I hope that you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the coming Advent / holiday season. I know I certainly am!
You probably noticed the change in the subject line, from “Hola desde El Salvador” to “Hola desde Wisconsin.” That’s because my application for a third year was approved, and I am now on the month-long home leave that Peace Corps grants extending Volunteers. If you’re around … please do let me know; I’d love to get together and catch up.
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-- Water Project: Since my last “Hola desde El Salvador, lots of people have been working hard on investigating options for the water project … hydrologists and geo-physicists doing studies to inventory subterranean water sources, the Engineers Without Borders team from Rowan University working on plans for the pump and water system infrastructure, and the Water Committee and I coordinating all these efforts. Unfortunately, political maneuvering has raised its ugly head again, frustrating many of our efforts to design a truly sustainable water project.
Above: Pictures of getting water and carrying it back from the natural wells where we must hike when there is no water (or insufficient water) in the public faucet. One round trip takes about an hour.
After our first attempt at well drilling in the community with Living Water did not yield the amount of water we were hoping for, we faced the prospect of bringing a much larger machine to deepen the existing well or drill a new one. Since this would be much more costly than the first drilling attempt, we decided that is was necessary to invest in hydro-geological studies of the village to determine the best location for a well, and ensure that we did not mis-invest any more funds in the future. We got two types of studies: a hydro-geological study and a geo-physical study. The two engineers presented their findings in early November, recommending that we drill a well 80 m deep in a location approximately 1 km from the community. We had hoped to be able to drill a well within the community in order to reduce the energy cost of pumping water from the well to the proposed storage tank site above all the homes of the village, but at least this well would have been much closer than the well drilled by the Mayor in 2004, 3 km away. We began to investigate different well-drilling companies for price quotes.
The Engineers Without Borders team from Rowan University was also working very hard over the last few months. They had sent me a digital map of the community, produced from their surveys, and the community chose several plots of land in strategic locations for public taps. The engineers had hoped to return in January to add the proposed well location to their surveying data, and present us their final designs so the community could choose one.
THEN the Mayor’s people came back to bother us again.
You may or may not remember that we began our efforts to obtain potable water working with the Mayor to design a project based on a well that he had drilled in 2004, 3 km from the community. The well was clearly politically motivated (drilled 3 days before the presidential elections), and the community was never consulted regarding possible well locations. But although the well was far from the community, it had abundant water, so we decided to try to take advantage of it. In the process of soliciting funding for implementation of the project, the Water Committee and I became aware of severe legal, technical, and economic problems with the project: namely, that we could not get land title to the well, and the distance and elevation change from the well to the proposed storage tank site were so large that the community would not have been able to afford the monthly quota required to cover the energy cost of operating the pump. In fact, an engineer from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives who visited the community to assess the project for funding in September of 2005 suggested drilling a well closer to the community. He asserted that the initial expense of drilling another well would be justified by the long-term cost savings in the energy needed to pump the water, which would make the project more feasible for the community. However, the Mayor proved very inflexible when presented with these problems, and refused to consider other options. The Association for Community Development (ADESCO) and the Water Committee made the decision that the Mayor’s water project was not a viable, sustainable option for bringing water to the community, and submitted a letter renouncing the project to the Mayor in the summer of 2006. We then began to pursue other options, on our own, and until now were progressing slowly but surely.
Apparently, after the energizing visit of Engineers Without Borders in late August, word reached the Mayor that we were designing another water project for El Amatón. Two weeks ago, representatives from the Mayor’s office showed up at my door. We have good news,” Israel, the FMLN-fanatic who does PR for the Mayor announced, flashing his triumphant, insincere, ear-to-ear smile that has always turned my stomach. “The project is all approved by FISDL [Social Investment Fund for Local Development, a government fund available to Mayors]. It’s being contracted out to a company today. We’re going to start on the 16th of next month. And the unskilled labor -- the community won’t have to do it for free. We are going to contract people from the community and pay them. But, it won’t be the rural three dollars a day wage. We’re going to pay them city wages,” he proclaimed triumphantly, flashing another one of his sickening smiles.”
