2nd Event of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Palencia
Where: Community House in Palencia – 1hr north of Dolores Hidalgo,
When: 27.10.10 12.30 meeting began (left SMA at 10am)
Who: Bill & Monse Webb, & Dr Larry Kubiak from Tallahassee Rotary, Laura from San Miguel Midday Rotary, Chela & Saul – Cedesa & 19 women, 6 kids from the Palencia Community
Purpose:
Since we last met in January this year, & the announcement of Future Vision & it’s ramifications, Bill Webb has been working very hard to secure funding for this project, the $$ are finally arranged, $7k from Tallahassee (Direct Grant), $7k approved to be spent on this project (excess funds from the 4 SMA water projects completed this year), + $200 from San Miguel Midday Rotary, will fund the project of 21 cisterns (1 pilot & 20 individual family cisterns).
This meeting was for the Tallahassee partners to meet the community, for Laura to know better this community & for the community to receive the news re the $$ & begin planning the logistics of the project.
Background.
Chela, Elena & Laura met with this community in January, after Chela had alerted us to the fact this community has the highest levels of Fluoride & arsenic than any in SMA. They had heard of the projects in SMA & petitioned us for assistance. See report 1, for more information.
Some brief facts about the community were raised in the previous meeting, included again here for ease of reference
• Approx 80 families /500 people
• Cedesa have been working with this community for 22 years
• Palencia is approx 1 hr from Cedesa in Dolores Hidalgo
• The community well was drilled 18 years ago, they have been drinking contaminated water for 18years
• There are smaller family wells that fill up when it rains, but they do not last the dry season
• There was a cacique (self appointed boss) when cedesa began work here, he is still apart from the community
• They have worked on many community projects together, including fighting for land rights, building a community centre (with funding for materials from local govt.), obtaining electricity
Item 1 – introductions all round:
Bill, Monse, Laura & Larry introduced themselves. Chela is well known, she also took time to describe a little about what/who Rotary is & does.
Chela – has been working with this community for more than 20 years, less frequent visits lately as she is concentrating in the San Miguel region where they also have fluoride issues.
Saul introduced himself & gave a little summary of how he came to be working with Cedesa (through assemblies at Los Torres) & has recently completed a 40 cistern project funded by the municipality , in Capaderillo (his wife’s community).
Chela mentioned Saul is one of the promoters at Cedesa, learning the work, & he has a good heart & knows the issues, which is essential to be a good promoter.
20 years ago they were fighting to get water, now they are striving to find an alternative, since the water they have is contaminated, ironic!
The women introduced themselves, some of them took it upon themselves to thank us for being here, for travelling so far & for helping them to get the materials they need for this project.
Chela described the water situation in the region, the aquifer in general.
They chose a co-ordinator for the day – Victoria.
The women were asked to describe the history, how they began to become organized.
History
In another community “Mulata” they heard of a person who was working to provide water there, so they went to see her, that was Chela.
They didn’t have enough water, only shallow wells & those wells dried up when the agri business people drilled very deep wells nearby. They had to ask the agribusiness – deep well owners for water.
After a struggle, they received their own community well, unfortunately this water is highly contaminated with naturally occurring fluoride & arsenic. So now they have badly damaged teeth (& probably bones), & many are buying water in 20 litre containers (garafones).
At the time they began to drink the well water they noticed more illiness.
One woman described aches & pain in her feet, she went to the doctor, & then stopped drinking the well water, the pain went away.
They tested the water during the water diploma course held at Cedesa in 2008. At that time they discovered the extremely high levels, sometimes as high as 8mg/l (1.5 is max safe level).
Dr Kubiak asked if they had sought govt. assistance with this issue –
The response was that the govt. have been denying this issue.
A professor at UNAM discovered this issue & alerted the communities, this study was denied & called false. It has been very contentious, with a lot of negative attention, & accusations of corruption.
These questions were asked
What is your number 1 priority? – Water
What is your number 2 priority? – food production
Where are the men in your community? Many are in the USA, of the 19 women attending 7 of their husbands were in the US.
If you have no men here to help, who will build these cisterns? ..it’s heavy work - There was a resounding response, “we will build them, we can mix cement, & do heavy work, we built the maize grinder, we helped build this salon, we will work together, if we have to we could contribute to pay for masons to help us.
One woman said her husband was aware of the project & has said he will return from the US to help, another agreed re her husband too would help, once they had the materials & were ready to begin.
Another woman responded “we learnt about cisterns in a workshop at Cedesa approx. 8 years ago, we build 5 then”
They have asked for financial assistance for materials for cisterns & dry toilets from the Dolores Hidalgo municipality, but have had no response.
