Record of Event - 1st Mtg Villa de Guadalupe

Where: Primary school at Villa de Guadalupe
When: Wed 6.4.11 3pm-4.20
Who: Saul, Chela, Holly (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), community of Villa de Guadalupe (41 adults, incl 7 men, + 8 kids)

Purpose: The first meeting re the planning meeting re the implementation of the Project for 27 cisterns (+1 pilot) to be funded by Sapasma matching grant, in a collaborative project between, the water team (Rotary, Cedesa & the community) & Sapasma.

Meeting began with introductions all round, everyone said their names.

Chela asked me to explain the process of the water project, eg from Pilot to splitting into groups, to constructing the individual family cisterns. The materials & training normally paid for by Rotary funding will in this case be funded by Sapasma.

This project is very important as it is the first one with Sapasma, & important to ensure it succeeds.
This project is not a program or handout, it involves full participation, commitment & learning.

Saul described more about the actual work with wire & cement etc & the fact that it is essential for all to attend the 4 days of the pilot training sessions to know every part of the process.

Working in groups is compulsory, it’s not like you say “I’ve finished my cistern – bye – you have to work with your whole group to complete all the cisterns”.

There is sufficient funding for 53 cisterns with the US$35k pledged by Sapasma.
Rotary also has a donation cheque for $1500 received from Bellingham Rotary Club, this donation will be used to fund the 2 cisterns for the pilots, leaving the 53 cisterns available for families.

27 cisterns will be available for Villa de Guadalupe & 26 for the community of Cienega.

The attendance was recorded – 19 people on the list were present at previous meetings, there was a long discussion between community members re the previous meetings & who was or wasn’t informed of them. It seems the community is somewhat divided on issues, with people complaining of not being advised of meetings. There was also argument about cost to attend meetings, Saul suggested people should contribute 5 -10 pesos towards gas if others drive to the meetings.

Chela – you guys are in this situation because you are not united as a community & working together to resolve these issues. With the experience of working on the cisterns you will learn to work together, & unfortunately we don’t have much time in advance to work on your agreements/co-operation because the project is about to begin. So now you need to decide who is deserving of the cisterns for the first phase, based on past participation in previous assemblies, from the first 1 in Capaderillo on Nov 2010. The first phase of this project will be for 27 families.


The dates for the next meetings were set:
Villa de Guadalupe 1st planning meeting – 13th April at 11am, (with Sapasma)
Planning meeting re the Pozo, set for 12pm (ie after the cistern planning meeting)