I felt like crying. For the past year, I had been walking side by side with the community to design a water project that was truly sustainable, one that did not use an inordinate amount of energy and one that the community members could afford to operate and maintain. And we were making progress. We knew the location of the closest aquifer where a well could be drilled. The project had been adopted by an outstanding team of Engineers Without Borders, from Rowan University. They came in late August to conduct a land survey of the community in order to be able to design a distribution system, and to perform water quality tests to know the type of filtration that would be needed. And most importantly, they took the time to visit each and every house, talking to people about the water project, what they were hoping for, how much water they needed each day for various uses, and how much they could pay per month to operate and maintain the system. Since then, they had been working on designs for the pump, supply tubing, tank, and distribution system, and researching options for powering the pump, including a solar system. They had planned to return in January to present their final designs to the community so they could choose one. This water system was being designed with community participation, to satisfy the people’s felt needs while remaining economically feasible.
And then came the Mayor to push a project that was not sustainable, a project that had been designed without consulting the community, simply because the Mayor couldn’t stand for anyone else to get credit for bringing water to El Amatón. Before, when the Mayor was pushing this project, the community made the decision not to work if there was no title to the well (taking a suggestion from the representative from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives). Unskilled labor is almost always the community contribution in any project. It makes them invested in the project, because they have had to sacrifice something to make it a reality. This promise to pay community members was all a ploy to trick people in the community to working on a project that wasn’t for the benefit of the community, simply because it was the project that the Mayor designed.
The ADESCO president and I tried to talk to the Mayor’s representatives. We raised our concerns about land title to the well (there still is none) and the economic feasibility of pumping water so far. They brushed us off, asserting that land title wasn’t necessary and that if people couldn’t pay to maintain the water system, that the Mayor would cover it. Now I’ve only been here two years, and even I know that is a complete lie. It’s not a wise idea for the community to rely on the Mayor to keep their water system operating. Don Salomón and I begged the Mayor’s people to listen to us, to hear about the work we had done and the project the community wanted to execute, and then support us in our efforts when we had all the designs in. They were completely closed to considering any other project. “We already have everything, it’s all approved, we have the money, we’re even going to pay people to do the work. The community needs water. Everyone will benefit. Why ask any more questions?” They said they’d send invitations for an all-community meeting to present the project, and left.
When they had left, don Salomón began to shake his head. “Estamos mal, mal, mal, mal mal,” he muttered ander his breath. “This is bad, bad, bad, bad bad.” We commiserated about the Mayor’s ploy to foil our grassroots efforts in favor of something he can claim total credit for, even though it’s not the most sustainable option. Finally we got down to business. We made plans for an emergency community meeting, BEFORE the meeting with the Mayor’s people, to make them aware of the sustainability concerns with the project they would present. The community made a list of recommendations to present to the Mayor: first, that the Mayor support the drilling of an 80-m deep well only 1 km from the community instead of fixing the well 3 km away; second, that the community have title to the water source for the project; and third, that the community choose a design from those being elaborated by Engineers Without Borders. I spent the next few days running around with don Salomón, trying to catch community leaders in between their hectic tasks of threshing beans and harvesting corn, to gain assurance of their support of standing firm for the community’s best interests.
Unfortunately, everything went just as I’d feared. The Mayor’s representatives came and got people all excited with the promise of full funding and paying members of the community to carry out the unskilled labor. They gave as few specifics as possible and did not encourage any questions. When don Salomón timidly offered concerns about the energy cost of pumping water such a great distance and elevation change, and about land title, Engineer López brushed them off with slippery, vague answers. He refused to give an estimate of how much families would need to pay per month to operate the water system, instead saying “that’s something you figure out afterwards, but don’t you worry. We know how much you can pay, and it won’t be too much” (despite the fact that they never spoke with anyone in the community about the water project). When don Salomón asked if they had land title, he said, “Look, everything is all worked out. FISDL is a very formal organization and they want everything all legal, and they wouldn’t have accepted the project if everything wasn’t worked out.” They probably have an acomodato, a temporary permission -- which, according to people in Peace Corps, is not very secure. They have cautioned me never, ever to undertake a water project if the community does not have land title.
