Where: Steps of new church, under the shade of the big tree.
When: March 30th 2011 2.10pm – 3.40
Who: Holly, Saul, Chela, Jesus (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary)+ 53 adults & 5 kids.
Purpose: to begin the project planning for the cisterns to be constructed in this community with the Rotary Global Grant 25397 as well as a combined donation of $9k (details of donating clubs listed below).
Background: we have been working with this community for almost a year now, first visited in May 2010, but many representatives came to assemblies in other communities before that.
We have managed to achieve funding for this project through the generous grant of Rotary & this is the first planning meeting re the project, to determine who will receive cisterns & begin the planning process.
Item 1 – re the previous meeting this morning the Sanitaria 2 (health dept) has agreed to provide pap smears & mammograms to all women in Tierra Blanca over 35. We began this meeting dividing the women into groups of 10 who would visit on scheduled dates. Jesus arranged this & took the lists of names.
Item 2 – Planning the cisterns project
The global grant 25397 is for 50 cisterns in total, 28 for this community of Tierra Blanca & 22 for the community of Juan Gonzalez.
Also available, thanks to 2 separate direct donations is US$7k from Port Lavaca Tex RC & $2k from New Braumfels Tex RC, we will combine these donations to provide $9k for a total of 14 cisterns.
Altogether in this community there will be 42 cisterns available + 1 tinaco (plastic tank) – this divides into 2 pilot cisterns (1 provided by the GG & one provided by the $9k donatin) & 40 individual family cisterns.
We began by talking about the numbers of cisterns we have funding for, & then the roll was called, listing all of those present/absent. 35 people on the list were present.
One woman was absent & it was discussed as to whether she was eligible or not, it was decided she would receive a cistern since she has been participating fully up until now.
Cata (president of the consejo) mentioned that if you are going to allow people in the project who are absent then you need to take responsibility to fully inform them of the events of the meeting they missed.
There was a discussion between the community about a previous meeting Tierra Blanca had held without us, several people complained of not being informed, & different methods of informing the community were discussed, including the possibility of a notice board, which people would have to view themselves, this was discounted as it has not worked in other communities, possibly because of low literacy rates…We need to work out how we can involve everyone in the assemblies that are regarding the health of the community, “some people didn’t even want to take 5 minutes to complete the census we did”
Chela asked how are we going to animate everyone? Talk to your neighbours, constantly mention the issues & see if you can encourage people to come to the meetings, put up notices…
There are others in the meeting not on the list +5 , & one person to receive a tinaco (small water tank – as she is elderly & cant participate as well & we don’t have enough funding for a cistern for her).
The decision process as to who was eligible & who were not, was based on the previous participation in the project up until now. It was a little contentious as some people complained of not being informed of previous meetings. A solution to this was agreed – the first 2 people on the list will advise everyone else on the list of the next meeting, then the next 2 on the list & so on.
It was decided that there would be 5 groups of 8 families working together.
The groups were decided & listed, to include 2 leaders/co-ordinator, 2 abaniles.
Next came the decision as to where to do the pilot cistern builds.
There was discussion about the kinder (30kids) v Primaria (approx. 95kids) v Secondaria (approx. 55 kids).
Although Saul mentioned the younger the children are the more affected they are by the contaminants it was decided to do them at the Primaria & the Secondaria.
Saul then called our supplier Talego to confirm if they had materials in time for the pilots to begin on Monday 4.4.11 (the community was very keen to start asap), Talego confirmed. So pilots were confirmed to begin on Monday.
Next was to decide which groups would work on which pilot, it was split 20/20 (+ 1 tinaco person),
They all agreed to start at 9am & work to 5pm each day.
Saul described the list of tools they would need to bring with them, including wheel barrows, ladders, sifting frames buckets etc, & someone was arranged to bring a grinder to make the gancho/hooks for the wire weaving process.
Everyone left happy & in high spirits looking forward to beginning on Monday!!
Next meeting: 4.4.11 @ Primary School at 9am to begin the 2 pilots.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Report of 8th Event Re Tierra Blanca
Where: Tierra Blanca under the big tree by the Church & steps of new church.
When: March 30th 2011 11.40
Who: Holly, Saul, Chela, Jesus (Cedesa), Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega(UNAM), Laura (Rotary)+ 53 adults & 5 kids.
