Tierra Blanca - cause of higher than average mortality rate discovered!!

In May 2010 the Cedesa/Rotary water project team visited Tierra Blanca at the invitation of the community, who were interested in becoming participants in the water project that was being carried out in various neighbouring communities.

At that meeting members of the community spoke & raised the topic of the higher than average mortality rate of their community & asked if we could help them resolve it. This was not something the Water Project team had encountered in the surrounding communities, & after hearing the heart rending stories of the young people who had died, & whole families who had been wiped out by this cancer, we agreed to work with them to find the cause.

The puzzle was it was only occuring in this community - despite the close proximity to other communities who shared the same water, socio economic situation, food, environment etc, so why was it only happening in Tierra Blanca, & why did it even happen to people from Tierra Blanca when they left the community.

There were many theories - one included a curse, on those who had found ancient graves & sold artefacts in the 50's.

We agreed as a team to take this on.
Many months elapsed with various steps involved:

• There were many visits to Tierra Blanca working with & informing the people of the community.
• Many water tests taken - all showing high levels of Fluoride but although Fluoride has many symptoms the symptoms described by the people, ie sore shoulders & arms, then pain in the lungs, & then death within approx 6 mths, were not symtoms of fluoride poisoning. 
• Cedesa & a team of students led by Jesus Gutierrez created an interview protocol & carried out a census.
• With the results of this census a meeting was made with the then Mayor Lucy Nunez & she granted access to Sanitaria Dos officials.
• These officials were not convinced that the death rate was not just a result of a genetic predisposition running in families. They were aware of the deaths but none had been investigated.
• We also reached out to Dr Ortega of UNAM.
• He subsequently met with us in the community, & spoke with the people to gather more information.
• Dr Ortega committed to working on this issue & returned to take water samples there & in surrounding communities, from various sources, wells, springs & the dried up water bed - where locals dig holes & retrieve water from the puddles.
• The test results showed high levels of fluoride & in some cases arsenic but were inconclusive as causes of the cancer killing members of this community.
• Air, & soil tests were also carried out.

I left the team in 2013 & to be honest many of us believed we many never get to the bottom of this.

Fast forward to 2014 & today a very good friend forwarded an article appearing in the local bi-lingual paper. To read this exciting article & discovery please go to the following link:

http://amsanmiguel.com/?p=871

In the spanish version of this article they credit UNAM with discovering the cause of the high mortality rate & the cause is Erionite. 

"Erionite is a naturally occurring fibrous mineral that belongs to a group of minerals called zeolites. It usually is found in volcanic ash that has been altered by weathering and ground water."

Carcinogenicity of Erionite

"Erionite is known to be a human carcinogen and is listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 Carcinogen.^[5]The prevalence of malignant pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma due to erionite exposure in the Central Anatolia Region is very high."

In our own Tierra Blanca, it has been reported, there is nothing for them to do but leave their homes - which of course many are unable to do. 

So on a high note, the moral of the story would be "don't give up, if something does not seem right it isn't & keep working until you find the cause"

On a low note, finding the cause does not necessarily solve the problem.

Love

Laura

Update re Global Grant 25437 Calgary Water Cistern Project (with Direct grant combined)

4 Communities led the first phase – La Tinaja, 3 Esquinas, Cruz del Palmar & Guerrero. Following is the update of these communities:-

La Tinaja 22 (21 family + 1 pilot) cisterns, pilot began on 23^rd Jan. Cisterns are almost all completed & they will announce their inauguration on the 29^th March.

3 Esquinas 24 (23 family + 1 pilot) cisterns, pilot began on 30^th Jan. Cisterns are completed, they are yet to announce their inauguration date.

Cruz del Palmar 41 (39 family + 2 pilots) cisterns, pilot began on 30^th Jan. Cisterns are completed, Inauguration to be on 29^th March.

Guerrero 20 (19 family + 1 pilot) cisterns. pilot began on 6^th Feb. Interruptions on 7^th March re land dispute, but almost completed as at 17.3.12.

The next phase includes communities of Corralejo, Vivienda de Arriba & Tierra Blanca.

Corralejo 15 (13 family + 1 pilot+ 1 community proj) cisterns, they began their pilot on 12^th March. This was a difficult pilot as most of the men are absent from this community in the USA, Filiberto & Saul (our tech assistants) admitted to having to work extremely hard with the women in this community, since there were no men to help out.

Vivienda de Arriba(10) & Tierra Blanca(9) are beginning work on their cisterns on the weekend of 17^th March. They will proceed without a pilot training session, as this is phase II in each of these communities & the previous cistern recipients have volunteered to work with these participants.

Once funds are received from Port Lavaca & converted to Pesos, we will have a firm number of the next cistern/materials to be available & will begin on this final phase.

14th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary @ Vivienda de Arriba& Tierra Blanca re water Project

Record of Event

Where: Vivienda de Arriba – courtyard of church(40 mins from SMA)

When: 14^th March 2012 1.40pm – 3.20pm

Who: Chela, Holly & Saul, (Cedesa) Laura, (Rotary), + 27 adults (incl. 7 men) & 10 kids & 2 dogs…

Purpose of assembly: To plan the next phase of the GG/Direct grant Water Cistern project which will be 19 more cisterns in Vivienda de Arriba (10) & Tierra Blanca (9).

Note: Re Guerrero : today’s assembly was postponed from March 7, as on that day there was an issue in the community of Guerrero which Chela & Saul needed to attend to. Guerrero is another community we have been working in. There are 12 families whose land is currently in dispute.

On March 7^th a lawyer, earthmoving equipment & 50 police turned up to evict & bulldoze the house of at least one of the families.

Many people came in support of the families, including representatives from communities of the Citizen’s council – Cocira (formed by as a result of the water cistern projects).

It was stated by a member of the community that this was a rare event, ie to see other communities supporting one another, & was due to the organizational process of the water projects over the last 3.5 yrs.

As a result of the solidarity provided to the community, the lawyer decided to call off the earthmovers & the families are still in their homes.

Rotary has stayed out of the legal battle, but it should be noted we have continued to support the families to provide them with safe drinking water as the level of fluoride in this area is very dangerously high at 4+mg/l…

As an aside, at least one family mentioned that not only were they born on this land, but also their father & grandfather. There has also been a countersuit (filed co-incidentally the same day as the eviction notice was received), stating that the judge & the complainant have been colluding at the house of the complainant.

Regardless, the 19 (+1 pilot) cisterns in the community of Guerrero are almost completed & we continue our mission to assist people to resolve their drinking water situation.

When Vivienda de Arriba & Tierra Blanca community members heard the assembly of March 7 was postponed (& why) they decided to go to Guerrero to support their neighbours.

Consequently the first part of the assembly was a debrief of the current situation, Saul also read out an article that appeared in the newspaper Sol del Bajio on 14^th March describing the situation in Guerrero on the 7^th March.

The assembly moved onto usual routine.

Chela asked for a show of hands as to who was attending from Tierra Blanca & who from Vivienda de Arriba.

VdA had 15 people attending & Tierra Blanca had 16 (& more arrived later, not sure if Vda or TB)

Call for a co-ordinator & record taker for each community was made…

Lorena was appointed co-ordinator, & there were 2 record takers.

Page 2 of 2

Chela asked why everyone was here…

The response was “about the cisterns, to make agreements as to who will receive them”

“to define the training sessions, time & who”

There are 10 on the list for Vivienda de Arriba (with more waiting) & 11 on the list for Tierra Blanca.

They have already organized themselves into work groups (each community will work in one group). This the 2^nd phase for each of these communities, so they are already very aware of what is involved, & even better are happy to support their fellow community members & work with them to train them. Saul will of course still be visiting to ensure there are no issues, but this is an excellent result & more evidence of community building.

Anna – from Vivienda, mentioned there are 8 more people who would also like cisterns, Chela asked if they were current residents or were away in the USA working – reiterating that the project was not just a cistern project but involved participation in the process , Anna said they were local & have been participating.

We asked how each of the communities had “prioritized” the participants, ie there are more people wanting cisterns than we have cisterns available. Vivienda de Arriba decided based on attendance at meetings, & Tierra Blanca had had a “raffle” (drawing straws). Tierra Blanca advised that there are at least 38 people still wanting to be involved in the cistern project, of which we had mentioned 11 cisterns were available…

The situation currently is that we have only materials for 35 extra cisterns (although we have funding for more materials)… the materials are special order & have a lead time as much as 3 wks depending on the factory, hence our supplier had ordered in advance sufficient materials for 35 more cisterns & so we have had to split into additional phases.

When we receive the additional funds promised from Port Lavaca Rotary Club we will be able to place the next order of materials & therefore have another meeting with Tierra Blanca (& maybe VdA) to allocate the next number of cisterns. (ay carray – life is complicated!)

