The fruits of two years of hard work by everyone, have been borne! Complete implementation here we come...
Friday, March 18, 2011
It is Signed!
Everybody signed the MOU.
The fruits of two years of hard work by everyone, have been borne! Complete implementation here we come...
The fruits of two years of hard work by everyone, have been borne! Complete implementation here we come...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Disappointment tastes like
ice cream.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) did NOT get signed today because members of the municipality took issue to how we referenced the name of the town. We planned to get ice cream, Sheel's treat, after the meeting that was supposed to end in the signing of the almost 40 page document (with appendices) that has been through countless revisions, discussed several times by concerned community members and has been just a tender pain in the hyde to deal with. Today, we made the monumentus accomplishment of finally getting the municipality and the community to agree to the terms of payment and responsibilities of each party. The fruits of two years of hard work from our entire team have almost ripened! But we are still jittery with anticipation for tomorrow afternoon's MOU signing. We took a couple of funny pictures with the new mayor and 'Jackie Chan' and still got ice cream.
In other news, we are having a ton of fun of working on the post implementation report and listening to Justin Bieber on repeat in the internet cafe. Heading to San Pedro tomorrow afternoon, Herbert is hoping for a feast tomorrow and I can't wait for Sheel to buy ice cream for all of us.
Cheers to a great trip, almost over,
Natalie
More pictures and some reflections up soon. Thanks to all for your interest and support.
Construction Pictures
So the travel team did the difficult hike again today! There were about 40 people from the town there today! View the photos of today's hard work here:
Wednesday's Construction Album
Wednesday's Construction Album
Just one cool picture from construction at the Upper Pump Station.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monal's Take on Guatemala Happenings
Hi people!
This is the first time I am posting on the blog! I would like to thank all those who read our posts and comment on them. It really motivates us to make sure we are productive everyday and have some updates for you all.
The travel team is having a wonderful time here. Last night, Dave talked to us about the projects he works on for CDM and we learned a lot about civil engineering, and how things in the real professional world work. Besides that, the sky was very clear at night we were able to point out a couple constellations and the planet "Saturn" in the sky! But it got really cold at night! I was sleeping with a pair of gloves, two pairs of socks, and a hoodie on and I still shivered! Every morning we wake up with the noises of some bird pecking on the roof, the family chopping wood and then a random guy selling "queso" really early in the morning. lol
Today, we went to the site with the town architects. The people of the community were already there since 8 in the morning bringing materials like water, wood, cement bags, rebar, sand etc to the site. About 40 people were working at the site. It was sad to see them carry such heavy loads on their backs down the mountain to the pump station. The community seemed very enthusiastic about this. Actually, last night they had a town meeting where they went over the MOU with all the people and also signed up to help out at the site today. An interesting observation here was: they only decided yesterday to call this town meeting and sent a car around the town with a person announcing the meeting on a big microphone. And about 300 families showed up to this meeting to go over the MOU and learn about the project schedule for the next day.
Back to the site visit...we went to the site and they already had a lot of materials there. The architect and Dave went over all the dimensions and instructions with the members of the community who will be building-Miguel and Enrike. It was good to see them ask questions to Dave and the Architect. The Architect made sure that the people understood everything and we made some marks showing dimensions and directions for them. The people planned to finish laying the aggregate for the base slab today.
Later today...we have a meeting with the Water Committee to discuss the MOU...lets see how that goes.
Tomorrow...we are meeting with the Mayor and the Water Committee to really finalize the MOU. I am not sure if we will be able to sign it tomorrow. After that we plan on going to the site again to monitor the progress. The community plans to put in the rebar and pour the concrete for the base slab tomorrow.
Other thoughts....I am learning a great deal about structure construction on this trip! It is really cool to see how so many details go into the construction of a simple concrete chamber. Also, it is lucky for our project to have Mouracio and Wilda (the architects). They will be helping out with the construction and they seem to know what they are doing! Also, I am very happy with the way things are going for our project. WE HAVE TO RAISE ALL THE MONEY TO IMPLEMENT IN JULY! The community is really hoping for it. LET's RAISE SOME MORE MONEY SOON :)
That's all I can think of for now....We will keep you guys posted. I am loving this!
Adios,
Mona
This is the first time I am posting on the blog! I would like to thank all those who read our posts and comment on them. It really motivates us to make sure we are productive everyday and have some updates for you all.
The travel team is having a wonderful time here. Last night, Dave talked to us about the projects he works on for CDM and we learned a lot about civil engineering, and how things in the real professional world work. Besides that, the sky was very clear at night we were able to point out a couple constellations and the planet "Saturn" in the sky! But it got really cold at night! I was sleeping with a pair of gloves, two pairs of socks, and a hoodie on and I still shivered! Every morning we wake up with the noises of some bird pecking on the roof, the family chopping wood and then a random guy selling "queso" really early in the morning. lol
Today, we went to the site with the town architects. The people of the community were already there since 8 in the morning bringing materials like water, wood, cement bags, rebar, sand etc to the site. About 40 people were working at the site. It was sad to see them carry such heavy loads on their backs down the mountain to the pump station. The community seemed very enthusiastic about this. Actually, last night they had a town meeting where they went over the MOU with all the people and also signed up to help out at the site today. An interesting observation here was: they only decided yesterday to call this town meeting and sent a car around the town with a person announcing the meeting on a big microphone. And about 300 families showed up to this meeting to go over the MOU and learn about the project schedule for the next day.