Bill responded
Congratulations on taking responsibility for your own lives, the health & future of your kids, & not relying on the govt for help. We are honoured to be your partner (along with Cedesa & SMA Midday Rotary) in your water project. Today I want to announce that Tallahassee RC has made available the $$ to the SMA club to assist you to do your project.
He went on to talk more about the situation in the USA (Chela had asked during our drive, for Bill to inform the community about the hardships of working in the USA, that it is not the land of milk & honey they all dream it is)… “In this period of our history in the USA, the economic situation is very difficult, many people have no work & hope for their families. It’s very difficult in the areas of agriculture, construction, hotels & service industry, it’s very hard & your husbands are there. I think you know these things, the economic experts are predicting things are going to stay difficult for many years, in the USA people are saying we have to help ourselves & for people coming from other countries this is difficult since priority is given to people from the US.
It’s our honour to be with you today & know you are working hard to provide for yourselves.
There was discussion about discrimination in the US, & from the US perspective how it is difficult to provide services for immigrants as well as a large population, there are all sorts of complexities, obligations,etc.
Chela joined the discussion by saying “there is no work in the USA, but there is no work here either, so what can we do? We have our hands , we can produce food for ourselves & reduce the amount of money we need to live, we can become self sufficient. How to convince people to do this is the issue.
One woman said “we have to tell our families not to sell our land but to retain it to remain more productive”.
Chela “USA is finished for us, it is no longer a viable alternative, the $$ our husbands send is not worth it now.”
One woman talked of a family she had heard about, where the grandparents in Mexico had had to send money to the US to support their Mexican family there…
Bill – “we have said many things about the difficulties of finding work in the USA, I want you to also know we have a lot of respect for the people who come & work so hard in the USA.”
Planning of the project
21 Cisterns – 1 pilot to be constructed at the Salon (community meeting space), & 20 individual family cisterns.
They had pre decided to build the pilot at the salon, apparently the children pass there on their way home from school & currently take water from the tap (which is fluoride contaminated) they want them to drink the rain water instead.
Benigno will come to Palencia to do the training, they have created their work groups already, as follows
The names in bold, are the co-ordinators
Group1. Margarita, Estela, Raquel, Olga, Goya
Group2. Victoria, Jesus, Carmela B, Luca + 1 other
Group 3 Lucia, Dolores, Martina, Belen, Constancia
Group4. Luz, Maira, Lidia, Carmela S, Leticia (not sure who is co-ord)
There were only 19 names as they thought the 20 included the pilot, but it is 20 + pilot so they will find an extra family.
They asked “when can we start?” I responded – when do you want to & they all said “now!”
Larry spoke
“when I look around & see the kids here today, I am reminded I became a grandparent 3 mths ago, I am honoured that our club can help provide resources for you to have safe water for your kids & babies.”
Chela spoke about a woman who took a bucket of honey she had produced with her bees, to town to barter & how she was able to receive much more for a bucket of honey than she would have with a few $$. She reiterated money was less important than produce.
Fruit of your own work/hands gives you a better quality of life.
She reminded them that if they have the opportunity to buy even 1 hectare of land they should take it, they can produce a lot with 1 hectare & wild areas.
Doubts & questions time
I asked if now was a good time to begin the project, ie if they were busy harvesting or …
They all agreed they would work in the fields in the morning & work on the cisterns in the afternoons.
One woman asked about the necessity of water in the cisterns to prevent cracking (very good question), they will need to put water in from an external source, but then remove it before the good rain water comes, to keep the cistern water pure.
Saul described the process he used to complete the 40 cisterns, said that it was a little complicated to have materials arriving for different groups at different times, he suggested they all do the work at the same time, & receive the wire first, finish that stage, before receiving the cement, & completing the next stage.
They will plan with Benigno.
There was discussion about which days suit them better for Benigno to come.
They suggested Thursdays, as that’s the day the community meets to plant trees & do community tasks.
Chela will organize with Benigno.
They explained that their Salon was widely used, for meetings, fiestas etc.
The first Tuesday of every month they have a community meeting, often this big building is full. They share their problems, talk about issues but also make rules, they make sure everyone can attend, attendance is compulsory – 1 rep. per family, they talk about issues, administer resources, inform people.
We asked who is the leader – they responded “all of them!” there in no one person in charge, a true democracy, everyone is responsible”
They also create mini commissions to achieve specific things. Even when Cedesa is not present they continue to have meetings & organize themselves. They are not just doing projects, but have a process in place to take care of ongoing issues.
Chela officially thanked Tallahassee RC on behalf of Cedesa for the wonderful assistance they have made possible for these projects.
Another woman spoke & was very emotional, she said she did not have the words to describe her heartfelt thanks, & that she truly hoped they would visit again.
Bill & Monse said they would come back when the cisterns are finished.
The Next assembly is to be arranged with Benigno (to be advised)
There are no cell phones in the community, contact is made through the phone kiosk provided by telmex.