It was decided by VdA that no pilot training session was necessary, that past cistern builders would assist the newbies. Tierra Blanca initially decided to do a pilot at the Kinder (39 kids) then decided to give it to one of the families on the list instead, & do without a pilot training session.

We mentioned the tools required, & they all knew what was needed (in fact Anna was listing them out loud from memory) & they all have them or can borrow them.

They decided they would like to get started this weekend & so asked if I could order & pay for the materials in time for delivery on Friday. (which I have done).

Contact details were given for the driver – ie the driver calls the first person & that person guides him for deliveries to each of the houses on the list in each of the communities.

Saul mentioned we have sufficient Plywood left from previous projects, order for Sand & Gravel was made on the following day, & order for the doors will be made once we have final cistern numbers (since the process of ordering the doors is a little more complicated).

The meeting came to a close approx. 3.20. We then headed over to Anna’s place for tacos of nopal & chicheron with boiled eggs – yum!!

June & July Regional Activities, report by Holly Yasui

June-July 2011 newsletter

First of all, apologies for the lateness of this newsletter. We had our biggest event of the year, the 12th Annual National Fair “Lucha Rivera” (for a dignified and sustainable life, and for fair trade and solidarity marketing) on August 5-7, with nearly 700 producers coming from 18 states. I was been extremely busy with preparations for that event, about which I will report in the next bi-monthly newsletter, and then catching up with projects and meetings postponed during the preparations.

A second apology: during the month of June, I was recovering from hip surgery and so I did not attend any meetings for the first half of the month and only a few during the second half, though I did receive reports from the my team members, which I will summarize.

Without further ado, notes on our activities in the months of June and July, 2011 follow.

Wednesday, June 1 –Community Assemblies at La Tinaja and Palmita II. These two communities are located on the west side of the highway to Guanajuato, in mountainous terrain (as opposed to the other communities where we have worked, which have been mostly riverside communities). Both La Tinaja and Palmita II are interested in dry toilets, and we hope to include La TInaja in the next International Rotary grant for rain-harvesting cisterns.

Wednesday, June 8 – Inauguration of the Tierra Blanca cisterns. The 40 families of Tierra Blanca completed their rain-harvesting systems in time for the rains expected this month (note: we did have good rains the last week of June, which filled many of the Tierra Blanca cisterns nearly to half-full, but July was an unusually dry month with only occasional light showers). Thank you Laura Stewart for the great photos!


Wednesday, June 15 – Full Council Assembly at Vivienda de Arriba. At this meeting, representatives of all 17 communities of the Citizen’s Council attended, plus two persons from a new community, Los Magueyes were introduced (Los Magueyes is a small community of about 20 families, located near the Atotonilco turnoff on the highway between San Miguel and Dolores Hidalgo).

It was decided that the next communities within the SMA Citizen’s Council to embark on cistern projects will be Presita de Santa Rosa (Rotary), Guerrero (SAPASMA), Cruz del Palmar II (Rotary), Los Torres III (SAPASMA), and La Tinaja (Rotary).

Saul reported on the application for dry toilets referred to the Department of Social Development by the mayor. Social Development proposed 125 dry toilets to be “given” to the “most needy”, financed by the federal SEDESOL program, at a cost of $25,000 per toilet, with a 15% cash contribution by the beneficiaries. Some comments: these types of programs benefit the laziest people and outside contractors (as opposed to our participatory methodology of having the families provide labor rather than cash, and employing local workers), and have no social context or follow-up. All agreed that we want to continue with our application which includes using local construction workers assisted by the families receiving the materials, training and follow-up technical assistance by CEDESA. The council rejected the SEDESOL proposal and voted to send a committee to the Department of Social Development to insist upon our proposal, and if unsuccessful, to the Mayor’s office.

Holly reported on a research project sponsored by CEDESA on medicinal plants – an internationally renowned expert on healing with herbs, Dr. Rosita Arvigo, is gathering information from local healers on plants of Guanajuato for a book in order to preserve knowledge that has traditionally been passed down from generation to generation orally. With the advent of “modern” medicine, this knowledge is in danger of being lost since many people now prefer to go to doctors and buy medicines made in laboratories. Revalorizing traditional knowledge of healing herbs can help families spend less and cure simple ailments in a more natural way with fewer side-effects. Representatives from several communities in the San Miguel Rural Citizen’s Council volunteered to contact their local traditional healers for interviews.

illustration for plant book

Ana of Vivienda de Arriba reported on her meeting with the Cruz del Palmar Ejido Commission regarding donation of land in that community for a meeting room and eco-technology demonstration center for the Citizen’s Council. The Council decided to request a plot next to the Vivienda de Arriba kindergarten, off the main road, rather than a more distant plot next to the football field. Irene of Capaderillo offered a piece of land in her community, but it does not have road access. Emelia of Cienega mentioned that the Cienega Ejido is selling land in the wedge between the old and new Guanajuato roads. For the moment, it was decided to pursue the donation first, and if that does not come through, to consider the purchase possibilities.


Monday, June 20 – Meeting with SAPASMA to review the progress of the cistern-building projects in Villa de Guadalupe and Cienega de Juana Ruiz. Both projects are proceeding on schedule in spite of problems of delivering water during several weeks of construction.


Friday, June 24 – Tierra Blanca: meeting with Dr. Ortega, who reported on the results from the water tests taken at and around Tierra Blanca, and discussed the symptoms of fluorosis (fluoride poisoning). The 80+ people attending were very attentive and expressed interest in knowing more about the quality of all the sources of water in the region. Results from Dr. Ortega’s fluoride tests:
1. Well – Cruz del Palmar: 1.99 mg/L
2. Well – Cruz del Palmar: 0.40 mg/L
3. Spring – Artesano: 2.56 mg/L
4. Well – Presita Santa Rosa: 2.67 mg/L
5. Well – Tierra Blanca de Abajo: 0.86 mg/L
6. Spring – Tierra Blanca d Abajo: 2.72 mg/L
7. Spring – Tierra Blanca de Abajo: 2.40 mg/L
8. Spring – Tierra Blanca de Abajo: 2.36 mg/L
9. River – Tierra Blanca de Abajo: 0.74 mg/L
10. Well – Rancho Nuevo de Banda: 3.47 mg/L
11. Spring – Los Torres: 0.70 mg/L


Wednesday, June 29 – Inauguration of cisterns at Juan Gonzales. The 21 families of this community celebrated the completion of their rain-harvesting systems at the old primary school – literally the day before the heavy rains at the end of June, which half-filled most of the cisterns.


Saturday, July 2 – Founders Day Gathering at CEDESA. From the municipality of San Miguel, representatives from 14 communities attended: Capaderillo, Los Magueyes, VIvienda Urbana, Guerrero, Presita Santa Rosa, Cruz del Palmar, Juan Gonzales, Cinco Señores, Correlejos, San Lorenzo, La Palmita II, Villa de Guadalupe, Cienega de Juana Ruiz, Tierra Blanca. The event included talks, displays and workshops on this year’s theme of natural health as well as activities for children.

Tuesday, July 5 – Meeting at Fondo Verde – a commission of six representatives from the Citizens Council visited the Department of Ecology and agreed that the $200,000 pesos that we turned down for another cistern project should be applied to a dry toilet project – pilots in the 15 communities that have requested them.
The written application was submitted on Tuesday, July 12 for fifteen dry toilets.

Thursday, July 7 – Assembly at Tierra Blanca to explain the protocol written by Dr. Georgina Mejia (SMA rep of State Health Dept) for an epidemiological study of the high incidence of cancer in that community. The assembly agreed to send a small committee to the Mayor’s office on July 20 to seek support for the study to be done by the Instituto Biomedico of UNAM .
Monday, July 11 - Visit to Cienega de Juana Ruiz to interview healers for the medicinal plant book. Holly took Dr. Rosita Arvigo to this community in order to interview Emelia, Socorro and Juana about the medicinal plants that they use. Their kids helped out by gathering wild plants.



Saturday, July 16 – Inauguration of cisterns at Cinco Señores. The 11 families of Cinco Señores celebrated the completion of their rainwater-harvesting systems. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place at Josefina´s and Esther’s homes, a double-barreled system with two cisterns connected to one roof since the roof of Josefina’s house is higher and larger than Esther’s.



Wednesday, July 20 – Meeting with the Mayor. The Council met with Mayor Lucy Nuñez to discuss the application for dry toilets. Lucy supported the Council’s participatory project (over the SEDESOL outside-contractor project) and committed $4 million pesos to the Council project.
On this same day, we had a Community Assembly in Guerrero primarily to discuss the cistern project that we are proposing with SAPASMA.

Monday, July 25 – Visit to La TInaja and Espejo (next to Tierra Blanca). Holly took Dr. Rosita Arvigo to these communities to interview traditional healers about the plants they use.



Thursday, July 28 – Full Council Assembly at Cienega. Approximately 70 people from all the communities except Vivienda de Arriba and Vivienda Urbana attended. The meeting was initiated by Chela with a reflection on the phrase: “Today our Mother Earth is wounded, and the future of humankind is in danger.”