Purpose: To discuss the issue of unusually high early mortality rate in Tierra Blanca, findings of the census carried out by Jesus with Cedesa & the community, with an aim to beginning a full epidemiological study in this community to ultimately resolve the high death rate from cancer occurring here for more than 30 years. (According to the community).
Background
Cedesa & Rotary have been working in this community with an aim to providing water, during community assemblies the issue of high death rate by cancer in this community was raised.
Cedesa subsequently carried out a census with the assistance of the community, to gather more data to determine a pattern. The census found that there was a high concentration of deaths 81% around a specific area of the community, thus indicating a potential environmental cause (as opposed to the previously thought genetic aspect).
With this information we would now like to illicit the assistance of experts in this field to potentially pinpoint the cause & ultimately (ideally) a solution to this major ongoing issue in this community.
Water has been mostly ruled out in these early stages, as 3 communities share the same water source & yet Tierra Blanca is the only community reporting this issue.
Cedesa & Rotary have reached out to Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM Juriquilla & the meeting has been arranged.
Meeting begins
Chela gave intro & explanation of water studies by UNAM, of the region’s water issues, including contaminants, she described briefly the 8mth diplomada of water studies that was held at Cedesa, given by Dr Ortega to approx. 120 campesinos from 80 communities.
Dr Ortega mentioned the following: the information was all about the subject of water in this area, the 7 municipalities that share this aquifer, the Rio Laja is the main source to aquifer, it is 7000 miles long, the management of the water use in the area, the fact that water being used is pre-historic, 10-25,000 year old water, it is not being recharged, the aquifer is too deep, the water does not reach there to recharge it.
Arsenic causes cancer, fluoride causes damage to the cellular makeup of bones & teeth, many kids in this area don’t have teeth, they have degraded. There are 10-15,000 cases of fluorosis in the San Luis de La Paz area (Palencia),
50 communities in this SMA region are affected by fluoride contamination.
Causes probs with bones, teeth, brain, major organs. Kids are not able to learn, it affects info processing ability.
“why haven’t the ranchos been told?” one man asked.
Because the authorities have not analysed the water for these chemicals before 2000. There is a big problem to report this to the communities as there has to be an alternative & they have not found one, hence the cisterns are the answer. They need to stop drilling the wells & provide cisterns.
The older water is warmer & so it absorbs the fluoride & arsenic from the rocks, high levels of silica too.
Cedesa is showing people how to build cisterns, this resolves the issue, but you need to start now, don’t drink the water from the pozos here!
Chela – this is info about the water & we’ve talked about this before but we are also here to discuss the problem of cancer that exists in this community.
An average of 6 deaths per year can be attributed to this since 2007 (& figures not avail before then).
Jesus spoke, he described the study he & the community had carried out & the findings, that 81% of the deaths seemed to be concentrated in one geographic location, so maybe something environmental. He invited Dr Ortega to work with us to try to determine the cause/cure.
There are cases where there is no certainty cause of death so these have not been recorded, hence diff. between our stats & official govt. stats.
Jesus described the meeting with Dra Mejia, Lucy, Irma, Jesus & I, on the subject of the need for investigation of this issue & that the govt. is collaborating on this effort. Govt. have offered free pap smears & mammograms, as some of the cancers are breast cancer…
He explained that last year we made a commitment to Tierra Blanca to begin work on this issue & have been working since then to get the meeting with govt & action.
Dr Ortega is here to help us begin investigations on causes, maybe testing the soil in the area of the higher death rate, it maybe that there is radiation in that area,
Some people began describing the symptoms of people they had lost
“pain front & then back, & had shivers, supposedly cancer of the lung, but maybe cancer of the breast”
“that person was in the states, they have been operated on but can not identify the cause, or diagnose properly”
“a mother had liquid on the lung, said couldn’t identify the cause, symptoms started in the arm, then shivers, none of the Drs know what the cause is, they weren’t sure it was cancer”
“Lots of people have left, some went to Tamaulipas because they thought Tierra Blanca was the problem, but they all died there – you can’t run away from cancer”
“1st symptoms coughing, coughing, & shoulder hurts, Dr mis-diagnoses it”
“Dr will not cure you, they just send you from one Dr to another & charge you more & more, but no results”
“People that come here (ie marry into this area), get sick too”
Dr Ortega said he would like to come back with teams to take samples of Water, Air & Dust/soil.
Water can be radioactive & this can deplete when it goes to the other communities.