The Engineers Without Borders team from Rowan University was also working very hard over the last few months. They had sent me a digital map of the community, produced from their surveys, and the community chose several plots of land in strategic locations for public taps. The engineers had hoped to return in January to add the proposed well location to their surveying data, and present us their final designs so the community could choose one.
THEN the Mayor’s people came back to bother us again.
You may or may not remember that we began our efforts to obtain potable water working with the Mayor to design a project based on a well that he had drilled in 2004, 3 km from the community. The well was clearly politically motivated (drilled 3 days before the presidential elections), and the community was never consulted regarding possible well locations. But although the well was far from the community, it had abundant water, so we decided to try to take advantage of it. In the process of soliciting funding for implementation of the project, the Water Committee and I became aware of severe legal, technical, and economic problems with the project: namely, that we could not get land title to the well, and the distance and elevation change from the well to the proposed storage tank site were so large that the community would not have been able to afford the monthly quota required to cover the energy cost of operating the pump. In fact, an engineer from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives who visited the community to assess the project for funding in September of 2005 suggested drilling a well closer to the community. He asserted that the initial expense of drilling another well would be justified by the long-term cost savings in the energy needed to pump the water, which would make the project more feasible for the community. However, the Mayor proved very inflexible when presented with these problems, and refused to consider other options. The Association for Community Development (ADESCO) and the Water Committee made the decision that the Mayor’s water project was not a viable, sustainable option for bringing water to the community, and submitted a letter renouncing the project to the Mayor in the summer of 2006. We then began to pursue other options, on our own, and until now were progressing slowly but surely.
Apparently, after the energizing visit of Engineers Without Borders in late August, word reached the Mayor that we were designing another water project for El Amatón. Two weeks ago, representatives from the Mayor’s office showed up at my door. We have good news,” Israel, the FMLN-fanatic who does PR for the Mayor announced, flashing his triumphant, insincere, ear-to-ear smile that has always turned my stomach. “The project is all approved by FISDL [Social Investment Fund for Local Development, a government fund available to Mayors]. It’s being contracted out to a company today. We’re going to start on the 16th of next month. And the unskilled labor -- the community won’t have to do it for free. We are going to contract people from the community and pay them. But, it won’t be the rural three dollars a day wage. We’re going to pay them city wages,” he proclaimed triumphantly, flashing another one of his sickening smiles.”
I felt like crying. For the past year, I had been walking side by side with the community to design a water project that was truly sustainable, one that did not use an inordinate amount of energy and one that the community members could afford to operate and maintain. And we were making progress. We knew the location of the closest aquifer where a well could be drilled. The project had been adopted by an outstanding team of Engineers Without Borders, from Rowan University. They came in late August to conduct a land survey of the community in order to be able to design a distribution system, and to perform water quality tests to know the type of filtration that would be needed. And most importantly, they took the time to visit each and every house, talking to people about the water project, what they were hoping for, how much water they needed each day for various uses, and how much they could pay per month to operate and maintain the system. Since then, they had been working on designs for the pump, supply tubing, tank, and distribution system, and researching options for powering the pump, including a solar system. They had planned to return in January to present their final designs to the community so they could choose one. This water system was being designed with community participation, to satisfy the people’s felt needs while remaining economically feasible.
And then came the Mayor to push a project that was not sustainable, a project that had been designed without consulting the community, simply because the Mayor couldn’t stand for anyone else to get credit for bringing water to El Amatón. Before, when the Mayor was pushing this project, the community made the decision not to work if there was no title to the well (taking a suggestion from the representative from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives). Unskilled labor is almost always the community contribution in any project. It makes them invested in the project, because they have had to sacrifice something to make it a reality. This promise to pay community members was all a ploy to trick people in the community to working on a project that wasn’t for the benefit of the community, simply because it was the project that the Mayor designed.