The rest of the meeting mainly dealt with the dry toilet application with the municipality. New clusters were established, and one community within each designated as the site for dry toilet construction training (marked with asterisk below).
Cluster 1 – Capaderillo*, Guerrero, Vivienda Urbana de Abajo, Presita Santa Rosa
Cluster 2 – Cruz del Palmar, Los Torres*, Montecillo de Nieto, Los Magueyes
Cluster 3 – Tierra Blanca, Vivienda de Arriba, Juan Gonzales*, Cinco Señores, Correlejos
Cluster 4 – Cienega de Juana Ruiz, Palmita II*, La Tinaja, Villa de Guadalupe, San Lorenzo

The Council was invited to participate in a panel at the National Fair in Dolores Hidalgo on August 5-7, to discuss the environmental problems of the region and the projects taking place or being proposed to resolve them (rain-harvesting cisterns and dry toilets)

On that same day, the four families of San Lorenzo celebrated the inauguration of their cisterns.

Report of 12th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Record of Event

Where: Car journey on the way to Unam in Juriquilla
When: May 3rd 9.15-10.15.
Who: Saul (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary), Abraham, Estela (Tierra Blanca), Roberto (Presita Santa Rosa) & Cata (Cruz del Palmar)

Purpose: We were on our way to UNAM in Juriquilla to meet with Dr Ortega (resident ground water expert in this state) on the subject of the higher than normal mortality rate in Tierra Blanca as well as information regarding the water situation in this region.

Informal Update:
I asked Saul & the Tierra Blanca community reps. how the project in Tierra Blanca (constructing 42 cisterns) was coming along… The 2 pilots have been finished, & the 40 other cisterns are almost finished. We have altered the method of ordering the PVC, Saul has found that placing the order in advance results in waste or shortage of PVC, as many families change their minds about the position of the cistern when they actually come to build them.

For this reason we now wait until the cisterns are built so they measurements can be more accurate.
The PVC order has since been placed & delivered, so the cisterns are almost complete. They estimate 1 wk more & all will be finished in Tierra Blanca.

The pilot started on 4th April so this has been an extremely speedy project, the community have really pulled together well to ensure these have been built so quickly!

8th Regional Event of the Communities requesting assistance with water

Where: UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Juriquilla
When: 3.5.11
Who: Representatives of the Consejo Cata (CdP, President), Abraham & Estela (Tierra Blanca), Roberto (Presita de Santa Rosa/secretary), Saul, Chela, Jesus & Parents of Jesus – (Cedesa), Laura Rotary, Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega Guerrero, & Ramon Aguila – UNAM,

Purpose of the meeting: For Dr Ortega to inform the communities regarding the severity of wáter issues in the región, & to plan the study to attempt to determine the cause of high mortality rate in Tierra Blanca.

Saul, Cata, Abraham, Estela & Roberto met at Bodega Aurerra & travelled with Laura to Juriquilla, Jesus, Chela & Jesus’s parents travelled separately from Cedesa.

Dr Ortega began the discussion with a powerpoint & history of the work he & his colleagues have been carrying out in this región. In 1998 the began work in the área of ground wáter studies. Many organisations collaborated on this study. Once they began work they realised that the one aquifer serviced the 7 municipalities, previously it was thought each área had it’s own.

They bought together the municipalities to fund the study.

Historically there were other lakes in the área talked about by the indigenous peoples but they are not here now, there were also 1000’s of springs, these too have dried up.

There are 2500 wells in the área covered by this aquifer. 127 of them were tested for organic matter & 10 elements. There are many more elements that should be being tested for.

In SMA they are currently only testing for fluoride (not even arsenic, ironically Cedesa just did 2 tests for private individuals in the área beside the DH road, & in both locations the levels were higher than the safe recommended level).

The WHO safe max. Level for arsenic is 0.01 – the Mexican Govt. Safe max. Level is 2.5x higher at .025.

Fluoride is a nasty contaminant, it’s symptoms include, high depression, complications with diabetes, erectile disfunction, bone pain, brain disfunction, damaged teeth, accumulation in major organs, .

When the diabetes complications was mentioned, Cata said in the last 3 yrs 4 or 5 kids of 6-7 yrs old have died from diabetes in Cruz del Palmar. There could be a connection with the high fluoride levels there.

There is no information being publically provided currently about the fluoride situation in this región. We are doing our best to inform the communities with whom we’re working, as this is a drastic problema & they should avoid drinking the wáter. Chlorine does not remove fluoride

1.5mg/l is reported as the máximum safe level but it is in fact still toxic at this level.
There are different methods of testing the fluoride levels, the dipstick method (used by Ecosciences) is not the most precise method.

There are more than 70 elements, & we are just testing for fluoride.
Another toxic contaminant is silica – Silicosis is being investigated as a possible cause of the health issues in Tierra Blanca, as is Radon.

Dr Ortega then proposed 2 sets of studies to be done, 1 specifically in Tierra Blanca & the other in the región 500 metres around Tierra Blanca.

An “Encuentro por el Agua” is planned 20/8/11 10am-5pm as a follow up to the diplomado for agua done in 2008/09.

It will be held at the Biblioteca at CAC (Centro Academico Culturo). It will also be open likely to people from the Consejo who have not attended the diplomado but are interested in the topic of Water.

Regional Event of the Communities requesting assistance with water UNAM

Regional Event of the Communities requesting assistance with water

Where: UNAM Juriquilla
When: 3.5.11
Who: Representatives of the Consejo Cata (CdP, President), Abraham & Estela (Tierra Blanca), Roberto (Presita de Santa Rosa/secretary), Saul, Chela, Jesus & Parents of Jesus – (Cedesa), Laura Rotary, Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega Guerrero, & Ramon Aguila – UNAM,

Purpose of the meeting: For Dr Ortega to inform the communities regarding the severity of wáter issues in the región, & to plan the study to attempt to determine the cause of high mortality rate in Tierra Blanca.

Saul, Cata, Abraham, Estela & Roberto met at Bodega Aurerra & travelled with Laura to Juriquilla, Jesus, Chela & Jesus’s parents travelled separately from Cedesa.

Dr Ortega began the discussion with a powerpoint & history of the work he & his colleagues have been carrying out in this región. In 1998 the began work in the área of ground wáter studies. Many organisations collaborated on this study. Once they began work they realised that the one aquifer serviced the 7 municipalities, previously it was thought each área had it’s own.

They bought together the municipalities to fund the study.

Historically there were other lakes in the área talked about by the indigenous peoples but they are not here now, there were also 1000’s of springs, these too have dried up.

There are 2500 wells in the área covered by this aquifer. 127 of them were tested for organic matter & 10 elements. There are many more elements that should be being tested for.

In SMA they are currently only testing for fluoride (not even arsenic, ironically Cedesa just did 2 tests for private individuals in the área beside the DH road, & in both locations the levels were higher than the safe recommended level).

The WHO safe max. Level for arsenic is 0.01 – the Mexican Govt. Safe max. Level is 2.5x higher at .025.

Fluoride is a nasty contaminant, it’s symptoms include, high depression, complications with diabetes, erectile disfunction, bone pain, brain disfunction, damaged teeth, accumulation in major organs, .

When the diabetes complications were mentioned, Cata said in the last 3 yrs 4 or 5 kids of 6-7 yrs old have died from diabetes in Cruz del Palmar. There could be a connection with the high fluoride levels there.

There is no information being publicly provided currently about the fluoride situation in this región. We are doing our best to inform the communities with whom we’re working, as this is a drastic problem & they should avoid drinking the wáter. Chlorine does not remove fluoride

1.5mg/l is reported as the máximum safe level but it is in fact still toxic at this level.
There are different methods of testing the fluoride levels, the dipstick method is not the most precise method.

There are more than 70 elements, & we are just testing for fluoride.
Another toxic contaminant is silica – Silicosis is being investigated as a possible cause of the health issues in Tierra Blanca, as is Radon.

Dr Ortega then proposed 2 sets of studies to be done, 1 specifically in Tierra Blanca & the other in the región 500 metres around Tierra Blanca.

An “Encuentro por el Agua” is planned 20/8/11 10am-5pm as a follow up to the diplomado for agua done in 2008/09.

It will be held at the Biblioteca at CAC (Centro Academico Culturo). It will also be open likely to people from the Consejo who have not attended the diplomado but are interested in the topic of Water.

Report of 11th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Where: Primary School Tierra Blanca Abajo & Secondaria Tierra Blanca Arriba
When: April 7h 9.30-11am
Who: Saul (Cedesa) Laura, (Rotary) Gary Reid (Rotary Volunteer)

Purpose: Visit the 4th day of training re the 2 cisterns being constructed as Pilots in Tierra Blanca.

