for cisterns in their communities.

Irma Rosado arrived with Jesus & viewed the photos of the cisterns arranged on a poster. Chela began working with the communities, explaining they would get a few minutes to explain their water situation & history with the projects, & their request for assistance.

Chela explained the program for the day, listing & elaborating on each item on the agenda, she spoke about the water situation in the area, she asked those who had completed projects or phases of projects, to give a description/summary, ie how many cisterns, when they began & when they finished.


The agenda/ order of events was:
1. Welcome & introduction of communities & guests
2. Description of the issues of the Watershed
3. Closing ceremony of the Capaderillo project – popping balloons of the school cistern
4. Testimonies of the project participants in Capaderillo
5. Issues of concern of the communities in the region
6. Response by the govt/municipal reps
7. Conclusion follow up plan
8. Lunch


Chela described the evolution of the projects, from the first one in Los Torres – first visited in November 2008 to the Capaderillo 40 cistern project just completed. The funding from Rotary & now the Fondo Verde, & that we are all working together to seek more resources to resolve this issue for all that would like to participate.

“you are here to work on this, & we will all work towards a resolution, our goal is that ll of our families will have a cistern for safe drinking water”

She explained that logistically we can’t continue to meet in each community each month, there are just too many, the issue is too big, she suggested we combine communities & meet with several at once, taking turns in each community.

Irma spoke, she introduced herself, representing the Municipality, & said they are wanting to work on a resolution to this issue too, they are planning how to solve this & other issues, she thanked all for their participation including Cedesa, Rotary Midday & especially the communitites.

The day continued with community representatives stating their cases to the the audience including the govt. officials who had by then arrived. They articulately described their current water situations, & the projects they had completed (if they were project communities).


Liz Powell commented it was incredible to see these young women stand & speak to the municipality reps, but also a crowd of more than 250 of fellow community members in their region. Some were a little shy or embarrassed, but all overcame this & spoke well. The cisterns are one (very important) thing, but to see the difference it is making to the lives of these people is pretty amazing.

Members of the municipality & Rotary each spoke & thanked all involved, congratulating them on their achievements & assuring they were there to help.

Jesus eventually wound up the day with a commitment to create a citizens water committee, with representatives of each of the communities represented today, attending, to work on the resolution to this issue together…

After discussion it was decided the first of these working planning meetings will be held in:

Cruz del Palmar on 19/11/10 at 12 midday.

The meeting was closed, & the eating began! We all headed home with full stomachs & overflowing hearts!