Where: Cruz del Palmar Community - courtyard of chapel
When: Wed 19.10.11
Who: Chela, Saul & Holly (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 54 adults incl 8 men, + 13kids, 2 dogs,
Purpose: General Community assembly & pre-planning meeting re forthcoming water & dry toilet projects being administered by Rotary, Cedesa & the Consejo (in different
combinations)
We arrived at 12.30 thinking the meeting was to begin at 12, running a little late, but were advised some thought the meeting was to start at 11am, so apologies were made to these people for waiting so long…
The attendance roll was called, 10 were present for Sanitarios Secos only, 22 were present for cisterns only & 12 were present for both, 5 were absent from cisterns list.
(39 on the list but 5 absent – a govt program was also scheduled for today, re the elderly, possibly some were at this event.
Chela asked if there were any in the crowd that didn’t know us (the water project team), a couple of people raised their hands so we gave introductions of ourselves & Holly explained if she & I were talking it was because she was translating for me.
Chela introduced herself & gave a brief history of the project including a little re the separate roles & also about the Consejo (citizen’s council).
In the first phase we were working in the close region, as the projects have continued we have extended to more communities in this region & formed a citizen’s council, Cata – a member of Cruz del Palmar community – is president of this Consejo & has been reporting back to all of you - correct? “si!!”
“Let’s go ahead & create the agenda for today’s meeting”
Saul explained each meeting we have in communities follows the same basic format, elect a co-ordinator & record taker, he explained the roles of each & the need to have a specific “minutes” book as an archive of each meeting & agreements made.
“It’s important for the people n the community to not be afraid & step up to take the roles, who do you propose?”
No-one immediately responded, Saul laughed & said this was the easy bit, ie to propose someone – this elicited a response with 3 people proposed. Juana will be co-ordinator & Letty records taker.
“what is the role of the co-ordinator?” To keep order, the way to do this - ask people to raise their hands & be appointed to speak, for the respect of all & to create a harmonious meeting, everyone is encouraged to speak in turn to increase the “rain of ideas”.
The record taker records all agreements made & details we might need to refer to in future.
We need to suggest points for discussion & work for today’s agenda
Agenda
Cisterns
Dry Toilets
Introduction re Cisterns & Dry toilets
Backyard production
Doubts & questions
The Consejo, purpose & function
1. Introduction – why do you want cisterns? Dry toilets?
“almost no water” “contaminated water” “upper part of community have no water” “we don’t have water & are looking for a form of obtaining water” “water is life” “the contaminated water is damaging to the health of our kids”
Discussion ensued, who has toilets, some people do, but mostly latrines (just holes). What are the contaminants of the water in this region “fluoride, arsenic & manganese”.
Bacterial contaminants are a different question & are very easy to remove (using www.Sodis.ch) but the chemical/minerals are not easy to remove – for this reason we are using rainwater as our alternative – storing in cisterns.
Who has a cistern & can explain the function?
“principally for drinking & cooking & use the other water sources – if there are any – for domestic use”. The objective of cisterns is to capture rain water in tanks from the roof for drinking & cooking.
Dry toilets – primary objective – to have a method of disposing of excreta without use of water because a) there is a shortage of water b) the drainage of sewage is majorly polluting, c) to provide excellent fertilizer for production of plants.
One woman explained the use of dry toilets as a relative has one, & Chela asked if everyone was now clear on the purpose of cisterns & dry toilets – to which the response was “SI…”
2. Cisterns :
Saul explained that the cisterns projects were the beginning of the organisation process, as a result of the many communities working on cistern projects, they joined together to form a Consejo (citizen’s council) to work on common issues. It has involved many meetings, working on common issues, writing solicituds to the govt. informing Rotary of our priorities.
Holly – who knows how the cisterns are made?
“all of us build them, we form groups & construct together”
“we first learn during the pilots & hands on training, then build the cisterns together”
Saul – It is much more than just building a cistern or a dry toilet, there is a lot of participation involved, the value of organisation & co-operation is learned. The value of learning you have the ability to resolve your own issues by working in solidarity to achieve & accomplish your goals, it’s not a gift, you are organising & working hard to achieve this , including learning what the purpose of the Consejo is & how it functions. For me it is important you understand the whole process & purpose of organisation, not just to obtain cisterns.
3. Dry Toilets
The Consejo & Cedesa (apart from Rotary) have been working to obtain funds to provide dry toilets to those who have continued participating to achieve them. Chela explained the process of obtaining the resources for the dry toilets so far… starting from the 1st meeting of the Consejo with the Presidencia at Cedecom approx. 1 year ago, to the point where they were awarded $4,250,000 pesos for the solicitud, which came with unfavourable conditions. It involves a bid process, ie has to be paid to outside contractors & can not be done by mutual aid groups, the price of one toilet has been quoted at mxn$32,000 which will mean far fewer than the 400+ toilets can be awarded. & toilets can only be awarded to those on the list who have NO form of toilet (functioning or not)…Work continues on this project.
4. Consejo –
A brief summary was given, this Consejo was originally formed in Oct 2010 with representatives elected from each of the communities who joined. For example Cata & Letty are reps. From Cruz del Palmar, as are Adelina (husband attending for her today) & Josefina (absent).
There is a board, made up of some reps the communities, President Cata, Secretary Roberto & 5 other “directors”
All are working/meeting on common issues like dry toilets & cisterns.
It is to give the communities a bigger voice.
For example, the Consejo insisted the design used for the dry toilets be one with 2 chambers…
On 26th Nov 11am – in Juan Gonzalez there will be an Encuentro & anniversary Fiesta of the Consejo – everyone is invited.
5. Workshop at Cedesa – 19th Nov 9am-5pm
A workshop at Cedesa will be held on the 19th, 3 people are invited to attend from each community, there will be 3 separate “work tables” 1 on Nopal tunnel construction, 1 on backyard production & 1 on medicinal plants.
The crops this year are particularly bad, since there has been insufficient rain, this year we need to come up with alternatives to just beans & maize, we need to start producing in our backyard, for example tomatoes & onions, 1 of the work tables will teach this.
Each of the representatives is expected to then teach the assembly in their own communities – to spread the information – train the trainer style.
Some people mentioned they were interested but lack water to grow a garden – this is obviously a major issue!
The meeting finished at 3.15 pm, & we were treated to a banquet of tortillas, rice, beans & chicheron casserole.