Gary & I arrived at the Primary school to find people working on the final stages of the cistern. The internal concrete plastering was being completed, & the cone shaped top of the cistern had been constructed & was to be attached to the concreted cylinder.

We took some photos had a bit of a joke with people & then Saul took us to the other cistern, being completed at the Secondary school up the top of Tierra Blanca.

When we arrived at the Secondary school, they were in full swing. The secondary school is very new, the grounds have not been established, & there are 2 portable classrooms above the permanent classroom. This had been the more difficult place to build, all the materials had to be wheelbarrowed across rough ground up a steep slope to the location of the 2nd cistern.

We took some more photos & then headed off.

The materials for the individual family cisterns are being delivered in the next few days, so the construction of the 40 family cisterns will begin soon.

Report of 10th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Where: Primary School, Tierra Blanca Abajo
When: April 4th 9.30-2.30
Who: Saul (Cedesa) Laura, Enrique (Rotary), Waldo Cano + team of promoters (Sapasma) + approx. 50 participants of the project.

Purpose:
1. For Saul to train the 40 families participating in the project in Tierra Blanca – by constructing 2 cisterns (1 at the primary & 1 at the Secondary school)
2. For Sapasma Promoter team to learn the full process of the water projects. Seeing in person the pilot training, & learning more from Saul re the other points.

I arrived approx. 9.40 & training was in full swing. The maya was rolled out on the chicken wire & then more chicken wire placed on top. One of the men was cutting pieces off the maya to grind into hooks for weaving the wire together with the maya in the middle.

The maya lengths are 96 squares long by 16 wide & in each 4” by 4” square, 4 lots of wires are woven.
This full length of wire is then cut into 2 pieces, with the 2nd smaller piece being reserved to make the cone top of the cistern.

Both sets of wires for each pilot was done at the primary school, for Saul to be able to easily train both groups in the same place. Saul was assisted by 2 guys who had completed projects in Vivienda Urbana, great when the trainees become the trainers!! Sharing the expertise.

The kids at the school were buzzing around wondering what was going on.

Everyone was happily participating & concentrating hard to learn the steps.

Please see photos on the blog www.02h2o.blogspot.com

Enrique arrived with Sapasma approx. 11.30am.
The promoters team came & took photos, & asked questions, to begin to learn the process of this project, they intend to replicate, after the initial Sapasma/Water team projects in Villa de Guadalupe & Cienega.

Saul explained what the participants were doing, & talked a little about the construction & placement of the cisterns, dimensions, capacity etc. We then adjourned under a big gum tree to talk more about the whole process, from beginning to end. The Sapasma team all took notes & asked questions.

We programmed our next meeting with Sapasma (ie the first planning meeting with our joint project community – Villa de Guadalupe…)

Sapasma said they would like to come back each day of the pilot to see progress & learn more & asked if this was ok, of course they were welcome…

I left & drove the bone shaking road back to the highway & then back to San Miguel, hot but happy.

Report of 9th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Where: Steps of new church, under the shade of the big tree.
When: March 30th 2011 2.10pm – 3.40
Who: Holly, Saul, Chela, Jesus (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary)+ 53 adults & 5 kids.

Purpose: to begin the project planning for the cisterns to be constructed in this community with the Rotary Global Grant 25397 as well as a combined donation of $9k (details of donating clubs listed below).

Background: we have been working with this community for almost a year now, first visited in May 2010, but many representatives came to assemblies in other communities before that.
We have managed to achieve funding for this project through the generous grant of Rotary & this is the first planning meeting re the project, to determine who will receive cisterns & begin the planning process.

Item 1 – re the previous meeting this morning the Sanitaria 2 (health dept) has agreed to provide pap smears & mammograms to all women in Tierra Blanca over 35. We began this meeting dividing the women into groups of 10 who would visit on scheduled dates. Jesus arranged this & took the lists of names.

Item 2 – Planning the cisterns project
The global grant 25397 is for 50 cisterns in total, 28 for this community of Tierra Blanca & 22 for the community of Juan Gonzalez.

Also available, thanks to 2 separate direct donations is US$7k from Port Lavaca Tex RC & $2k from New Braumfels Tex RC, we will combine these donations to provide $9k for a total of 14 cisterns.

Altogether in this community there will be 42 cisterns available + 1 tinaco (plastic tank) – this divides into 2 pilot cisterns (1 provided by the GG & one provided by the $9k donatin) & 40 individual family cisterns.

We began by talking about the numbers of cisterns we have funding for, & then the roll was called, listing all of those present/absent. 35 people on the list were present.

One woman was absent & it was discussed as to whether she was eligible or not, it was decided she would receive a cistern since she has been participating fully up until now.

Cata (president of the consejo) mentioned that if you are going to allow people in the project who are absent then you need to take responsibility to fully inform them of the events of the meeting they missed.

There was a discussion between the community about a previous meeting Tierra Blanca had held without us, several people complained of not being informed, & different methods of informing the community were discussed, including the possibility of a notice board, which people would have to view themselves, this was discounted as it has not worked in other communities, possibly because of low literacy rates…We need to work out how we can involve everyone in the assemblies that are regarding the health of the community, “some people didn’t even want to take 5 minutes to complete the census we did”
Chela asked how are we going to animate everyone? Talk to your neighbours, constantly mention the issues & see if you can encourage people to come to the meetings, put up notices…

There are others in the meeting not on the list +5 , & one person to receive a tinaco (small water tank – as she is elderly & cant participate as well & we don’t have enough funding for a cistern for her).

The decision process as to who was eligible & who were not, was based on the previous participation in the project up until now. It was a little contentious as some people complained of not being informed of previous meetings. A solution to this was agreed – the first 2 people on the list will advise everyone else on the list of the next meeting, then the next 2 on the list & so on.

It was decided that there would be 5 groups of 8 families working together.
The groups were decided & listed, to include 2 leaders/co-ordinator, 2 abaniles.

Next came the decision as to where to do the pilot cistern builds.
There was discussion about the kinder (30kids) v Primaria (approx. 95kids) v Secondaria (approx. 55 kids).

Although Saul mentioned the younger the children are the more affected they are by the contaminants it was decided to do them at the Primaria & the Secondaria.

Saul then called our supplier Talego to confirm if they had materials in time for the pilots to begin on Monday 4.4.11 (the community was very keen to start asap), Talego confirmed. So pilots were confirmed to begin on Monday.

Next was to decide which groups would work on which pilot, it was split 20/20 (+ 1 tinaco person),

They all agreed to start at 9am & work to 5pm each day.
Saul described the list of tools they would need to bring with them, including wheel barrows, ladders, sifting frames buckets etc, & someone was arranged to bring a grinder to make the gancho/hooks for the wire weaving process.

Everyone left happy & in high spirits looking forward to beginning on Monday!!

Next meeting: 4.4.11 @ Primary School at 9am to begin the 2 pilots.

Report of 8th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca under the big tree by the Church & steps of new church.
When: March 30th 2011 11.40
Who: Holly, Saul, Chela, Jesus (Cedesa), Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega(UNAM), Laura (Rotary)+ 53 adults & 5 kids.

Purpose: To discuss the issue of unusually high early mortality rate in Tierra Blanca, findings of the census carried out by Jesus with Cedesa & the community, with an aim to beginning a full epidemiological study in this community to ultimately resolve the high death rate from cancer occurring here for more than 30 years. (According to the community).

Background
Cedesa & Rotary have been working in this community with an aim to providing water, during community assemblies the issue of high death rate by cancer in this community was raised.
Cedesa subsequently carried out a census with the assistance of the community, to gather more data to determine a pattern. The census found that there was a high concentration of deaths 81% around a specific area of the community, thus indicating a potential environmental cause (as opposed to the previously thought genetic aspect).

With this information we would now like to illicit the assistance of experts in this field to potentially pinpoint the cause & ultimately (ideally) a solution to this major ongoing issue in this community.

Water has been mostly ruled out in these early stages, as 3 communities share the same water source & yet Tierra Blanca is the only community reporting this issue.

Cedesa & Rotary have reached out to Dr Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM Juriquilla & the meeting has been arranged.


Meeting begins
Chela gave intro & explanation of water studies by UNAM, of the region’s water issues, including contaminants, she described briefly the 8mth diplomada of water studies that was held at Cedesa, given by Dr Ortega to approx. 120 campesinos from 80 communities.

Dr Ortega mentioned the following: the information was all about the subject of water in this area, the 7 municipalities that share this aquifer, the Rio Laja is the main source to aquifer, it is 7000 miles long, the management of the water use in the area, the fact that water being used is pre-historic, 10-25,000 year old water, it is not being recharged, the aquifer is too deep, the water does not reach there to recharge it.