The ADESCO president and I tried to talk to the Mayor’s representatives. We raised our concerns about land title to the well (there still is none) and the economic feasibility of pumping water so far. They brushed us off, asserting that land title wasn’t necessary and that if people couldn’t pay to maintain the water system, that the Mayor would cover it. Now I’ve only been here two years, and even I know that is a complete lie. It’s not a wise idea for the community to rely on the Mayor to keep their water system operating. Don Salomón and I begged the Mayor’s people to listen to us, to hear about the work we had done and the project the community wanted to execute, and then support us in our efforts when we had all the designs in. They were completely closed to considering any other project. “We already have everything, it’s all approved, we have the money, we’re even going to pay people to do the work. The community needs water. Everyone will benefit. Why ask any more questions?” They said they’d send invitations for an all-community meeting to present the project, and left.
When they had left, don Salomón began to shake his head. “Estamos mal, mal, mal, mal mal,” he muttered ander his breath. “This is bad, bad, bad, bad bad.” We commiserated about the Mayor’s ploy to foil our grassroots efforts in favor of something he can claim total credit for, even though it’s not the most sustainable option. Finally we got down to business. We made plans for an emergency community meeting, BEFORE the meeting with the Mayor’s people, to make them aware of the sustainability concerns with the project they would present. The community made a list of recommendations to present to the Mayor: first, that the Mayor support the drilling of an 80-m deep well only 1 km from the community instead of fixing the well 3 km away; second, that the community have title to the water source for the project; and third, that the community choose a design from those being elaborated by Engineers Without Borders. I spent the next few days running around with don Salomón, trying to catch community leaders in between their hectic tasks of threshing beans and harvesting corn, to gain assurance of their support of standing firm for the community’s best interests.
Unfortunately, everything went just as I’d feared. The Mayor’s representatives came and got people all excited with the promise of full funding and paying members of the community to carry out the unskilled labor. They gave as few specifics as possible and did not encourage any questions. When don Salomón timidly offered concerns about the energy cost of pumping water such a great distance and elevation change, and about land title, Engineer López brushed them off with slippery, vague answers. He refused to give an estimate of how much families would need to pay per month to operate the water system, instead saying “that’s something you figure out afterwards, but don’t you worry. We know how much you can pay, and it won’t be too much” (despite the fact that they never spoke with anyone in the community about the water project). When don Salomón asked if they had land title, he said, “Look, everything is all worked out. FISDL is a very formal organization and they want everything all legal, and they wouldn’t have accepted the project if everything wasn’t worked out.” They probably have an acomodato, a temporary permission -- which, according to people in Peace Corps, is not very secure. They have cautioned me never, ever to undertake a water project if the community does not have land title.
By the time poor don Salomón had raised these issues, people were getting restless. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally or not, but the Mayor had scheduled the meeting to fall just before dinner. I think what he wanted was a quick meeting to get everyone excited and get them to say yes, we want the project, with as few questions as possible. “Ya estuvo,” people were beginning to say. “It’s all done. Everything’s great. Let’s go.”
Don Salomón tried to calm the crowd down and began to offer the recommendations that the community had agreed to make. The Mayor’s representatives would have none of it. Engineer López stood up and moved to the center, pushing don Salomón out. “Look, everything is all in order. All we want to ask the community one question. Do you want the project, or not? Raise your hands, everyone who wants the project!” he cried.
What could we do? Almost everyone raised their hands. And who could blame them? The project was there, with full funding. Our project was still moving along slowly and we would still need to fundraise one the price quotes for the well and designs were in. My heart sank.
I can understand why people in the community said yes, and I am glad that the community will have a water project (if this comes through … after all, the Mayor’s people came in September 2005 saying the same thing, that we were about to begin the project, but more than a year later we still have nothing). However, I am worried about the project’s sustainability, with the possibly high energy cost of running the pump, the risk of losing the well since the community does not have land title, and the fact that the designs were made with no community participation.
