3rd Meeting at La Tinaja re Water Cisterns

Record of Event

Where: La Tinaja Community – Health Clinic

When: 7 Dec 2011

Who: Holly, Saul, Chela & Laura + 18 community members including 1 man + 7 kids

Purpose of the meeting: To plan wáter cisterns Project re the Calgary Global Grant.

People were absent today as another community meeting was being held at the primary school at the same time.

Chela opened the meeting & asked who would be co-ordinator & record taker for the day, since it was a small room & we were all sitting there freezing & couldnt easily see a board since we were in a circle, we ran the meeting informally, just recording actions in their minutes book.

She also asked why the community representatives from La Tinaja did not attend the regional meeting 26/11 at Juan Gonzalez or the training workshop 19/11 at Cedesa. They sheepishly admitted they forgot.

Chela reminded them that if they dont continue to meet or attend meetings they are failing their commitment, it doesnt matter if you happen to have an appointment that clashes with a meeting you have a responsibility to attend or send someone in your place. She asked what people think will happen if they stop attending meetings & working together, they were embarrassed to reply.

She reiterated that at Cedesa workshop it was only La Tinaja & Cinco Senores who were absent, there were representatives from all the other communities & a turnout of more than 70 participants when it was planned only approx 50 would attend At Juan Gonzalez regional meeting it was only La Tinaja absent, more than 100 people turned up for that meeting. You will forfeit your right & priority as attendance in meetings is a major part of the commitment.

We all agreed La Tinaja is very remote & it is difficult to travel to the other places as they are so far away, as well they have no telephone or cell phone service, so they need to stay in the loop of what is going on with their friends at Villa de Guadalupe (the nearest community).

They were asked to take initiative & fin out the dates of events etc, Alicia, Audelia & Dolores are the Consejo reps, they will advise the rest of the community “we need all of you to take responsibility to continue to work together to improve your living conditions, cisterns dry toilets & other things, if you dont want to that’s up to you, but you need to continue to participate to be part of ths, take account now, improvement in your life & living conditions is up to you, organise & participate together.”

We advised that funds for the cistern Project will be ready in January, Chela asked “what do we need to do next?” “decide which groups we work in” was the reply.

The roll had been called earlier & found that 3 were missing. Work groups were formed, including the appointment of a leader, & number 2 in each group, abaniles in each group & the co-ordinator for the whole Project (ie the person whom each group reports to, who in turn reports any issues to Saul – the regional co-ordinator).

One woman voiced her doubt about her husband being willing to help, & that she didnt feel she could volunteer him, Chela & Saul both explained this Project is for the benefit of all & therefore very important that everyone work together. The cistern needs not to be absolutely perfect (ie with expert masons) but just need proficiency.

There was a description of responsibilities, ie to attend each of the training days, to turn up on time, work in harmony, report issues to your group leader. The leader will work directly with the co-ordinator & the co-ordinator will report back to Saul for any issues regarding tech assistance, materials, deliveries etc.

Adela was voted Co-ordinator for the whole community.

There was discussion re the location for the training Pilot.

Debate was:

Primary School – 200kids, there for 6yrs, have wáter sometimes, other times are forced to drink from the river.

Kinder – 9 kids, there for 3 yrs, don’t have any wáter.

Decision was Primary School.

Meeting closed, & next planning assembly is 18 Jan 11am

Cienega Phase II Pilot

On Monday 28th the Pilot in Cienega Juana Ruiz began.

This is phase II in this community funded by Sapasma Project II.

The pilot was being conducted at a private house & 17 other individual cisterns will be constructed in this phase, adding to the 26 cisterns completed in the first phase.

Total number of cisterns in this community will then be 42.

Saul conducted the training with assistance by Fili & on the 29th Saul's 2nd baby - Emiliano was born.

The families of Cienega are currently constructing the remaining 17 cisterns & are due to complete around the middle of January.

Presita de Santa Rosa Pilot 21st-25th Nov

The Pilot at the Presita de Santa Rosa Primary School went ahead on the 21st to the 25th November.

This pilot was funded by a private Donor - Chris Hosford, as part of the Sapasma Project II, where by the time the funding was received the prices had risen & we were no longer able to completed what we had committed to 3 mths earlier... Thankfully we have people like Chris to come to our rescue...

20 individual cisterns are being constructed by the families participating in this first phase at Presita de Santa Rosa, as part of the Sapasma Project II (funding in total 59 cisterns).

Unusually there were a majority of men working at the Pilot, when I jokingly referred to the fact that it was usually the women working & the men only on weekends, sadly they said they were on "compulsory" vacation ie they were all out of work.

They are currently all working on their individual family cisterns now & due to be finished approx middle of January...

44th Event of the SMA Midday Rotary Water Project Los Torres

Where: Los Torres Community Pilot Project private house

When: 14.11.11

Who: Saul, (Cedesa), Miguel Cruz (technician) Denis & Laura (Rotary), 27 adults plus 5 kids

Purpose:

1^st Day of Pilot training session (train the trainer type) for Phase III of Los Torres Water project, This project funded as part of the Sapasma Project II grant.

Denis & I arrived approx. 10.45am the session was well underway & had begun at 8.30.

