FAMILIES SERVED 85 PROJECT COST $9390
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| Meet Phillipe and his son. Let see what has happened in their village. |
Last November I was guided on a trip to visit to the villages
of Caba and Laguna Caba. The trip’s purpose was to take a look at the water needs
in these villages. These villages are
sister villages and share virtually the same site. In all there are 85 families in this
locality. This place has a special history because during the 80’s it was a
refuge center for the people fleeing from the surrounding villages. I was often
told that every spot on the hillside was full of people during that time.
REBUILDING THE SPRING BOX
When I was shown
the village spring and water system that they were using I was immediately
drawn into the idea of helping develop and purify the water supply. Here was a village of 85 families, over half
of whom did not have water to their home. The present water system did not have
a holding tank and was left exposed to parasites and bacteria. Much of the
existing piping had even become clogged by a type of worm. Yet on the positive
side the spring was excellent yielding over 30 gallons a minute. It was also closer
to the village than any other site I had yet visited so the cost would be lower and
finally the leadership was willing to work hard in service for their village.
Let me explain my
impression of the leadership. The second time we visited the Caba I visited
Nueve Puntos on my way in. We had enough blankets and vegetable seed for every
family in Caba and Laguna Caba but we needed porters to carry the aid from Nueve Puntos to Caba.
The Porters that were supposed to arrive from Caba to help us did not show up
so we hiked to the village and left the aid in Nueve Puntos. This trail is rough and we were in the middle
of the muddy season.It is a secondary trail that snakes through some pretty
broken territory. Arriving late in the evening we were exhausted. We explained
to the alcalde (the village leader) that we needed the aid in the village by
the end of the next day. This meeting took place at 9:00 at night yet he
gathered 4 volunteers and one mule for the journey. They all got up at 3 am to
make the two way trip to Nueve Puntos to bring back the aid.
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| Martin the alcalde in 2012 and his family with Nicolas another village leader. |
Around 5 pm I got worried because they still
had not arrived back so I hiked up to the top of the first pass. My feet were
so sore from the previous day’s journey I knew it was not smart for me to go
any further. I waited and waited for them to arrive. As twilight began to
descend I keep inching my way back to the village. With each small retreat I
prolonged the daylight as I was exiting the thicker forest. Finally
before I made the last descent and the light totally faded they arrived in the
trail. As we descended together we were meet with whistles and calls that were
sent up the hill from others who had been waiting. The hikers sent back their
answers signaling all was well. Instead of frustration at such a taxing journey
there was pride and joy at the mission accomplished. They had hiked from 3 in
the morning to after 7 at night to bring this aid to their people. I know the
comparison I mentally made was not totally equal but I wondered how many town
mayors in the states would make a journey like this to help their community. This
was not only an extremely hard physical trip. One that I personally could not
have done but it was risky. The trail was intense proven by the fact that the
mule that left with them that morning had fallen. It was ok but they left it back
up the trail with a family to heal up for a few days. Making this trip was a sign of extreme dedication that would
make building a new water system possible. That night I personally made a commitment
to the alcalde to come back in March to begin the water project. We would find
the money somehow.
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| Imagine going up or down these in the dark. |
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| a look at the water flow from the spring |
Meanwhile back in
the states without any knowledge of these events two families decided to make a
strong contribution to TRE. The amount was equal to the need and in a space of
three weeks we had the finances and a plan. It felt almost divinely orchestrated
that the time for clean water had arrived for Caba.
So after that long introduction let’s take a look at the ripple
that was created.
MARCH 2013
THE SIGNING
When I arrived back in the village almost 500 bags of sand
and gravel had already been carried into the village. El family was responsible to carry river sand and gravel back from the
river below. It was a steep one hour climb . This was a little scary for me to see work begun before we had made all of our final agreemnts. The purpose of this visit was to establish the plans for the system, do a
final material list and cost analysis, and sign a final agreement. The village was so eager that they had
already begun gathering materials.
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| TRE Office in Caba, Laguna Caba |
I personally don’t like a lot of office work but my office
in Caba was pretty sweet. We needed to make a map of the village and layout the
system. This lets everyone see a “picture” representation of the project. It
also is the easiest way for me to start a material list, final cost analyses
and a written agreement with the village. I can not remember when I was happier to be working at a desk
But with a penthouse view like this who wouldn’t enjoy it.
The valley that is in the right side of the photo drops off so steep it is a 45
minute journey down to the river below. That is where the sand and gravel were gathered.
After a couple of days we had finished the map and other
paper work and it was time to call a village meeting. Remeber Phillipe he is behind the bull horn. This is the small ridge between the two communities and it serves as a great town hall.
Here Andres is describing the project and who will be
responsible for each part of the project. We had divided the project into three
parts like we normally do and the responsibility for unskilled labor again fell
upon the villagers. In this case a added struggle was that the closest road we
could truck materials in on was still 5 hours away. There would be around 300
trips needed just to bring the materials to the site.
Martin the alcalde in 2012 is nominating another community
member to be part of the water committee. They needed 4 members. It was funny
to watch this process. Different men who have been dedicating time in community
service throughout the past year would nominate another friend who they felt
would be good for the job. They had done their service and now it was someones elses time. The problem was that the job meant extra unpaid work
that no one really wanted. Some men who knew their name was coming up would kind
of hide behind someone else and then kick the ground when they were nominated.
Everyone would laugh and give a personal sigh of relief it was not them. I
understand and respect these nominees. Their lives are hard and more work is
not what they need. Service is not free.
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| The Signing |
There are two common highlights in a water
project. One is when the finances and agreements are finally finished and in
place and we are ready to work. The second is when the taps are opened for the
first time. Both feel like moments of great accomplishments. When the agreement was verbally finalized the men gave TRE a round of applause for coming and offering help. I too was clapping and some men laughed becuase the applause was for me. They thought I had not understood but I told them no I am applauding in joy that we, all of us, have arrived in this place of aggreement. What a good day!