So now I’m wondering why I am staying a third year now that they don’t much seem to need me for the water project (the main reason I proposed to stay). But there is still work to do to make this project more sustainable, and of course there is always the watershed management and reforestation that we are planning. After all, the site of our proposed reforestation project is the watershed for the Mayor’s well and any other well we would drill, the area of infiltration. Taking care of the watershed, planting trees and carrying out soil conservation, is still an important contribution I can make to satisfy El Amatón’s need for water on a long-term basis.
I have written letters to both my community and to the Mayor, which voice my support of the water project and respect for the community’s decision, as well as offer my help in two areas in which I believe project sustainability can be improved, if the community desires: First, I offered to try to help raise funds to drill a well nearer to the community. The Mayor is clearly unwilling to take on the expense of drilling another well. However, if we are able to raise funds to drill a well closer to the community (ideally at the site 1 km from the community recommended by the studies) and there were sufficient water, I hold out hope that the Mayor would be willing to adapt the project to use this water source. I also presented the community with the idea of continuing to work with EWB on solar energy for the pump, which is not contemplated in the Mayor’s project. I was initially hopeful that since we didn’t have to fundraise for other parts of the water project (pump, tubing, tank, etc.) we would be able to raise enough funds for the solar panels. But the EWB team has told me that while they are willing to keep working with us on sizing the panels, they estimate the installation costs at $60,000! We’ll have to put our heads together to see if there is any way that we can scrape together that kind of money. (I’m looking into submitting an application to the United Nations Small Donations Program, but the average grant is only $20,000). If we can manage to add renewable energy to the project, it would be a great advantage for the people of the community because it would lower their energy costs. And of course, it has great environmental advantages of not burning fossil fuels, thus avoiding air pollution and contributions to global climate change. Now, I just have to keep in communication with the community and the Mayor to see if they are open to adaptation of the project so that it truly reflects the interests of the community.
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-- Home Vegetable Gardens Project: In addition to the slow progress on the water project, the last few months have seen the continuation and fruition of several other projects. We had much more success with the home vegetable gardens using the semi-hydroponic techniques, harvesting lots of tomatoes and peppers in September, October, and November. The women are excited to keep using this method of growing vegetables, and since cultivating in containers conserves water, we are going to try maintaining a few plants even in the dry season. We’ll begin making our compost piles and starting the seedlings in January, when I return and the coffee-picking season ends.
Semi-Hydroponic Vegetable Gardens Project: Tomatoes in my garden (left); Me harvesting tomatoes (right)
Tita harvesting tomatoes (left); Marleni harvesting peppers (right)
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-- Improved Chicken Raising Project: The chickens in the improved chicken raising project have finally begun to lay eggs. Participants are pleased with the improvement in chicken health and protection that they have observed since beginning to raise the chickens in enclosures: they no longer lose chickens to predators or eggs to dogs. However, the “improved” race we began raising at my Ministry of Agriculture counterpart’s suggestion requires a lot of concentrate in order to grow and produce well, which makes the profit margin for production of eggs very slim. One woman in the community has had success with a different breed of chicken, which, according to her, produces an egg daily with a diet of mainly corn (cheap and abundant within the community), plus green plants that it forages. Some of the women in the project plan to begin raising this breed, the Cavir, and we’ll probably provide Cavir chicks to the second group of project beneficiaries next year.
Tita and her family with their chickens
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-- HIV/AIDS Awareness: So the home gardens project and the chicken project are at least somewhat within my assigned project sector of agriculture and forestry, but I think it’s a common experience of Peace Corps Volunteers to arrive in their communities and see that the needs don’t fall into any one project sector. All of us end up being jacks-of-all-trades, working in areas we never thought we’d work in when we first received our assignments. So it was that I ended up organizing an AIDS Awareness workshop for teachers, student leaders, Health Committee members, and religious leaders from El Amatón and two surrounding communities.
In such an isolated rural area, I never imagined that HIV and AIDS would be a threat, and I never pictured myself working in HIV/AIDS education. Then I found out that there have been deaths from AIDS in El Coco and El Tanque, the two villages nearest to El Amatón, and I realized that this was something we needed to educate community members about. AIDS is something that is simply not talked about, and as I began working with the youth I realized they had lots of questions that their parents would not -- or perhaps could not -- address. So I began making plans for a two-day workshop to educate educational, community, and religious leaders and empower them to bring the correct information to their peers.