Arsenic causes cancer, fluoride causes damage to the cellular makeup of bones & teeth, many kids in this area don’t have teeth, they have degraded. There are 10-15,000 cases of fluorosis in the San Luis de La Paz area (Palencia),
50 communities in this SMA region are affected by fluoride contamination.
Causes probs with bones, teeth, brain, major organs. Kids are not able to learn, it affects info processing ability.
“why haven’t the ranchos been told?” one man asked.
Because the authorities have not analysed the water for these chemicals before 2000. There is a big problem to report this to the communities as there has to be an alternative & they have not found one, hence the cisterns are the answer. They need to stop drilling the wells & provide cisterns.

The older water is warmer & so it absorbs the fluoride & arsenic from the rocks, high levels of silica too.

Cedesa is showing people how to build cisterns, this resolves the issue, but you need to start now, don’t drink the water from the pozos here!

Chela – this is info about the water & we’ve talked about this before but we are also here to discuss the problem of cancer that exists in this community.

An average of 6 deaths per year can be attributed to this since 2007 (& figures not avail before then).

Jesus spoke, he described the study he & the community had carried out & the findings, that 81% of the deaths seemed to be concentrated in one geographic location, so maybe something environmental. He invited Dr Ortega to work with us to try to determine the cause/cure.

There are cases where there is no certainty cause of death so these have not been recorded, hence diff. between our stats & official govt. stats.

Jesus described the meeting with Dra Mejia, Lucy, Irma, Jesus & I, on the subject of the need for investigation of this issue & that the govt. is collaborating on this effort. Govt. have offered free pap smears & mammograms, as some of the cancers are breast cancer…
He explained that last year we made a commitment to Tierra Blanca to begin work on this issue & have been working since then to get the meeting with govt & action.

Dr Ortega is here to help us begin investigations on causes, maybe testing the soil in the area of the higher death rate, it maybe that there is radiation in that area,

Some people began describing the symptoms of people they had lost
“pain front & then back, & had shivers, supposedly cancer of the lung, but maybe cancer of the breast”
“that person was in the states, they have been operated on but can not identify the cause, or diagnose properly”
“a mother had liquid on the lung, said couldn’t identify the cause, symptoms started in the arm, then shivers, none of the Drs know what the cause is, they weren’t sure it was cancer”
“Lots of people have left, some went to Tamaulipas because they thought Tierra Blanca was the problem, but they all died there – you can’t run away from cancer”
“1st symptoms coughing, coughing, & shoulder hurts, Dr mis-diagnoses it”
“Dr will not cure you, they just send you from one Dr to another & charge you more & more, but no results”
“People that come here (ie marry into this area), get sick too”

Dr Ortega said he would like to come back with teams to take samples of Water, Air & Dust/soil.
Water can be radioactive & this can deplete when it goes to the other communities.

Dr O. proposes to return in 1st wk of May with a team to take samples, also possibly measure radon (very difficult to measure as it is gaseous & hard to catch)

He will also look a the possibility of initiating contact directly with the Epidemiology dept to begin with specialists, re the institute of micas in Leon.

By June the results will be expected.

In this way we will be involving the municipality, State Dr & Unam in finding a solution.

Chela explained that we hadn’t abandoned Tierra Blanca (long time between visits) but that it takes a lot of time to pull all of this together.

“Gracias – we really need help, we are dying & we never know who’s going to be next – we’re really concerned for our kids”

“here when we cleaned our water pipes they were really red” Dr O said this is likely high iron.
He said we will do a complete study of the water & what is contained in it.
Don’t just expect the university to resolve this, it will take the whole team, Cedesa, Rotary, the community, the municipality & the University, all working together to find the answers.

Chela described a little about the Consejo & that these are the kinds of issues it can work on.

Jesus asked to be advised if any more people develop the symptoms, as we would like to give special treatment to these cases.

Chela – we would like to ask you to make a commitment to being healthy too, not to eat junk food but to please eat healthy food, because your body is already dealing with an overload of toxins in the dust, air & water, you shouldn’t introduce junk food into the mix too.


Q&A for the Dr
“are the analysis costs going to cost us?”
Unam is already doing similar costs at the same time, & so will absorb the cost.
If we find problems then Municipality will be asked to contribute with costs, for example when we did the full study on water, all the municipalities contributed to this study, although at that time the SMA municipality contributed the least.

Fluorosis is very severe, causes problems with fetal deaths, infertility, sexual disfunction, brain, teeth, bone & major organ damage. Actually more dangerous than Arsenic. Prevents ability to learn, slow blink relex is a possible cause as shows speed of brain process, no retention, no ability to process.

Next meetings
UNAM – Juriquilla – Water Project team 10am 3.5.11
2nd wk in May come to take samples at Tierra Blanca (with team)
2nd wk in June return with results of samples

We adjourned for lunch, then after lunch had the project planning meeting…
See separate report…

Port Lavaca RC Texax Joins The Team!

On 15th March, Skip & Carolina (President of the Port Lavaca Rotary Club & his wife), attended first the water information day presented by Sapasma in Parque Juarez, & then our San Miguel Midday RC meeting...

During the meeting Skip presented our club with a very generous direct grant donation of US$7,000 to support our Water Project.

This $7k along with another generous $2k direct grant donation from New Braumfels RC in Texas will go towards providing a total of 14 cisterns in the community of Tierra Blanca.

Another Rotary funded project is being carried out there (& in the community of Juan Gonzalez), together this will mean the community is able to construct a total of 42 cisterns in their community.

Muchisimas Gracias!!

Report of 7th Event Re Tierra Blanca

Where: Municipality offices, The mayor’s meeting room.
When: March 10th 2011 12.30-1.35pm
Who: Irma Rosado NGO co-ordinator, Lucy Nunez (Mayor of San Miguel), Dra Georgina Mejia Bocanegra (Sanataria 2 director), Jesus (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary).

Purpose: To discuss the issue of unusually high early mortality rate in Tierra Blanca, findings of the census carried out by Jesus with Cedesa & the community, with an aim to beginning a full epidemiological study in this community to ultimately resolve the high death rate from cancer occurring here for more than 30 years. (according to the community).

Background
Cedesa & Rotary have been working in this community with an aim to providing water, during community assemblies the issue of high death rate by cancer in this community was raised.
Cedesa subsequently carried out a census with the assistance of the community, to gather more data to determine a pattern. The census found that there was a high concentration of deaths 81% around a specific area of the community, thus indicating a potential environmental cause (as opposed to the previously thought genetic aspect).

With this information we would now like to illicit the assistance of experts in this field to potentially pinpoint the cause & ultimately (ideally) a solution to this major ongoing issue in this community.

Water has been mostly ruled out in these early stages, as 3 communities share the same water source & yet Tierra Blanca is the only community reporting this issue.

Cedesa & Rotary have reached out to Dra Mejia & the municipality & the meeting has been arranged.


Meeting begins
Jesus presented a powerpoint giving a background to this situation, ie that we were working on water projects re the fluoride & scarcity of water issue, & during this work, the community of Tierra Blanca reached out & asked for help with this issue.

Jesus mentioned our census, how it was carried out & the findings re the concentration of 81% of the deaths in one small area – which also happens to be an old burial ground. There was brief discussion about possibility of contamination by the bones of the burial ground, or the possibility that the burial ground was placed there because there was a problem existing even back then.

Dra Georgina presented death figures they had officially received, along with alleged cause of deaths pronouncements. It was mentioned that many people don’t seek official pronouncement re cause of death & that incorrect causes can be recorded.

Lucy agreed that this is a very important issue & we must work to find a resolution.
She suggested a full scientific study could be carried out if we approached Universities specialist in epidemiology in the USA, Dra mentioned Mexico has experts in this field & would be appropriate to contact them.

Jesus mentioned there is an antigens test which can be done as a pre-indicator of lung cancer.
The private hospital charge for this test in Mexico is $850 pesos.
There was discussion about the possibility of the mobile mammogram clinic being able to do these tests for the people in Tierra Blanca.
It was explained that in order to receive funding from a govt. budget for this there would need to be official supporting evidence of the need, (our census is unofficial).

In the meantime Dra Mejia offered mammograms & pap smears to all women in Tierra Blanca 12+ years of age. Completely unrelated to the lung cancer, but disease prevention in general.

Laura mentioned she had attempted to contact a Mexican expert in the field through her friend who is an epidemiologist but to no avail. Lucy said she would like that contact & will follow up.
(contact was since provided)

It was agreed that Dra Mejia would create a “packet” of information/stats etc to provide as support to request assistance from Epidemiologists, she would also identify potential epidemiologists to contact.

Fluoride:
The issue of fluoride contamination was discussed, ie that it is a very big problem but that we don’t currently have up to date statistics on the numbers of people affected, & the level of affect.

Jesus & Laura proposed that a study be carried out to determine the numbers of affected & with the aim to looking at resolution of this issue, mostly through prevention since there is no “cure”.

Dra Mejia agreed to devote 2 “robots” (dental vans) to the project, & asked for costs to cover the consumables in these vans (Rotary would attempt to assist with this, with international dentist connections through Rotary.