Dr O. proposes to return in 1st wk of May with a team to take samples, also possibly measure radon (very difficult to measure as it is gaseous & hard to catch)
He will also look a the possibility of initiating contact directly with the Epidemiology dept to begin with specialists, re the institute of micas in Leon.
By June the results will be expected.
In this way we will be involving the municipality, State Dr & Unam in finding a solution.
Chela explained that we hadn’t abandoned Tierra Blanca (long time between visits) but that it takes a lot of time to pull all of this together.
“Gracias – we really need help, we are dying & we never know who’s going to be next – we’re really concerned for our kids”
“here when we cleaned our water pipes they were really red” Dr O said this is likely high iron.
He said we will do a complete study of the water & what is contained in it.
Don’t just expect the university to resolve this, it will take the whole team, Cedesa, Rotary, the community, the municipality & the University, all working together to find the answers.
Chela described a little about the Consejo & that these are the kinds of issues it can work on.
Jesus asked to be advised if any more people develop the symptoms, as we would like to give special treatment to these cases.
Chela – we would like to ask you to make a commitment to being healthy too, not to eat junk food but to please eat healthy food, because your body is already dealing with an overload of toxins in the dust, air & water, you shouldn’t introduce junk food into the mix too.
Q&A for the Dr
“are the analysis costs going to cost us?”
Unam is already doing similar costs at the same time, & so will absorb the cost.
If we find problems then Municipality will be asked to contribute with costs, for example when we did the full study on water, all the municipalities contributed to this study, although at that time the SMA municipality contributed the least.
Fluorosis is very severe, causes problems with fetal deaths, infertility, sexual disfunction, brain, teeth, bone & major organ damage. Actually more dangerous than Arsenic. Prevents ability to learn, slow blink relex is a possible cause as shows speed of brain process, no retention, no ability to process.
Next meetings
UNAM – Juriquilla – Water Project team 10am 3.5.11
2nd wk in May come to take samples at Tierra Blanca (with team)
2nd wk in June return with results of samples
We adjourned for lunch, then after lunch had the project planning meeting…
See separate report…
When: March 30th 2011 11.40
Who: Holly, Saul, Chela, Jesus (Cedesa), Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega(UNAM), Laura (Rotary)+ 53 adults & 5 kids.
Purpose: To discuss the issue of unusually high early mortality rate in Tierra Blanca, findings of the census carried out by Jesus with Cedesa & the community, with an aim to beginning a full epidemiological study in this community to ultimately resolve the high death rate from cancer occurring here for more than 30 years. (According to the community).
Background
Cedesa & Rotary have been working in this community with an aim to providing water, during community assemblies the issue of high death rate by cancer in this community was raised.
Cedesa subsequently carried out a census with the assistance of the community, to gather more data to determine a pattern. The census found that there was a high concentration of deaths 81% around a specific area of the community, thus indicating a potential environmental cause (as opposed to the previously thought genetic aspect).
With this information we would now like to illicit the assistance of experts in this field to potentially pinpoint the cause & ultimately (ideally) a solution to this major ongoing issue in this community.
Water has been mostly ruled out in these early stages, as 3 communities share the same water source & yet Tierra Blanca is the only community reporting this issue.
Cedesa & Rotary have reached out to Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM Juriquilla & the meeting has been arranged.
Meeting begins
Chela gave intro & explanation of water studies by UNAM, of the region’s water issues, including contaminants, she described briefly the 8mth diplomada of water studies that was held at Cedesa, given by Dr Ortega to approx. 120 campesinos from 80 communities.
Dr Ortega mentioned the following: the information was all about the subject of water in this area, the 7 municipalities that share this aquifer, the Rio Laja is the main source to aquifer, it is 7000 miles long, the management of the water use in the area, the fact that water being used is pre-historic, 10-25,000 year old water, it is not being recharged, the aquifer is too deep, the water does not reach there to recharge it.
Arsenic causes cancer, fluoride causes damage to the cellular makeup of bones & teeth, many kids in this area don’t have teeth, they have degraded. There are 10-15,000 cases of fluorosis in the San Luis de La Paz area (Palencia),
50 communities in this SMA region are affected by fluoride contamination.
Causes probs with bones, teeth, brain, major organs. Kids are not able to learn, it affects info processing ability.
“why haven’t the ranchos been told?” one man asked.
