Upon my return to Nueve Puntos I felt a deep connection to these people. Watching their patient struggle with the basics of life and seeing their gratitude for someone to come alongside their struggle. By supporting the work of Ripple Effect you have brought hope and given a voice to these people. They have showered me with gratitude in response to our work and having a heart to listen to their needs. The need for water here has the whole community ready to work. Let us reintroduce you to Nueve Puntos, our water projects and our friends.
Lets begin our Project- Water for Nueve Puntos. On the first trip in to the village we needed to come to an official agreement for the work so we gathered the men from the village and started planning. I explained that we had funding for about half the project and that I personally only had around two weeks tops to work side by side with them. It is a four hour walk to Chel and during the month the month I had I needed to walk out three times to assist in other projects there. We divided up responsibilities with the community providing the labor to for the tanks, carring in all the piping and rebar, digging over a mile of trench for the pipe and cutting all our lumber.
T.R.E. would provide cement, rebar, gas and oil for the saws, buy the sand and pay for the men to carry the sand and cement from Los Encuentros. One surprising development was that the villagers wanted to make the gravel out of the rocks that surround the village. I have crushed gravel before but was skeptical that they could produce 120 100lbs sacks of gravel in a timely fashion. I was paying the going rate of $2.10 per sack! The next day I went to some meetings in Chel and then into Chajul to get cash. Before I left I stressed that we needed to work in force when I got back and the village elders needed to arrange a meeting with Los Encuentros to work out preliminary details on an agreement to share the spring water with them.
A photo can be worth a thousand words but this one only tells part of the story of what it means to walk from Nueve Puntos to Chel. Pedro here is pointing to the hill on the horizon that lies between Chel and Nueve Puntos. It is another two hours from there to the village. Three times I choice this route. The only sure time to chatch a ride on the shorter route to the road at Los encuentros is at 1:30 a.m.
Getting money from the bank took three days. I personally not only learned some banking rules but received a lesson in patience. Two days late I walked out of the bank with a bag of cash with which I would pay for our projects over the next 3 weeks.
Back in the village we started work on digging the hole for the tank. The tank was to be 12x12xx7 and needed to be ½ way under ground for more support.
It is through community effort that these projects can be accomplished.
By lunchtime it was becoming evident that we would be finding a few rocks. I wonder how many of my readers would be smiling knowing as Pedro does that these rocks aren’t going to move themselves. I was told over and over how happy the village was to have this work to do. Lacking materials many times they have to wait and watch their needs go unmet but given the opportunity they will do what seems impossible.
After lunch we needed to hike ½ a hour out to Los Encuentros to meet the truck from the hardware store. In total there was over 200 100# sacks of sand, 175 20’ P.V.C. pipes65 bags of cement to unload and carry up to the village
To save money on deliveries we loaded 72 post,72 2x4 and 1x12 boards to be delivered back in Chel along with roofing and chicken wire for another project.
How do you move 175 pieces 20’ P.V.C. pipe? With ingenuity!
My job was to herd four horses and take photos. At times it wasn’t so easy as there were two stallions to herd.
But my job was a lot easier than theirs.
Chico seating on the delivered pipe.
The village had moved 18000lbs of sand while I was getting money and was proving beyond a doubt that they wanted this project and are willing to work for it. Well that was enough for one day. It is time for a dinner of Boxbul.
A morning cup of coffee before work
The rocks hadn’t gone anywhere overnight
After two and a half days the hole was dug, 3000 lbs of gravel crushed and delivered, and the rebar grid tied. We were ready to pour but would wait till tomorrow because that afternoon the school put on a Mother’s Day celebration. We will save those photos for another blog.
The village leaders distributed the paid work of carrying sand, cement and making gravel equally among the families and everyone was excited to have a little income. Andres one of the families that is appears to be doing better than others told me he makes around $300 annually. When T.R.E. paid everyone we paid an additional 25% and each family earned around $44.
Mixing the concrete floor. Even the water had to be carried to site.
After mixing the floor in the morning we cut lumber in the afternoon for tomorrow forming
I had to try my hand at making 1x’s. I am teaching some of my friend to use the camera. They love it and I get to be in some of the pictures.
On this project I acted as mason and taught the men how to do the work. The school foundation and floor we built is the only concrete work in the village. Although they have not had the experience they learned quickly and we had a lot of fun.
Interior forms and rebar completed.
Want a break to play marbles?
Placing the exterior wall.
My time had run out and I needed to hike out to Chel and the widow. They finished forming and poured the walls the end of May and will wait for 5 days to let the concrete cure some before beginning the tank lid.
One night they wanted to have a meeting in the church to say thanks. They had me seat if front and one by one came up and share their thanks. Many brought gifts, some that had taken months to make. Others told me "I only carrying my words of thanks to give you." Some cried as they said never before has someone come, cared and helped. When I loaded my backpack it felt that I was carrying away rich treasures and their faces showed that they were happy to be able to share.
As I left I turned to say a final farewell. I wanted to share how much they had touched my heart, how strong their effort had been, how much they mean to me but the words would not come. So with tears on my face I turned away. Until next time my friends "Adios".
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