It would also be helpful to have volunteer dentists to assist with the info gathering process.

General point:
Laura mentioned during a meeting with IMTA in 2010 they had mentioned the foundation they work closely with in regards to water projects, Laura had contacted with no response, & Lucy volunteered to make contact to see if there was any option for funding for the water projects (with aim to prevent further fluorosis)
(contact information later provided to Lucy)

Action:
Jesus is to call Dra Mejia on Monday 14th March to find out the schedule of:-
• the Robot vans & when they can be made available
• mammograms & pap smears for eligible women in Tierra Blanca


Dra Mejia is to:
• create the “packet” of information with which to invite epidemiological assistance.
• Provide contact details of possible epidemiologists for Lucy to contact.

Laura is to provide contact details of Mexican epidemiologist expert + IMTA contact to Lucy to follow up. (done)

No next meeting date for these participants was made at this meeting.

Next meeting regarding Tierra Blanca, community assembly 30.3.11 11am. In Tierra Blanca

Report of 6th visit to Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca – In front of old Church,
When: Wed 6.10.10 October. 3.10pm
Who: Saul, Jesus (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 19 adults incl. 4 men, 11kids, 7 dogs & 2 sheep!

Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.

There was a Quincinera (15th birthday party for girls) in progress when we arrived & most of the town was attending the mass & then the celebrations afterwards, so the meeting today was smaller than usual.

Also the usual meeting place was occupied by a crew of people setting up equipment for the Fiesta, so we moved down to a meeting tree near the river.

Consequently today’s meeting was more informal, less structured than usual, & was essentially an information transfer session.

Health issue
Jesus began the discussion about the health issue.
He said that Lucy & Dr Bocanegra (dept of health) were aware of the issue, & they are woking on it too.
The data they have implies that the cause is not natural, ie there are outside causes to this cancer.
So we need to continue to determine the cause, either environmental or genetic.

We apologised that Holly could not make it today, she is nursing her sick partner Gerardo.

We have also eliminated the water contaminants as a cause – there is high fluoride & low arsenic levels but neither of these is the cause of cancer or the symptoms, although fluoride causes other health issues that we need to work on.

To assess whether the cause is genetic we need to process all of the “interviews”. Holly is working on the ones she has received.

Jesus asked Laura to find experts to help us with this research.

Jesus asked how many interviews are yet to be done? This could not be answered as most of the interview team/commission are attending the fiesta today.

Jesus reiterated there are new forms, fewer questions, only 2 pages to complete now so should be a lot easier.

The mobile clinic would have to be rescheduled. They were intending to come in September but couldn’t cross the river as it was too high.


Cisterns & dry toilets
Jesus explained the inauguration/regional meeting on the 22nd Oct at Capaderillo would serve as opportunity for each community to submit their request & resources be sought for the combined need.

Saul handed out the copies of forms to be completed, one per community, & one per family.
He explained this needed to be bought to the meeting on the 22nd Oct.
Saul explained what was needed on the forms, what it asked & what they should include, ie high level of fluoride & scarcity of water. He also mentioned the possibility of small families combining/sharing if they live close.

Participation in the project is mandatory, so it is not available for people currently living in the States.
Important to attend on the 22/10 & bring contributions re food & drink to share as potentially there could be as many as 22 communities attending.

One woman bought a copy of the map she had promised at the last assembly. Jesus undertook to take it home, take a copy & bring to the next assembly. Jesus clarified the region of Tierra Blanca with 2 of the men who lived there.

General information
Jesus mentioned the Lions eye clinic on Thursdays, & diabetes clinics also on Thursdays.
He passed on the appointment time to Anselmo Granado, he is booked in for 28th October. (we went to see him at the Tienda & passed him a note with the details on it).

Jesus also described the services of Patro Nato Pro Ninos, Laura had received a “pack” from Karen Livingston, & gave one to Saul for future reference too. It was explained they do work in the medical area, & any children with medical issues can attend their clinic.

Next meeting 22/10/10 at Capaderillo at 11am
Next assembly 3/11/10 at 3pm

We declined invitation for tacos since Jesus needed to urgently return home.

(report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

Report of 5th visit to Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca – In front of old Church,
When: 01.09.10
Who: Saul, Holly (Cedesa) (Jesus was out of town), Laura (Rotary), 38 adults incl. 2 men, 11kids, 9 dogs & 3 sheep!

Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.

Holly & Saul asked if the interview (stats) team were all there, they weren’t but arrived later.
Holly explained we don’t have much time for today’s meeting as we have commitments back in town & everyone agreed to a short meeting.

We also explained we had been very busy this month & had not had a chance to catch up with Jesus before he left for holiday so we need them to update us on progress.

Holly asked what the meeting was interested in having on the agenda today
Cisterns/distillers
Health – follow up, blood tests, # of volunteers for blood clinic
Census/Interviews
The bridge
Dry toilets

Cisterns
Saul described the cistern process briefly, Marisol had discussed water options with the Interviewees & they have been interested in having distillers in the lower part (they have water, but it has high fluoride level) & upper part would need cisterns as they have no water.

Holly explained there is currently no available funding but that we are working on a large combined community project to potentially cover 100-150 cisterns for all the communities who have demonstrated an interest in participating.

Reina (one of the interview team) had encountered 1 family who did not want to participate in the census, turns out this was a family who had had a recent death (so was understandable).
Marisol had not had any refusals, she stated “if we exlude any people who have deaths then the census will be incomplete”.

It was suggested that we need to ask friends of these families to sensitively do the census, to ensure the majority of the community understands what we are trying to achieve.

A father of a man who had recently died described the symptoms his son had had before he died, lung tumour, couldn’t eat, he agreed to do the census after the meeting.

We need to spend some time at the beginning of the census explaining the reason for it, not just spring into the questions. Perhaps Marisol had been doing this & Reina had not.

It was suggested that a list be kept of the people declining the census, & at the next assembly a mini commission would be assigned to visit these families.

They are also out of copies of the census
Action: Saul will bring additional copies to distribute to the Interview team at 3pm Friday (to Marisol/Vero)

We asked Marisol how she went with the interviews “all went well, no probs with names, dates etc, she has completed approx. 14.

Saul “if there are families that don’t know what’s going on, explain to them that this project is to benefit the whole community because it is a community process”

Holly asked the meeting to explain what this was all about, one young woman replied “it is to gather information to determine the cause of the major health issues in this community”

Holly asked who can help – “other investigators, doctors, govt assistance” these are all people we can go to once we have the information to present & ask for their help. Until we have the statistical info we can’t go to higher authorities, hence this part of the process is essential.

Holly said it would be good if there was a map of the whole area.
Action: Maria de la Cruz Ramirez has one & will bring a copy to the next assembly

Holly suggested we change our meeting place to the Community casa (salon), there are no chairs, so everyone will need to bring their own (or sit on the floor!).

Blood tests
At the last assembly Estela 415 194 6064 committed to collecting a list of numbers of people who were prepared to do a volunteer blood test, to test for antigens re prelim cancer diagnosis.
She has a list of 67 women & 41 men.
We need to arrange the best day for the mobile clinic to come, it was suggested that Saturday would be ideal.

Action: Jesus/(the team) to arrange clinic to visit the community – ideally on a Saturday - & advise the community in advance.

Registry of births & deaths
There is a registry office for births & deaths in Cruz del Palmar. It is a regional office servicing 37 communities. Holly mentioned this office & pointed it out as a good way for the people in this community to determine the number of deaths in this community in the last x years.

A commission was proposed to go with Saul to Cruz del Palmar & write a report.
We called for volunteers.
No one put up their hands, we had to really push the point “if you can’t help Saul we can’t get the info” “do you want to help resolve this?” again no response, oddly!
Holly really pushed, & eventually Juana Granados Guerrero, Hilda & Vero volunteered. They will need to get the info from 5-10 yrs.

Action: Saul will go 1st to see what is involved, & then arrange (by phone) for the others to meet him there.

The other items on the list will have to be carried forward, we ran out of time…

Next meeting (1st Wednesday of the mth) 6.10.10 3pm – Salon Comunitario (byo chairs)



(report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

Report of 4th visit to Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca – In front of old Church,
When: 04.08.10
Who: Saul, Jesus, Holly (Chela was ill) (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary), 41 adults incl, 5 men, 13kids, at least 8 dogs & 3 sheep!

Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.

Introductions:
Saul, Jesus, Holly & Laura introduced ourselves.
The “roll” was called (passed the list)

Agenda was set
1. Results of water samples taken
2. Advances re funding
3. Interviews/surveys
4. Method of interview/survey

Jesus explained that water test samples were taken, from 4 different levels, & different times.
Unfortunately the levels of fluoride in all the samples were higher than 3 (almost 4mg/l). Safe max. is 1.5mg/l.

Arsenic tests have also been done & we are still awaiting results.

