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)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Report of 1st recorded visit to Corralejo
Where: Corralejo, under big tree in the centre of the community
When: Wed 6th April 2011 11.30
Who: Chela, Holly, Saul (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 33 adults, 10 kids, + 2 puppies & 4 dogs
Purpose: To discuss the issues re sharing of the well the Corralejo community has, which Villa de Guadalupe & Cinco Senores would like to share.
Pre meeting discussion – approx. 50 families in Corralejo, majority of the men are in the USA working, the age of the community is uncertain, approx. 2 generations.
Introductions & points for discussion/today’s agenda
Cinco Senores – 7 people attending,
San Lorenzo – 2 people attending
Corralejo – 15 people attending incl. Juan Bocanegra – delegado
Villa de Guadalupe – 9 people attending
We introduced ourselves, Chela gave a little history of the collaboration of Cedesa & Rotary on the water projects, including the formation of the Consejo (citizen’s council).
Chela asked for proposals for co-ordinator & record taker, a couple of people pointed to eachother, & we all laughed.
Leonila was elected as secretary (because she can write fastest), & Hilda the Corralejo rep. of the Consejo was elected as co-ordinator for today’s meeting.
Hilda asked (on instruction) what is the purpose of today’s meeting?
- To discuss water
- We’re to talk about the possibility of Corralejo sharing their water with us.
- Humberto said”because Chela told us to & Laura gave us a ride” he’s the young man that has begun working with Cedesa, potentially as a promoter.
- “there’s only a few people from Corralejo community who have come to this meeting, & we cant make the decision for the community, there is a water committee but they didn’t want to come”
- Chela”we’re here to see if we can open a dialogue between the Corralejo & the communities that would like to share the well, what is your opinion & what can you suggest? – Sapasma can intervene but we would like to avoid conflict & just discuss this.”
- Chela “we would also like to talk about the technical aspects, like how deep the well is & the quality of the water”
- “we don’t know that, the water committee does”
- Chela asked if they were invited, & apparently they were but have declined to attend.
- We need to present our findings to the next Regional meeting with the presidencia, as this was one of the topics raised to resolve.
- “we never had water, we did a solicitude & got animated, & worked hard, it took a long time, & the other communities got discouraged & gave up, we stayed the distance”
- Corralejo have had this well for 12 years.
- There was much discussion back n forth about VdG’s involvement or not, & awareness of the meetings, & costs. VdG have apparently made several large payments but according to Corralejo none of the money has reached them, & they believe they are entitled to at least some reimbursement for the large cost they paid to have the well installed, & piped.
- Money has been paid to the presidencia & the large tank & some piping was installed at VdG but there was disagreement between the land owner & the pipes going on their land down to Corralejo from VdG… govt wanted much wider space than was necessary.
- Various amounts were quoted including an amount to build a clandestine well as they were desperate.
- A new pump would be needed as VdG is a long way up hill from Corralejo, & Corralejo currently pay a fee each month for the electricity.
- Chela suggested it is a good idea for the communities to come together to make an agreement & then inform the authorities what they have agreed.
- Leonila said there is very little chance of pulling together a meeting in Corralejo with the water committee, they are not interested, & they fight amongst themselves.
- Both communities asked for our presence at their assemblies, they said it would keep things calmer & more productive, as these assemblies are usually pretty contentious.
Cinco Senores described their water situation, they only have water from the river (during summer very shallow & slimy) they can not dig wells because too much hard rock.
Juan Gonzalez also does not have water.
It seems to make sense for Cinco Senores to join with Juan Gonzalez & ask for a well.
Option seems better for VdG to have their own well, & share with San Lorenzo, than to try to resolve the current issue & to have to pump the water such a long way & all up a steep hill.
Maybe there is a concession that could be bought for VdG & legalise the clandestine well?
It was suggested that we (as a team) go to visit the water committee here in Corralejo & ask if they will attend an assembly on the topic of the well.
General discussion – Saul described a little about the sanitarios secos workshop, they met & wrote up the solicitud, then Holly worked for hours to get it sorted to present to the presidencia. Solicitudes are not just a list of names but a cover letter & also signatures of the petitioners.
Enrique (from Cinco Senores) asked about a solicitude for rubbish collection, Chela & Holly suggested recycling & compost would be a better option.
The meeting finished at 1.40pm
We were treated to a meal of rice, nopal, soy & avocado, beans & tortillas with delicious aguas of Strawberry & Jamaica.
Following lunch the team & some of the Corralejo community walked to the houses of some of the water committee reps. One member came to a mini meeting at which we briefly described what we were trying to achieve, ie a meeting with the committee & the Corralejo community to decide what they were prepared to offer with regards sharing the well & what they expected in return, ie what conditions they wanted to impose.