The materials had been delivered as requested, by Hierro Comercial Dolores Hidalgo, on Friday afternoon.

The first phase was almost completed, the women & some men were weaving the chicken wire either side of the electrosoldered maya. They were using ganchos (hooks) created by grinding down cut pieces of the maya. This community has done 2 other phases + cisterns at the kinder & School so they were fairly well versed in the phases, & were working quickly to complete the weaving.

Next was to cut the length for the cylinder & for the cone top, & flat base. The cylinder was joined to the flat base. 2 of the guys worked on the inside of the cylinder & Denis & I joked about how the heck they were going to get out, since they had joined the bottom. Saul explained when finished they would tip the cylinder (with bottom attached) on it’s side & they guys would climb out.

Everyone was in good spirits & many people working.

Delivery of the maya & wire had been made for the families to begin work on their cisterns at night after the pilot, the delivery had been made to one place as it turned out the co-ordinator was not present when the truck arrived to guide them to each participant’s house. The groups therefore had to work out delivery of the maya & mesh on their own.

We congratulated everyone & left.

This was Denis’ first visit to Los Torres & we noted how particularly dry the terrain is, since rainy season (such as it was) had recently finished. The maize plants in 2 fields were on avg less than 1 mtr high.

We will return when the family construction is in progress & see how things are going.

Global Grant Approved!!! #25437

On 21st October 2010 Norman Myden from Chinook Rotary Club emailed me to see what we could get going re a water project - I told him he'd come to the right place, & we immediately set to work... In December we applied to the Alberta's Govt Community Initiatives Program (CIP) for funding which we hoped to match with Rotary Club & District & the Foundation to achieve a large grant of US$65,300.....

Well, I am very happy to announce that a year later on Oct 25th we received a very happy email from Ashley at The Rotary Foundation informing us our application had been successful & we are to receive the funding!!

District 5360 (located in Canada and includes all of the Rotary clubs in Alberta from Ponoka south and also clubs in the south-west region of Saskatchewan) is providing US$10,000, Chinook RC is providing $10,000 + Alberta Govt $20,000, SMA Midday is providing US$200 (& lots of blood, sweat & tears!) & this is all being matched by The Rotary Foundation with US$25,100.

For a grand total of US$65,300 & a planned cistern count of 108 cisterns in 4 communities decided by the Consejo (citizen's council) of 18 communities.

We are working through the small details now, opening bank accounts, transferring $$ & are expecting to be able to begin the project early December!!

The communities will be
Guerrero
La Tinaja
Cruz del Palmar
& 3 Esquinas (near Palencia)

Happy Update...Sapasma Project II

Work with the Consejo (citizen's council) continues, they meet around 6wkly & continue to provide priority for water projects, dry toilet projects & other issues. As a result of their continued hard work, we have now been successful in achieving funding for 2 more major projects. One with Sapasma (detailed in this post) & the 2nd with another Rotary Global Grant (see separate post)

Sapasma (our local water authority) have agreed to fund another project for 59 cisterns mxn$439,399 pesos. This project will be carried out in 3 communities with an additional 3 solo cisterns to be provided in 2 more communities.
Los Torres will carry out phase III & construct 18 cisterns.
Presita de Santa Rosa will carry out phase I & construct 20 cisterns - with an additional cistern being funded by a private donation - thank you Chris - & thank you Holly for arranging this.
Cienega will carry out phase II & construct 18 cisterns.
Cinco Senores will work with University de Leon & receive a single cistern.
Rancho Bonito will receive 2 single cisterns...

Paperwork is currently being completed & funding is expected to be received this week, with 1st Pilot in LT scheduled to kick off on 7th Nov.

It will be a punishingly tough rollout, with every effort to get things underway before Christmas!!

Record of Event 10th Mtg of the SMA Midday Rotary Cruz del Palmar Water Project

Where: Cruz del Palmar Community - courtyard of chapel
When: Wed 19.10.11
Who: Chela, Saul & Holly (Cedesa), Laura (Rotary), 54 adults incl 8 men, + 13kids, 2 dogs,

Purpose: General Community assembly & pre-planning meeting re forthcoming water & dry toilet projects being administered by Rotary, Cedesa & the Consejo (in different
combinations)

We arrived at 12.30 thinking the meeting was to begin at 12, running a little late, but were advised some thought the meeting was to start at 11am, so apologies were made to these people for waiting so long…

The attendance roll was called, 10 were present for Sanitarios Secos only, 22 were present for cisterns only & 12 were present for both, 5 were absent from cisterns list.
(39 on the list but 5 absent – a govt program was also scheduled for today, re the elderly, possibly some were at this event.

Chela asked if there were any in the crowd that didn’t know us (the water project team), a couple of people raised their hands so we gave introductions of ourselves & Holly explained if she & I were talking it was because she was translating for me.

Chela introduced herself & gave a brief history of the project including a little re the separate roles & also about the Consejo (citizen’s council).

In the first phase we were working in the close region, as the projects have continued we have extended to more communities in this region & formed a citizen’s council, Cata – a member of Cruz del Palmar community – is president of this Consejo & has been reporting back to all of you - correct? “si!!”

