Excellent publicity from District 6940

Our very good friends at Tallahassee RC have achieved excellent coverage of the water cistern project in their district newsletter this month.

You can read all about it here (on page 5 & 6)

HUGE THANK YOU for the continued support from this wonderful Club & District & our very good friends Bill Webb, Larry Kubiak & John Medina...xxx

Report of progress Water project Global Grant 25437

Where: Communities of La Tinaja, Cruz del Palmar & Guerrero

When: 15 Feb 2012 during Team meeting at Cedesa.

Who Laura, Holly, Saul, Chela

Purpose: During our usual Water Cistern Project team planning meeting Saul gave an update of the progress in the communities who are part of the Calgary Global Grant.

All Pilots have now been completed & all communities are working on their individual family cisterns.

Saul reported the following:

La Tinaja (22 cisterns) – they are working well, not slow or fast, but steady. Was difficult initially as this community did not have any access to tools, borrowed or otherwise, thanks to the agreement by Walla Walla & Tallahassee RC’s to use approx. US$300 excess from a previous direct grant on purchase of tools, they no longer have to use machete’s & rocks to cut the wire & malla.

There is one group with a lot of men working in it, & they are progressing faster than the other 2 groups. There has been no problems from a human relations perspective, no gossip issues etc, all are working in harmony & with respect.

They have also begun thinking about organisation of their backyards, cistern, garden, animals, dry toilet etc, they hadn’t previously considered this.

Someone (who had given up her spot as she had not yet built her house) asked about a 2^nd phase in La Tinaja & Chela explained it is difficult to predict.

We discussed the possibility of doing a “cob” adobe workshop to teach the young people how to construct housing using the rammed earth method (essentially using the dirt they excavate to level their property to construct the house). There is a big issue with lack of skills & employment opportunities in this community, & a very large number of young people.

Cruz del Palmar – 41 Cisterns

This community is also progressing well, this is a 2^nd phase community, one young woman Dometila is particularly well involved & helpful. The various groups are all working well & at different stages, some at malla weaving stage others at cement stage. The president of the Consejo is a member of the project & is very active & organised.

Guerrero – 20 cisterns

The pilot training session took longer than expected with delays caused by the rain as well as an “Oportunidades” govt training day, which if they didn’t attend they miss out on.

The pilot cistern is not connected since the classroom is brand new & the boss of the construction of the classroom did not want any piping attached until they have held their inauguration (education department).

There is one group which everyone is good-naturedly joking about as they are the oldest, many older women in it, but ironically they are advancing the fastest.

There was an issue where one of the women did not want to be in the original group she was assigned to but couldn’t change so she felt kind of “left out”. Saul organised a meeting with the group & the woman & they worked on their agreements & compromises/promises & she is now included. He essentially told her you need to work this out together & sort it out or give up your place/materials, this was enough motivation for her to work on the issue & she is now fully integrated.

Subsequent to this meeting, there was an issue re possible delivery problems in Guerrero as a man claiming to own the land of some of the members of the project (they dispute this & have been on the land as many as 6 generations in some cases), attempted to have Sapasma stop the project (he thought it was Sapasma funded). Deliveries went ahead unobstructed & they continue to work on their cisterns.

Report of Inauguration of Sapasma II Project in Cienega

Where: Community of Cienega Juana Ruiz

When: 10 Feb 2012 11.30am-2.45pm

Who Enrique, Laura (Rotary) (+guest of Enrique’s Maria – briefly), Chela, Holly (Cedesa), Camilo, Waldo, Francisco, Alba & 4 Sapasma promoters, & approx. 70 community representatives, from Cienega & also many of the Consejo communities.

Purpose: To celebrate the completion of the 2nd Sapasma Project in this community.

First phase was 26 family + 1 pilot, this phase was for 18 family cisterns. Therefore bringing the total number of cisterns in this community to 45.

There had been unseasonal rain this last week & so the access road was particularly muddy but this did not dampen anyone’s spirits, a Tarpaulin had been stretched out to provide shade/shelter to the many people gathered to celebrate this event.

There were many speeches, Camilo from Sapasma spoke first, he thanked the partners of this project, Rotary, Cedesa & the community. Chela spoke, also thanking the team & explaining a little of the history of this project. Enrique also spoke as did Francisco & the delegado of the community.

We all proceeded on procession fashion, to the first of the cisterns to have a ribbon cutting, & then to 2 more cisterns. One of the cisterns was already ½ full thanks to the unseasonal rain that arrived just as the cisterns were completed!

The trip also included a visit to the Sapasma Pozo, which was put in place more than 3 years ago, including all of the piping, but still has not been operating to provide them domestic use water (their well has high levels of fluoride, ie will not be suitable for drinking), when they eventually do get the problem with water supply resolved. This has been unresolved for many years now, the pipes installed new 3 yrs ago are in some cases now damaged & already needing replacement (despite never having piped water!). The Consejo continues to support Cienega to attempt to resolve this issue with Sapasma – we all hope it is “sorted” soon.

We all proceeded back to the original meeting place & were treated to a banquet feast of red rice, carnitas, nopal salad, salsa & of course delicious tortillas!

I sat next to Francisco of Sapasma & was very pleasantly surprised to find he is a Rugby Fan & knew all about not only the game but the Allblacks!! Who would have thought?

A good day had by all…

Report of 5th visit to Guerrero

Mixing the nopal with Cal to create a natural Sealant

to paint onto the cistern & roof.

Working on the inside & out...

Where: Guerrero Primary school – (past Capaderillo, before La Aurora & Don Juan)

When: 9 Feb 2012 10am-10.45am

Who Laura (Rotary), (Guest Suzanne), Saul (Cedesa) 22 adults at least ½ men, + 3 kids

Purpose: To visit on the 4^th day of the Pilot/training session in this community.

There had been unseasonal rain this last week & so the access road was particularly muddy, & this has impacted the work pace of the project as well, ie unable to mix & form concrete in the rain. Ultimately this caused the pilot to be extended an additional day of training.

When we arrived the cistern was in place, cement was being applied inside & out to the standing cistern. The top/cone was yet to be attached & cemented.

The cistern was positioned behind a brand new building being constructed by the architect/builders working for the Education department, Saul informed me the women in charge of the project had said the tubing was not to be connected to the roof of this new building until they had had the inauguration of this building at the end of the month. We agreed this was pretty ridiculous as we would miss out on the opportunity to collect at least some rain from this unseasonal rainfall we are having. Saul was going to attempt to meet with her & change her mind.

We watched the women mixing the nopal with the lime to make the natural sealer product with which the roof & the outside of the cistern would be painted.

Everyone was in fine form & working hard.

We congratulated the team & bid them goodbye.

The wire & metal materials for the first phase of the cistern construction for each of the 19 families has been delivered & they have begun work on their cisterns after the training session each day.

The cement is due to be delivered a little later as we don’t want to risk issues with the rain.