This meeting lasted approx. 25mins. Margarita will see what they can arrange (15th April not possible)
When: Wed 6th April 2011 11.30
Who: Chela, Holly, Saul (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 33 adults, 10 kids, + 2 puppies & 4 dogs
Purpose: To discuss the issues re sharing of the well the Corralejo community has, which Villa de Guadalupe & Cinco Senores would like to share.
Pre meeting discussion – approx. 50 families in Corralejo, majority of the men are in the USA working, the age of the community is uncertain, approx. 2 generations.
Introductions & points for discussion/today’s agenda
Cinco Senores – 7 people attending,
San Lorenzo – 2 people attending
Corralejo – 15 people attending incl. Juan Bocanegra – delegado
Villa de Guadalupe – 9 people attending
We introduced ourselves, Chela gave a little history of the collaboration of Cedesa & Rotary on the water projects, including the formation of the Consejo (citizen’s council).
Chela asked for proposals for co-ordinator & record taker, a couple of people pointed to eachother, & we all laughed.
Leonila was elected as secretary (because she can write fastest), & Hilda the Corralejo rep. of the Consejo was elected as co-ordinator for today’s meeting.
Hilda asked (on instruction) what is the purpose of today’s meeting?
- To discuss water
- We’re to talk about the possibility of Corralejo sharing their water with us.
- Humberto said”because Chela told us to & Laura gave us a ride” he’s the young man that has begun working with Cedesa, potentially as a promoter.
- “there’s only a few people from Corralejo community who have come to this meeting, & we cant make the decision for the community, there is a water committee but they didn’t want to come”
- Chela”we’re here to see if we can open a dialogue between the Corralejo & the communities that would like to share the well, what is your opinion & what can you suggest? – Sapasma can intervene but we would like to avoid conflict & just discuss this.”
- Chela “we would also like to talk about the technical aspects, like how deep the well is & the quality of the water”
- “we don’t know that, the water committee does”
- Chela asked if they were invited, & apparently they were but have declined to attend.
- We need to present our findings to the next Regional meeting with the presidencia, as this was one of the topics raised to resolve.
- “we never had water, we did a solicitude & got animated, & worked hard, it took a long time, & the other communities got discouraged & gave up, we stayed the distance”
- Corralejo have had this well for 12 years.
- There was much discussion back n forth about VdG’s involvement or not, & awareness of the meetings, & costs. VdG have apparently made several large payments but according to Corralejo none of the money has reached them, & they believe they are entitled to at least some reimbursement for the large cost they paid to have the well installed, & piped.
- Money has been paid to the presidencia & the large tank & some piping was installed at VdG but there was disagreement between the land owner & the pipes going on their land down to Corralejo from VdG… govt wanted much wider space than was necessary.
- Various amounts were quoted including an amount to build a clandestine well as they were desperate.
- A new pump would be needed as VdG is a long way up hill from Corralejo, & Corralejo currently pay a fee each month for the electricity.
- Chela suggested it is a good idea for the communities to come together to make an agreement & then inform the authorities what they have agreed.
- Leonila said there is very little chance of pulling together a meeting in Corralejo with the water committee, they are not interested, & they fight amongst themselves.
- Both communities asked for our presence at their assemblies, they said it would keep things calmer & more productive, as these assemblies are usually pretty contentious.
Cinco Senores described their water situation, they only have water from the river (during summer very shallow & slimy) they can not dig wells because too much hard rock.
Juan Gonzalez also does not have water.
It seems to make sense for Cinco Senores to join with Juan Gonzalez & ask for a well.
Option seems better for VdG to have their own well, & share with San Lorenzo, than to try to resolve the current issue & to have to pump the water such a long way & all up a steep hill.
Maybe there is a concession that could be bought for VdG & legalise the clandestine well?
It was suggested that we (as a team) go to visit the water committee here in Corralejo & ask if they will attend an assembly on the topic of the well.
General discussion – Saul described a little about the sanitarios secos workshop, they met & wrote up the solicitud, then Holly worked for hours to get it sorted to present to the presidencia. Solicitudes are not just a list of names but a cover letter & also signatures of the petitioners.
Enrique (from Cinco Senores) asked about a solicitude for rubbish collection, Chela & Holly suggested recycling & compost would be a better option.
The meeting finished at 1.40pm
We were treated to a meal of rice, nopal, soy & avocado, beans & tortillas with delicious aguas of Strawberry & Jamaica.
Following lunch the team & some of the Corralejo community walked to the houses of some of the water committee reps. One member came to a mini meeting at which we briefly described what we were trying to achieve, ie a meeting with the committee & the Corralejo community to decide what they were prepared to offer with regards sharing the well & what they expected in return, ie what conditions they wanted to impose.
This meeting lasted approx. 25mins. Margarita will see what they can arrange (15th April not possible)
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