For clarification, fluoride is not the cause of the cancer, it is still a serious health issue, but not the cause, so we have to things to solve.

Tierra Blanca has not been drinking this water for too long (well is approx. 10 yrs old), so the symptoms are not obvious in the adults yet, but it is definitely affecting the children already, especially since they are so small it is concentrated in their bodies. It is worse in Los Torres, where they have been drinking this water for many more years.

We can have a workshop at Cedesa & demonstrate how to construct a solar distiller, the only effective way to remove fluoride from water.

We suggest the creation of a committee to work on water options, discuss the options & look at alternatives, unfortunately there is no option for the people living at the top of the hill as they have no water…

It was suggested that the same people carrying out the census/interviews can do the stats re the water, there are already 2 sets of census takers appointed for each side of the community.

Laura suggested each person at this meeting could learn the details & be the ones to transfer the information to the rest of their community.

One man came forward & spoke about his ill health, he has the beginnings of the symptoms that people complain of before dying of cancer & was obviously worried about it. He was planning to visit the clinic in SMA “Similares” this afternoon.

Jesus,& Laura discussed the possibility of finding a doctor in SMA willing to take all the cases in TB, so there is consistency & medical expertise. Jesus has a friend who is a Doctor & naturopath, he will approach him.

Jesus explained he had spoken with the Secretary of Salud to have a mobile Cancer clinic (normally for breast cancer testing) come to the community to take blood samples for antigens which would be the first indicator of the presence of cancer… The blood tests would be on a voluntary basis, for everyone over the age of 16.

The plan therefore is
1. Census for all
2. At same time explain water issues to all
3. Lab test/blood test for those who want it.

Estela volunteered to receive info re who would like to go on the list for giving blood. She will not take names (as she can’t read or write) but will record the number of people.
Boys 15 & older, Girls 16 & older
She will collect the numbers before Saturday & give this information to Jesus.

Once the information is received Jesus, thought the clinic would take approx. 2-3 wks to schedule the visit.

Jesus explained Genetics & family trees & the reason for collecting census info that may point to a genetic origin of this issue. It is also important to describe the geographical limits the people move about in in their daily lives. Eg house, fields, river

Saul suggested creating a “map” so people can demonstrate pictorially where they move.

One woman spoke “ a friend told her there were some people that came with big machines & they had a hand held device with a needle that moved a lot, she assumed it was measuring radiation”

Jesus described the form the census takers will use.
The house, who lives there, general info per household, rooms for sleeping, rooms for kitchen, material of the house (ie adobe/brick), Electricity si/no, gas si/.no, use wood for fires? Etc
There are 3 pages for the genealogical tree. The oldest person in the house should answer the questions.

Main assembly finished at this point 4.20

The census committee stayed for extra training, including each completing one census.

Marisol & Vero
Pedro & Lucia
Enedina & Reyna

Session ended 5.45pm
(we arrived back in SMA at 6.40)

Next assembly in Tierra Blanca 4th Sept at 2pm

(report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

Report of 4th visit to Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca – In front of old Church,
When: 04.08.10
Who: Saul, Jesus, Holly (Chela was ill) (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary), 41 adults incl, 5 men, 13kids, at least 8 dogs & 3 sheep!

Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.

Introductions:
Saul, Jesus, Holly & Laura introduced ourselves.
The “roll” was called (passed the list)

Agenda was set
1. Results of water samples taken
2. Advances re funding
3. Interviews/surveys
4. Method of interview/survey

Jesus explained that water test samples were taken, from 4 different levels, & different times.
Unfortunately the levels of fluoride in all the samples were higher than 3 (almost 4mg/l). Safe max. is 1.5mg/l.

Arsenic tests have also been done & we are still awaiting results.

For clarification, fluoride is not the cause of the cancer, it is still a serious health issue, but not the cause, so we have to things to solve.

Tierra Blanca has not been drinking this water for too long (well is approx. 10 yrs old), so the symptoms are not obvious in the adults yet, but it is definitely affecting the children already, especially since they are so small it is concentrated in their bodies. It is worse in Los Torres, where they have been drinking this water for many more years.

We can have a workshop at Cedesa & demonstrate how to construct a solar distiller, the only effective way to remove fluoride from water.

We suggest the creation of a committee to work on water options, discuss the options & look at alternatives, unfortunately there is no option for the people living at the top of the hill as they have no water…

It was suggested that the same people carrying out the census/interviews can do the stats re the water, there are already 2 sets of census takers appointed for each side of the community.

Laura suggested each person at this meeting could learn the details & be the ones to transfer the information to the rest of their community.

One man came forward & spoke about his ill health, he has the beginnings of the symptoms that people complain of before dying of cancer & was obviously worried about it. He was planning to visit the clinic in SMA “Similares” this afternoon.

Jesus,& Laura discussed the possibility of finding a doctor in SMA willing to take all the cases in TB, so there is consistency & medical expertise. Jesus has a friend who is a Doctor & naturopath, he will approach him.

Jesus explained he had spoken with the Secretary of Salud to have a mobile Cancer clinic (normally for breast cancer testing) come to the community to take blood samples for antigens which would be the first indicator of the presence of cancer… The blood tests would be on a voluntary basis, for everyone over the age of 16.

The plan therefore is
1. Census for all
2. At same time explain water issues to all
3. Lab test/blood test for those who want it.

Estela volunteered to receive info re who would like to go on the list for giving blood. She will not take names (as she can’t read or write) but will record the number of people.
Boys 15 & older, Girls 16 & older
She will collect the numbers before Saturday & give this information to Jesus.

Once the information is received Jesus, thought the clinic would take approx. 2-3 wks to schedule the visit.

Jesus explained Genetics & family trees & the reason for collecting census info that may point to a genetic origin of this issue. It is also important to describe the geographical limits the people move about in in their daily lives. Eg house, fields, river

Saul suggested creating a “map” so people can demonstrate pictorially where they move.

One woman spoke “ a friend told her there were some people that came with big machines & they had a hand held device with a needle that moved a lot, she assumed it was measuring radiation”

Jesus described the form the census takers will use.
The house, who lives there, general info per household, rooms for sleeping, rooms for kitchen, material of the house (ie adobe/brick), Electricity si/no, gas si/.no, use wood for fires? Etc
There are 3 pages for the genealogical tree. The oldest person in the house should answer the questions.

Main assembly finished at this point 4.20

The census committee stayed for extra training, including each completing one census.

Marisol & Vero
Pedro & Lucia
Enedina & Reyna

Session ended 5.45pm
(we arrived back in SMA at 6.40)

Next assembly in Tierra Blanca 4th Sept at 2pm

(report respectfully submitted by Laura Stewart)

Tierra Blanca meeting. 7 de julio del 2010

Where: Tierra Blanca churchyard
When: Wed, July 7, 3 p.m.
Who: Chela, Holly and Saul (Cedesa), 33 women, 2 men, 15 children and various dogs.

We waited for over a half hour for Jesús, since he was to report on the various projects we discussed during the last meeting, but since he did not arrive, we started the meeting at about 3:45 p.m. Lucia was chosen to coordinate and take roll. All who attended last month’s meeting plus four more people were present.

A delegation of five people from the community of Cinco Señores came to find out about the community development projects in Tierra Blanca. That community consists of about 15 families, 80 people, across the river from Juan Gonzales. We were going to discuss their concerns at then end of the assembly but the meeting was cut short by a major downpour.

Pending from last meeting: Jesús was going to help Tierra Blanca take a census in preparation for government and ONG applications regarding 1) a health diagnostic 2) a bridge 3) cisterns and 4) dry toilets, but he was unable to do so on the previous Monday that he came because of afternoon rains. He did get a water sample from the well but it has not yet been analyzed and he did some preliminary interviews with some families and was able to draw some preliminary conclusions about the incidence of cancer in certain family lines (see attached report).

While awaiting the arrival of Jesus, Chela mentioned some investigations we have been doing with the Instituto de la Mujer (for breast cancer examinations) and CASA, which does health work in the communities. Several people mentioned that there are more men than women who are dying of cancer in Tierra Blanca. We then mentioned the Secretary de Salud and the Midday Rotary Club (Holly said that Laura is in touch with several MD doctors about various symptoms and conditions). Chela emphasized the need for hard data, not just hearsay evidence in order to deal with the health problem.

We discussed doing genealogical research for the health diagnostic at the same time as the census, and promised to bring a questionnaire within two weeks with which to start the process.

At this point it started to rain, and we all huddled under the tree but within a few minutes it started to pour. We ran into the chapel but it was a very hard downpour and Chela was worried about crossing the river. We jumped into her truck and started down the hill toward the river but got stuck in a rut in the middle of a torrent and could not see the road. After several attempts, we got out of the rut, and with wheels spinning and the truck lurching over hidden rocks and holes, we headed toward the ford, even though we couldn’t see it. At the bank of the river, Chela just aimed toward what looked like a shallow part with plants growing above the water, and we made it across! The rest of the way was easy in comparison.

