Well the clouds and the cold have settled into the valley for the next few months, but our work continues.
Side Note
Thinking about living in a cloud forest and actually living in a cloud forest are two very different things. When I was thinking about it - I was thinking about monkeys and quetzals - strange bugs and trees. In actuality, clouds can actually blow through your house - at least when houses don't have glass - I have only seen one in the valley that does. When you live off solar - and its cloudy all the time - you have to have the annoying sound of a generator a lot in order to work on Google Earth and write blog posts - or have a light at night in your bedroom for that matter. Today is cloudy, windy and cold - pretty normal from what we understand Nov. - Jan. to be here. Those from the States that we know who have lived here before say that November is the hardest month of the year for them. We are certainly experiencing that the clouds sometimes seep in into our consciousness and make us gloomy - so please pray that that the light of our Savior's love would be palpable in the midst of clouds - warming from the inside out.
The Work - 1. Semesche
We have two main objectives right now before we head back to the States for Christmas. I will tell you about the first one now and write another post about the second.
The first, is to prepare for and construct a water system in the village of Semesche. Semesche is one of the largest communities in the valley with approximately 200 families. A team from Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga (a Knox ProCorps Team) will be coming from December 7 - 14 to help us complete this task. The work consists of constructing a spring box, a tank and then piping the water from the tank to access points at each of four churches, the Puesto de Salud (Health Center), the school and the market. The people of Semesche have agreed to our Regalamento - which describes the water users rights, the role & responsibility of the water committee, the role and responsibility of the Fontanero (basically the town plumber - hired by the water committee to operate and maintain the system) and the tariff or fee that each member of the community will be required to pay each month so that the water committee will be able to pay the fontanero and buy supplies to fix and expand the system. The water committee and the Cocode - elected leaders of the village - have verbally agreed to the regalmento. We expect them to sign it next week prior to us beginning construction on the spring box. Please pray that they will continue to agree and sign the document next week.
CAFNIMA requires that the community pay 10% of the cost for a water system, but recognizes that it is not always easy for the community to come up with cash. In the case of Semesche, the community is coming up with the sand, rock and wood necessary for the construction of the spring box and tank. By "coming up with" they have purchased the wood, will carry (on their backs) 4.5 cubic meters of sand from the river & 8 cubic meters of rock (from wherever) up to the top of a small mountain where the spring is. They will then provide 5 to 10 guys for labor for the twenty days it should take to build the spring box and tanks. We have hired an abinil (contractor) from one of the larger towns who will coordinate the work and understands the importance of teaching while he constructs. One of the men who works with us, Julio, will get to be present for the entire construction process so that he can expand his knowledge - our hope (and he is well on his way on this point) is that Julio will be the teacher of all the fontaneros in the valley.
This community, as well as others in the valley, have been burned by folks who have given them water projects in the past. We mentioned using some of the pipe from an old water system and they wanted no part of it. We have since found out that the project that we see the remains of was likely very corrupt - filling government officials pockets - and did not last long. So we are designing a system to the primary points in the community that is sized so that it can provide water to every house in the future. We hope that our efforts now will provide the framework for the leaders to lead well, and begin to organize infrastructure that will provide the framework for good health and the productivity of each person in the village.
We are continually reminded how hard development work really is. Changing the mindset of people who are poor and have been oppressed for a long time is very hard. Their education is poor, but more so their mindset is that they don't really deserve it. If it breaks...it breaks. Guess I will go back to the spring I used to get water from. My motto for the people that we work with here is..."Good water, for everyone, everyday!" We are trying hard to change the mindset. If you don't have water when you turn the on the faucet, I would guess it takes you less then five minutes to call your utility. Here they just assume that there isn't any water and go back to their old ways - even if they are paying for it.
We will be hosting the team from Knox ProCorps to complete construction of the Semesche water system from December 7th to 14th. Please pray for their safe travel, their work and their hearts while they experience life in the valley. Their names are Nate, Bryan, Bill , Kevin, Michael, and Jon. We look forward to reporting to you on their trip.
I will try to write 2.2 and maybe even a Bonus 2.3 soon! Stay tuned.
Mark
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