We have been very busy since our last post in July.
In early August,
there was a meeting of COCIRA in the community of Boca de Canada. It is a
stunningly beautiful place in San Miguel.
COCIRA has really become a strong organization and there is now a council of Directors who are anxious to move
the group forward in many areas in addition to water harvesting. There are 12
Directors, a representative from 12 different communities. They are taking on
the task of inspecting and evaluating all of the cisterns that have been
constructed since 2009 when Laura Stewart began this long and enjoyable
journey.
Boca de Canada is a new community with water problems. They have
been attending COCIRA and other community meetings for several months now. New
communities coming for the first time were Tlaxcalilla (no water whatsoever),
Saltrillo (contaminated water and wanting dry toilets) and Begona de Progreso
(contaminated water). Now they have the information necessary to go back to
their communities and discuss the possibility of joining COCIRA and seeking
various resources that come from being part of COCIRA and having a relationship
with CEDESA. In addition to Rotary funded water projects, backyard vegetable
gardens, health clinics using medicinal plants, apicultura (beekeeping) and dry toilets are among the many things
that can be accomplished on a community level when the inhabitants come to
gather to work in teams for the betterment of all.
Mago attended this meeting as the CEDESA representative as Chela has
been sidelined with a knee problem. Mayra, Carolina and Hilaria came as
promoters in sub-regions that have been set up to better serve the San Miguel
municipality. Lee attended as Rotary’s representative.
Dates were established during the meeting to do “inspection and
evaluation” of the Presa Allende project and to finish up the final inspections
at Alonso Yanez and Lindero. The closing ceremony for Presa Allende was set for
22nd of August.
In August Mago traveled to Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca to finalize
the organization and teams for this second phase project. There are 19 families
participating and we are also supplying two 1,100 liter tinacos to capture rainwater at the houses of two much older
persons who are not able to do the work necessary to construct the 12,000
ferro-cement cisterns. Benigno, the master cistern builder from CEDESA, will be
the technical representative on this project and Abel is being trained to
become the cistern technician for the San Miguel area.
Hierro Comercial delivered the materials for the pilot cistern in
Ex-Hacienda de Pena Blanca for two cisterns in San Lorenzo on August 22nd
and construction began on August 24th. Lee delivered the plywood and
took the "nipples" back to Eric’s so the heavy wire reinforcing could be welded onto
the galvanized parts that penetrate the cistern walls. Alejandro arranged with
the department of social development of the municipality to make water truck
deliveries each week of the project as there is no water in XHPB to even mix
the cement.
As planned above, on August 22nd we had our closing celebration in
Presa Allende with more than 80 persons in attendance. Ivar,
Alejandro and Lee went from Rotary. Chela’s knee is improving and she attended
with Meche and another CEDESA visitor.
On Aug 25th Alejandro and Lee went back to San Lorenzo and XHPB to deliver the reinforced "nipples" for the pilot cistern. This was a great opportunity to talk at length with Benigno about the construction process and the techniques and decisions the technical rep. needs to make in regards to how and where cisterns are located.
On Aug 27, Holly and Lee went to CEDESA HQ in Dolores Hidalgo to review with Chela the new education program that will be added to our next grant. Welcome back Holly! The eight modules were reviewed and we had time to talk about how this can be implemented by having promoter and then later COCIRA and UCCANG workshops to build enthusiasm for the program. Holly will be working hard with Rotary to develop the modules and copious auxiliary materials to distribute in the communities where we will be working.
On Aug 28th all of the new Presa Allende cisterns were inspected by a team of COCIRA representatives, Alejandro,
Beatriz and Lee of Rotary and Meche of Cedesa . The
new inspection program appears to be a very valuable activity as it gives us an
opportunity to meet individually with every new cistern owner to reinforce the
importance of maintenance activities and disinfection of the collected water.
We are finding new ways to improve the projects overall and where to avoid problems.
On Aug 31, Alejandro, Beatriz and Lee went to see the progress in
San Lorenzo where we were served a delicious breakfast of atole and gorditas. Abel
from CEDESA went along with us and I was impressed that he is very thoughtful
and dedicated to the success of the two current cistern projects. From San
Lorenzo we went on to XHPB to check on the completed pilot cistern and to see
where the next cisterns would be located. Because this community has so few
construction workers (too far from San Miguel) we also needed to purchase some
basic tools to lend to the project.
On Sept 1, Lee traveled back to XHPB to deliver the remainder
of the tools needed and also the reinforced "nipples" needed for that week’s
construction. This is the first project that we have undertaken since Saul left
CEDESA (to develop his personal business). It has really been a little difficult
because Saul used to take care of so many little details (taking and returning "nipples", for instance). He also had the "luxury" of having a CEDESA truck to be
able to accomplish the many errands. CEDESA does not have a truck that can be
used by Abel at this time. It has fallen on Rotary’s shoulders to do all of
this detail work. Whereas I am happy to have a chance to work on and learn
about every little detail, it is not practical that we do this for all future
projects. Lee has been discussing with Chela (CEDESA) and our project partners
for the next project of obtaining some additional grant money so that a truck
can be available to the CEDESA workers in the San Miguel region. Saul used to
be the promoter, coordinator, technician and all-around boy Friday for these
projects. Moving forth and having different persons filling the different roles
is requiring that we establish clear communication systems and cooperation to
be able to operate efficiently. This mini-project is proceeding reasonably well - we are on a steep learning curve.
It was a busy month and I have not even reported it all!
Submitted by Lee Carter, Rotary San Miguel Midday, September 7,
2015.