We did not have time to schedule the next assembly, but we will set the date and time (August 4, 3 p.m.) when Saul and/or Jesús take the genealogical questionnaire to Tierra Blanca within the next two weeks (by July 21).

It turns out that Jesús’ car got stuck in the river near Cruz del Palmar, and he could not reach us by phone since Telcel does not have coverage in Tierra Blanca.
So, rainy season has really begun. It appears that we will have to use the footbridge to get to the next assembly at Tierra Blanca – we can park the truck in the community of Espejo (next to Vivienda de Arriba), walk across the river and then to Tierra Blanca. Saul will investigate the location of the footbridge.

We also want to look into getting USAcel telephones since all the phones in Tierra Blanca and Vivienda are USAcel, which has much better coverage than Telcel in the rural communities of the region. Several contacts in Los Torres and Capaderillo and our suppliers (sand and herreria) have USAcel, which provides free calls among USAcel phones, though the rate for fixed lines and Telcel is higher. Holly agreed to investigate and consult with Laura and John about getting USAcel phones.


SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT on Tierra Blanca Health Issues
On July 15, Chela, Saul and Holly met with Jesus Guiterrez at CEDESA. Jesús reported that according to his informal investigation (questionnaires filled out at the June 2 assembly), going back three generations, there are 14 distinct families in Tierra Blanca, of which ten have a high incidence of lung cancer, and two have a high incidence of other types of cancer. He also mentioned that there is a carcinogenic spore that is known to be associated with tombs that contain mummified remains – thus the legends of “curses” befalling tomb-robbers in Egypt and other places. We started work on a questionnaire that would enable us to trace genealogical incidence of cancer (family trees) but ran out of time and Holly agreed to work on it on the weekend so that we can test it, and Jesús and/or Saul can deliver it on or before Wednesday afternoon, July 21.

Report of 2nd visit to Tierra Blanca

Where: Tierra Blanca – under big trees down by the river…
When: 02.06.10
Who: Chela, Jesus, Holly (Cedesa) Laura (Rotary), 38 adults incl, 4 men, 8kids, at least 7dogs

Purpose: We were invited to visit this community to talk about water issues & discovered they have a major health issue, the community has requested our help to resolve the early mortality rate.

Introduction
Chela asked us to introduce ourselves & then gave the meeting a bit of background about Cedesa, & also about the collaboration between Rotary & Cedesa starting in Los Torres, 18mths ago, working on the solution to the problem of contaminated water (by fluoride, arsenic & in some cases manganese). She explained we began training & teaching people to build cisterns.

3 Women from the Tierra Blanca community began to visit the assemblies in Los Torres & then in Vivienda de Arriba & asked us to visit Tierra Blanca. This is our 2nd meeting, last time they mentioned the mortality rate issue & asked for our help.

We came initially to talk about water issues, & many other issues were raised, nutrition, alcoholism & the cancer issue. We are here to talk more about this issue as it worries us & we would like to work with you to resolve this issue.

Do you want to work with us or not? “SI”

The problems you have raised are serious, do you want an organised assembly or disorganised?
“organised!”

To organise we need to appoint a co-ordinator, to control the speakers & raise points for the agenda – who do you propose?
Veronica was proposed, & all voted yes.

The principal function of the co-ordinator was explained as to keep order & make sure everyone has a chance to be heard, & also to raise points for discussion today.

Points for discussion
• Cisterns for above & below communities.
• The problem of cancer/health
• Why doesn’t someone help us with a bridge for the rainy season?
• Interested in dry toilets (we don’t have them)

Cisterns
Contaminated water info was provided, ie fluoride & it’s symptoms.
They just began to drink the water from the deep well 10 years ago, so the symptoms are not obvious in the adults, & are more obvious in the kids. The small 3 or 4 year olds’ teeth are crumbling & falling out.

The water has not been tested yet, but is assumed to be contaminated.

Jesus – ususally the deeper the well, the more contaminated the water, also there is a strong relationship between arsenic & cancer, so arsenic is a potential cause.
Step 1 will be to analyse the water, we didn’t bring water sample bottles today as we are waiting for new ones for the lab.

The water from the pozo (deep well) only runs between 12 – 4pm daily (when the pump is switched on), people with roof top tinacos (plastic tanks) collect water in them, & then use it from there, when the pump is switched off.

Jesus suggested a commission to accompany us to the well to take the tests (when we return with the sample bottles)
Estela, Enedina, Lucia, Pedro & Vero will help take tests.
Vero 415 155 9410
Pedro 414 153 5862
Action Jesus When we have the bottles we will ring to make a time to come to do the test.
The water from the well is cold not warm when it comes up.
We need the keys to the enclosure to enter the well (community will organise these)

Chela – This program is not a govt. or Santa Claus program, you need to participate & ultimately build your own cisterns within groups.

Vero was asked to describe what she knows about the project.
She said they organised well, & began learning when they built one at the kinder, & then worked well in groups to build their own cisterns – Dona Julia reiterated this too.

Chela - If you demonstrate your motivation we can help, it’s not easy for Laura to knock on doors for money, she doesn’t have a big pile of money in her big bag (my bag is always full of files, kind of my portable office, so I carry a big bag to the communities)… she has to go & find avenues of help for you.

How many families are there in Tierra Blanca (approx. 125)
How many families are interested in this moment in starting a cistern project?

Jesus – water, toilets & health are in truth, all related. We need to ask questions to find info & resolve the issues, to begin a plan of management for this community, important to begin in these themes/issues.

We need to take a census - how –any families, how many inhabitants…
# of houses 125
# of persons avg 5 per house – 625
# men/women
Where the water is sourced, what types of water are drunk…

Action It was agreed that at the next assembly they would come with a list of who would like cisterns.

Action: Jesus proposed coming on the day they test water, with a rough map of the community & divide into roughly 3 areas of 40 families in each area.

Suggested 3 Teams in charge of the census
Marisol (& Vero)
Lucia/Pedro
Enedina/Reina & Carmela


Before the well people were still dying young, so it is unlikely to be the well water, but it is causing other issues (fluoride contamination). People were drinking from the river

Jesus asked everyone in the meeting
“raise your hand if you have a direct family member who has died from the cancer problem”
17 out of 43 people, raised their hands (ie approx. 40%)

How far back does this problem go? Grandparents, great grandparents?
“both grandparents & uncles died”
“here is a drastic situation, on my wife’s side all the people have died, relatives as young as 23 & people in their 30’s”
“I don’t think it’s the water, other communities are also drinking this water & they have old people & we don’t!”
“Dr’s are all surprised why people are dying here in Tierra Blanca”
“I am not sure how much you can all do to help us deal with this”

Jesus answered –
We will do an epidemiological study to determine the causes of the sickness’s, once we have the information we will be able to see the relationships/patterns, & maybe it’s external causes, or maybe it’s bloodlines, or a propensity to the problem.

Once we have the information we can work with medical experts to determine the cause & possibly prevention or cure…

If you are interested in learning the cause we will work with you buy only if you are interested, with your participation only. Are you interested in working with us? “Si”

Jesus suggested the 17 people who raised their hands could be the first to fill in the interview forms we have to begin gathering statistics & data.

“There is a young man who is sick with “bumps” under his lungs they say he is sick & cant do anything about it…”

The Bridge
Chela – did you ask for help at the municipality re this issue – “si but no-one came”
When it rains there is no access here, it’s blocked in all directions. It’s up to your chest if you try to cross the river.

There is a footbridge in neighbouring Espejo to cross on, but no-where for vehicle access.

Jesus suggested the community needs to appoint a commission to look at the problem & potential options to resolve it, including possible diversion of the course of the river with large rocks etc. & looking at not removing sand (preventing excavation & continued erosion/worsening of the problem).;

La Campana (another community Jesus is aware of) had a similar problem, they began with analysis, then diverted the river & had no need for a bridge.

The Bridge commission needs to consider
History of the river flow
Make suggestions for solution
Be prepared to meet with govt (public works) but have done the work in advance.

Commission for the bridge is
Estela, Augustine, Isabel Garcia

On the day Jesus comes for the water samples he will also meet with
1. Commission for the census/health
2. Commission for the bridge
3. Commission for water
Next assembly will be cisternas list.

Dry toilets
5 out of 44 people at the meeting have toilets,
3 people have flush toilets that flush into septic tank.
1 has latrine & 1 has dry toilet

Chela suggested that at the next assembly we discuss options, what works best & what people want.

Doubts & Questions
None…

Next assembly in Tierra Blanca 7th July at 3pm (commissions visit by Jesus to be advised)

The 17 people were then interviewed & stats info sheets completed by Jesus, Chela & Holly.

We then went to the house of Pedro & had gorditas, beans, nopal, rice & Alfalfa juice. We arrived home around 7.30 pm.