We held the workshop in September, and I was very pleased with how it went. I began with basic information about the biology of the HIV virus and the illness it causes, then turned the workshop over to a professional health educator to present the epidemiological situation in El Salvador, modes of transmission, and prevention strategies. Then some Peace Corps friends and I presented a drama illustrating the discrimination faced by people living with HIV and AIDS, and used it as a starting point to discuss the need for empathy and support. Testimonies from two women living with HIV and AIDS only made this point more clear as they provided a human face to all the information the leaders had been learning. The second day was mainly spent in showing the leaders participatory educational activities they could use to teach about HIV/AIDS prevention, and making action plans to bring this information to their communities.
I’m pleased to say that in El Amatón, the participants have already followed through: the youth gave a presentation to their peers in the school, and the Health Committee prepared a talk to give to the entire community. With each presentation, from the first nutrition session to the trash management presentation and now the HIV-AIDS prevention talk, I see the Health Committee taking more and more responsibility for preparing and giving the trainings -- which gives me hope that they will be able to continue educating the community about health issues even once I leave. And, ever the gender-equality crusader, I was especially proud to see Judy, a young woman my age who I asked to join the Committee at the beginning of this year, speaking confidently in front of the community. Since she joined the Committee, I’ve seen her self-confidence and sense of responsibility for the community blossom. I’ve also noticed a marked shift in her husband’s attitude toward women in leadership. Whereas before he had been opposed to her even attending meetings, he’s seen the benefits of her work on the Health Committee and has become very supportive of her efforts. These are intangible benefits of my work in community development, not something I can point to like a school building or a healthy tomato plant or a water system. However, I count Judy’s new-found confidence in herself and enthusiasm for promoting health, and Federico’s support of women in community leadership, as some of my contributions that brings me the most satisfaction and pride.
Judy helping give the Health Committee's talk on AIDS prevention
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School Graduation: About two weeks ago we celebrated the graduation of the first ninth-grade class to complete their primary education in El Amatón -- made possible in large part by the two new classrooms that many of you helped support, some with your dollars and others with your thoughts and prayers. It was a historic day for El Amatón, so thank you all for making it possible! In my Life Planning Education class, I continually encouraged them to continue studying, and I think that most are planning to continue on to high school in El Coco. I’ve helped two of the brightest and most dedicated students apply for scholarships.
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OK, I think that’s enough for now. Why do these letters always get so LONG? I’m sorry, I really am. I guess it’s just that I really am passionate about the work I am doing, and I rarely get the chance to talk to others about it. I hope I don’t bore you all!
Anyway, I really would love to see as many of you as possible while I am home in the US, and if that’s not possible, hear from you to catch up. I wish you all a blessed and peaceful holiday season, filled with the fellowship of family and friends.
Con amor desde Wisconsin (With love from Wisconsin),
Megan
School Graduation: About two weeks ago we celebrated the graduation of the first ninth-grade class to complete their primary education in El Amatón -- made possible in large part by the two new classrooms that many of you helped support, some with your dollars and others with your thoughts and prayers. It was a historic day for El Amatón, so thank you all for making it possible! In my Life Planning Education class, I continually encouraged them to continue studying, and I think that most are planning to continue on to high school in El Coco. I’ve helped two of the brightest and most dedicated students apply for scholarships.
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OK, I think that’s enough for now. Why do these letters always get so LONG? I’m sorry, I really am. I guess it’s just that I really am passionate about the work I am doing, and I rarely get the chance to talk to others about it. I hope I don’t bore you all!
Anyway, I really would love to see as many of you as possible while I am home in the US, and if that’s not possible, hear from you to catch up. I wish you all a blessed and peaceful holiday season, filled with the fellowship of family and friends.
Con amor desde Wisconsin (With love from Wisconsin),
Megan
