Closing Ceremony Vivienda de Abajo

Yesterday we celebrated the completion of 10 cisterns in Vivienda de Abajo. Nine cisterns were in family homes and one was at the secondary school. This is the last cistern that we plan to build in a public space until we have a program in place to ensure maintenance and proper use. The development process for building a “public” cistern that must be maintained by a group or committee is very different than the process of building privately owned cisterns.

Attending were 15 families from Vivienda that are still participating in COCIRA. These persons are involved in other CEDESA promoted projects such as backyard gardening, health clinics & home health training, and bee keeping. Overall there were about 40 persons in attendance and a wonderful lunch (especially wonderful green mole) was served. 

New members to COCIRA seeking Rotary resources were in attendance from Nombre de Dios, San Lorenzo, Boca de Canada and Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca.

Chela, Mayra, Saul and Mago were representing CEDESA. Lee Carter was there from Rotary San Miguel Midday. As this was Saul’s last official day as a CEDESA promotor, he cut the inaugural ribbon.

It is interesting to see how some projects go better than others, but I still am not sure how to predict a project’s outcome. This project is one of the best we have had during this grant. All of the cisterns are well constructed, connected and in good service. On the other hand, we still need to go back and do remedial work on about one-half of the cisterns in Banda. I will be talking with CEDESA about sending a technical representative to Banda in the next several weeks to finish up that project so that we finish there with 100% of the collection systems functional and collecting the summer rains. We have determined that having a good and responsible albanil (experienced construction worker) as a part of the work group is very important.

Submitted by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday

COCIRA MEETING

June 4, 2015 – Presa Allende

COCIRA (Consejo Ciudadano Rural de Agua  - the regional water council for San Miguel de Allende), met today in the community building at Presa Allende. There were approximately 60 of us plus a “big-ole-bunch” of kids to start the meeting to at 10 am. By the time we finished at 3:30 pm, after a nice lunch hosted by Presa Allende, that group had grown to about 75 and many more kids. Meetings always seem to grow to the max just before we break for lunch.

Communities in attendance were: Alonso Yañez, Lindero, La Ciénega, Juan Gonzalez, Montecillo de Nieto, Boca de Canadá, Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca, Tierra Blanca, La Banda, Vivienda Abajo, San Lorenzo, Presa Allende, and Correlejos. Also in attendance was Lee Carter from Rotary San Miguel and Chela, Saul, Mayra, Mago and Carolina from CEDESA.

The order of the day was set to discuss:

1.       Water Issues in General

2.       Closing Celebrations for Vivienda, Alonso Yanez and Lindero

3.       Communities in waiting: Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca (14), Nombre de Dios (6), Boca de Canada (more than 35), and San Lorenzo (2).

4.       Anniversary Celebration at CEDESA on June 19 and 20 to celebrate 50 years of service to the communities!

5.       Review a video about the Sierra Norte de Puebla about community actions taken by the indigenous people of that region to stop strip mining, fracking and the construction of hydro-electric dams.

6.        Present the new Consejo of COCIRA (governing board)

7.       Discuss health issues and CEDESA programs to provide training in interested communities.

The future work schedule is heavy with a number of meetings and events planned:

1.       June 13, 11 am, Lee to deliver cistern and community photos for the 50^th Anniversary amparo to Mayra at Presa Allende Church.

2.       June 16, COCIRA counsel and Lee to go to Alonso Yanez and Lindero to do a final inspection and evaluation of that mini-project. Meet at the highway entrance to Alonso Yanez at 10 am.

3.       June 19 and 20. Attend 50^th Anniversary Celebration at CEDESA

4.       June 26, 10:30 am, Lee and Chela to visit San Lorenzo to do a profile of the two families asking for cistern resources in that community

5.       June 26, 12 noon, Closing Ceremony for Vivienda at the house of Louisa.

6.       July 16, 10 am, Meeting of the Counsel of COCIRA at the Salon de Lecturas en Cienega Juan Ruiz

7.       July 23, 12 noon, Closing Ceremony for Alonso Yanez and Lindero at the Casa de Lecturas.

8.       July 28, 10 am, Organizational meeting for the community of Boca de Canada. Chela, Lee, Mayra, and Carolina to attend.

So much for having a leisurely summer before beginning new projects in the fall! It was decided that we will use the rest of the cistern construction funds for the San Miguel de Allende community over the summer. The plan is to construct 14 in Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca, 2 in San Lorenzo and 6 in Nombre de Dios.

The COCIRA counsel proposed to take the responsibility of visiting every community after a Project is completed and before the final celebration to do a final inspection, evaluation and monitoring of the Project. This could be an excellent way for us to improve each project while building a complete database with all of the cisterns constructed by CEDESA and Rotary since 2008. At the end of the summer we will have completed a total of 125 cisterns from the current global grant bringing the grand total to about 750 in 29 different San Miguel communities. There will be more discussion with the COCIRA council on how best to return to all previous communities so that we will have a complete picture of all of the work done since the water harvesting project began in 2009 at Los Torres. Mayra told me that she and Benigno (CEDESA) visited many communities already last summer. She and I will review the information she already has and make a plan how to accomplish this task. This is likely more appropriate than trying to use college students doing their social service to evaluate the cistern projects.

Lee reported that Rotary San Miguel Midday has already begun seeking resources for the winter of 2015 and the year 2016 in all communities lying within the Cuenca de Independencia. This will include San Felipe, Dolores Hidalgo, San Diego Union, San Luis de la Paz and San Miguel de Allende. We will begin organizing the community of Boca de Canada over the summer so that they will be ready by the fall when grant funds become available.

Saul Juarez of CEDESA announced at the end of the meeting that he will stop working as a promotor for CEDESA at the end of June to pursue personal goals and projects. Everyone is sorry to see Saul retire as a promotor, but he will still be involved as a citizen and member of COCIRA. From the standpoint of Rotary, we will miss Saul very much and we wish him the best in the future. Saul has been the backbone of our work in San Miguel since 2010 and has contributed significantly to the success of our many projects. There are other CEDESA promotors that can do the work of organizing and coordinating communities but we will need to train a new technical promotor to oversee construction. Until that is done Benigno who generally works in the northern part of CEDESA’s territory will be available to us.

Lee Carter

Rotary San Miguel Midday

June 4, 2015