Because the authorities have not analysed the water for these chemicals before 2000. There is a big problem to report this to the communities as there has to be an alternative & they have not found one, hence the cisterns are the answer. They need to stop drilling the wells & provide cisterns.
The older water is warmer & so it absorbs the fluoride & arsenic from the rocks, high levels of silica too.
Cedesa is showing people how to build cisterns, this resolves the issue, but you need to start now, don’t drink the water from the pozos here!
Chela – this is info about the water & we’ve talked about this before but we are also here to discuss the problem of cancer that exists in this community.
An average of 6 deaths per year can be attributed to this since 2007 (& figures not avail before then).
Jesus spoke, he described the study he & the community had carried out & the findings, that 81% of the deaths seemed to be concentrated in one geographic location, so maybe something environmental. He invited Dr Ortega to work with us to try to determine the cause/cure.
There are cases where there is no certainty cause of death so these have not been recorded, hence diff. between our stats & official govt. stats.
Jesus described the meeting with Dra Mejia, Lucy, Irma, Jesus & I, on the subject of the need for investigation of this issue & that the govt. is collaborating on this effort. Govt. have offered free pap smears & mammograms, as some of the cancers are breast cancer…
He explained that last year we made a commitment to Tierra Blanca to begin work on this issue & have been working since then to get the meeting with govt & action.
Dr Ortega is here to help us begin investigations on causes, maybe testing the soil in the area of the higher death rate, it maybe that there is radiation in that area,
Some people began describing the symptoms of people they had lost
“pain front & then back, & had shivers, supposedly cancer of the lung, but maybe cancer of the breast”
“that person was in the states, they have been operated on but can not identify the cause, or diagnose properly”
“a mother had liquid on the lung, said couldn’t identify the cause, symptoms started in the arm, then shivers, none of the Drs know what the cause is, they weren’t sure it was cancer”
“Lots of people have left, some went to Tamaulipas because they thought Tierra Blanca was the problem, but they all died there – you can’t run away from cancer”
“1st symptoms coughing, coughing, & shoulder hurts, Dr mis-diagnoses it”
“Dr will not cure you, they just send you from one Dr to another & charge you more & more, but no results”
“People that come here (ie marry into this area), get sick too”
Dr Ortega said he would like to come back with teams to take samples of Water, Air & Dust/soil.
Water can be radioactive & this can deplete when it goes to the other communities.
Dr O. proposes to return in 1st wk of May with a team to take samples, also possibly measure radon (very difficult to measure as it is gaseous & hard to catch)
He will also look a the possibility of initiating contact directly with the Epidemiology dept to begin with specialists, re the institute of micas in Leon.
By June the results will be expected.
In this way we will be involving the municipality, State Dr & Unam in finding a solution.
Chela explained that we hadn’t abandoned Tierra Blanca (long time between visits) but that it takes a lot of time to pull all of this together.
“Gracias – we really need help, we are dying & we never know who’s going to be next – we’re really concerned for our kids”
“here when we cleaned our water pipes they were really red” Dr O said this is likely high iron.
He said we will do a complete study of the water & what is contained in it.
Don’t just expect the university to resolve this, it will take the whole team, Cedesa, Rotary, the community, the municipality & the University, all working together to find the answers.
Chela described a little about the Consejo & that these are the kinds of issues it can work on.
Jesus asked to be advised if any more people develop the symptoms, as we would like to give special treatment to these cases.
Chela – we would like to ask you to make a commitment to being healthy too, not to eat junk food but to please eat healthy food, because your body is already dealing with an overload of toxins in the dust, air & water, you shouldn’t introduce junk food into the mix too.
Q&A for the Dr
“are the analysis costs going to cost us?”
Unam is already doing similar costs at the same time, & so will absorb the cost.
If we find problems then Municipality will be asked to contribute with costs, for example when we did the full study on water, all the municipalities contributed to this study, although at that time the SMA municipality contributed the least.
Fluorosis is very severe, causes problems with fetal deaths, infertility, sexual disfunction, brain, teeth, bone & major organ damage. Actually more dangerous than Arsenic. Prevents ability to learn, slow blink relex is a possible cause as shows speed of brain process, no retention, no ability to process.
Next meetings
UNAM – Juriquilla – Water Project team 10am 3.5.11
2nd wk in May come to take samples at Tierra Blanca (with team)
2nd wk in June return with results of samples
We adjourned for lunch, then after lunch had the project planning meeting…
See separate report…
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