“Let’s go ahead & create the agenda for today’s meeting”
Saul explained each meeting we have in communities follows the same basic format, elect a co-ordinator & record taker, he explained the roles of each & the need to have a specific “minutes” book as an archive of each meeting & agreements made.

“It’s important for the people n the community to not be afraid & step up to take the roles, who do you propose?”

No-one immediately responded, Saul laughed & said this was the easy bit, ie to propose someone – this elicited a response with 3 people proposed. Juana will be co-ordinator & Letty records taker.

“what is the role of the co-ordinator?” To keep order, the way to do this - ask people to raise their hands & be appointed to speak, for the respect of all & to create a harmonious meeting, everyone is encouraged to speak in turn to increase the “rain of ideas”.

The record taker records all agreements made & details we might need to refer to in future.
We need to suggest points for discussion & work for today’s agenda

Agenda
Cisterns
Dry Toilets
Introduction re Cisterns & Dry toilets
Backyard production
Doubts & questions
The Consejo, purpose & function

1. Introduction – why do you want cisterns? Dry toilets?
“almost no water” “contaminated water” “upper part of community have no water” “we don’t have water & are looking for a form of obtaining water” “water is life” “the contaminated water is damaging to the health of our kids”
Discussion ensued, who has toilets, some people do, but mostly latrines (just holes). What are the contaminants of the water in this region “fluoride, arsenic & manganese”.
Bacterial contaminants are a different question & are very easy to remove (using www.Sodis.ch) but the chemical/minerals are not easy to remove – for this reason we are using rainwater as our alternative – storing in cisterns.

Who has a cistern & can explain the function?
“principally for drinking & cooking & use the other water sources – if there are any – for domestic use”. The objective of cisterns is to capture rain water in tanks from the roof for drinking & cooking.

Dry toilets – primary objective – to have a method of disposing of excreta without use of water because a) there is a shortage of water b) the drainage of sewage is majorly polluting, c) to provide excellent fertilizer for production of plants.

One woman explained the use of dry toilets as a relative has one, & Chela asked if everyone was now clear on the purpose of cisterns & dry toilets – to which the response was “SI…”

2. Cisterns :
Saul explained that the cisterns projects were the beginning of the organisation process, as a result of the many communities working on cistern projects, they joined together to form a Consejo (citizen’s council) to work on common issues. It has involved many meetings, working on common issues, writing solicituds to the govt. informing Rotary of our priorities.

Holly – who knows how the cisterns are made?
“all of us build them, we form groups & construct together”
“we first learn during the pilots & hands on training, then build the cisterns together”

Saul – It is much more than just building a cistern or a dry toilet, there is a lot of participation involved, the value of organisation & co-operation is learned. The value of learning you have the ability to resolve your own issues by working in solidarity to achieve & accomplish your goals, it’s not a gift, you are organising & working hard to achieve this , including learning what the purpose of the Consejo is & how it functions. For me it is important you understand the whole process & purpose of organisation, not just to obtain cisterns.

3. Dry Toilets
The Consejo & Cedesa (apart from Rotary) have been working to obtain funds to provide dry toilets to those who have continued participating to achieve them. Chela explained the process of obtaining the resources for the dry toilets so far… starting from the 1st meeting of the Consejo with the Presidencia at Cedecom approx. 1 year ago, to the point where they were awarded $4,250,000 pesos for the solicitud, which came with unfavourable conditions. It involves a bid process, ie has to be paid to outside contractors & can not be done by mutual aid groups, the price of one toilet has been quoted at mxn$32,000 which will mean far fewer than the 400+ toilets can be awarded. & toilets can only be awarded to those on the list who have NO form of toilet (functioning or not)…Work continues on this project.

4. Consejo –
A brief summary was given, this Consejo was originally formed in Oct 2010 with representatives elected from each of the communities who joined. For example Cata & Letty are reps. From Cruz del Palmar, as are Adelina (husband attending for her today) & Josefina (absent).

There is a board, made up of some reps the communities, President Cata, Secretary Roberto & 5 other “directors”
All are working/meeting on common issues like dry toilets & cisterns.
It is to give the communities a bigger voice.
For example, the Consejo insisted the design used for the dry toilets be one with 2 chambers…

On 26th Nov 11am – in Juan Gonzalez there will be an Encuentro & anniversary Fiesta of the Consejo – everyone is invited.

5. Workshop at Cedesa – 19th Nov 9am-5pm
A workshop at Cedesa will be held on the 19th, 3 people are invited to attend from each community, there will be 3 separate “work tables” 1 on Nopal tunnel construction, 1 on backyard production & 1 on medicinal plants.

The crops this year are particularly bad, since there has been insufficient rain, this year we need to come up with alternatives to just beans & maize, we need to start producing in our backyard, for example tomatoes & onions, 1 of the work tables will teach this.

Each of the representatives is expected to then teach the assembly in their own communities – to spread the information – train the trainer style.
Some people mentioned they were interested but lack water to grow a garden – this is obviously a major issue!

The meeting finished at 3.15 pm, & we were treated to a banquet of tortillas, rice, beans & chicheron casserole.