Back to the site visit...we went to the site and they already had a lot of materials there. The architect and Dave went over all the dimensions and instructions with the members of the community who will be building-Miguel and Enrike. It was good to see them ask questions to Dave and the Architect. The Architect made sure that the people understood everything and we made some marks showing dimensions and directions for them. The people planned to finish laying the aggregate for the base slab today.
Later today...we have a meeting with the Water Committee to discuss the MOU...lets see how that goes.
Tomorrow...we are meeting with the Mayor and the Water Committee to really finalize the MOU. I am not sure if we will be able to sign it tomorrow. After that we plan on going to the site again to monitor the progress. The community plans to put in the rebar and pour the concrete for the base slab tomorrow.
Other thoughts....I am learning a great deal about structure construction on this trip! It is really cool to see how so many details go into the construction of a simple concrete chamber. Also, it is lucky for our project to have Mouracio and Wilda (the architects). They will be helping out with the construction and they seem to know what they are doing! Also, I am very happy with the way things are going for our project. WE HAVE TO RAISE ALL THE MONEY TO IMPLEMENT IN JULY! The community is really hoping for it. LET's RAISE SOME MORE MONEY SOON :)
That's all I can think of for now....We will keep you guys posted. I am loving this!
Adios,
Mona
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Minutes and Pictures from Sunday and Monday
The travel team used up all their phone calling minutes yesterday so I did not get a call from them. Luckily, I was able to get contact from them today and I have the following for everyone to read and view:
Adios personas en el mundo,
Brian Goodacre
- On Sunday, the team went from Antigua to NSCI. You can view the pictures of this trip here.
- On Sunday, in NSCI, the team talked with the water committee. The notes of this meeting, which includes updates from both sides and goals for the rest of the trip, can be downloaded here.
- On Monday, the team met with the two town architects and visited the site. The Water Committee built a huge hole in the ground! Go here.
- On Monday, the team met with the two town architects and you can read the meeting minutes here.
Travel Team on the top of the Black Cat Inn in Antigua.
Travel Team with the Water Committee.
The travel team with the host family, wearing their Rutgers gifts.
What a hole!
Brian Goodacre
At the Internet Cafe
Howdy readers!
Natalie here with the team in an internet cafe doing some post impliementation & other project related work.
The much anticipated post about THE CLIMB. But first a few updates for the project commiteee.
After our meeting with the architects yesterday we had a quick lunch and piled into a pick up truck heading for the pump station sites. The road was pretty bump but I got a couple of nice photos of us passing through the clouds. Yes, passing through. NSCI is about 10,000ft above sea level and we were driving up the side of a mountain.
When the truck stopped, it seemed as though we were in just another part of the mountain. Little did we what would happen next...
Okay, enough with the suspense. We arrived to observe the volunteers efforts in excavating the lower and upper pump station sites. But we had to get there first. The slopes were narrow and steep. There was a lot of clumsy slipping and sliding and nervous glances off the edge of the path that we were on. Once we made it to the upper pump station ( a 10 minute descent), Dave offered that this was only the 'upper' pump station... the lower one was much, much lower.
At the upper pump station we took pictures and dimensioned the current state of the hole. As mentioned before, they dug a bit too wide but we made corrections in the design for that. We noted the material on the left side of the hole (which is also the the side of the upper station tank) as it would need to be drilled for the new pumps we want to install. Herbert spoke with the volunters and got them on board with what we were looking for and we left for the lower pump station.
The lower pump station was more like a 15 minute descent and by the time we got there the voulnteers there had left for the day. Again we dimensioned the excavated hole and made note of how much digging was left to do. At the lower pump station there was a nice view of the mountain side and even though we were very high up already, the treetops at the top of the mountain seemed to be at the same level as the sun. I understand why Guatemala is known as 'the land of the high trees'. After a short photo op, we went a bit higher to try to see the springs. We ended up seeing the waterfall and deciding it was time to go back.
Going down was a lot easier...
Dave said most of the difficulty was because we were not used to the evlevation and so we lost our breath quickly. Monal told me about the time when they did the same hike in the pouring rain and I thought not to complain too much. Even so, the slopes were extra steep when going up and it took us twice as long to go up than it did to go down. Not something I am looking forward too again although we made plans to see the sites again tommorrow.
On Wednesday the materials should be at the sites for the begining of construction. We are excited to see that progress.
In other news, spirits in the community are up, our team is hopeful and we have beautiful weather in NSCI today.
Questions, comments, concerns or just miss us wildly? Leave us a comment! Pictures to be up soon.
:) :) :)
-Natalie
Natalie here with the team in an internet cafe doing some post impliementation & other project related work.
The much anticipated post about THE CLIMB. But first a few updates for the project commiteee.
- We are working on getting the MOU signed. We still are having trouble getting all parties on board because of the water meter situation and some financing issues but hopefully those will be addressed at our meeting today with the Major, architects and Water Committee.
- The excavation is still underway. Because the volunteers were not aware of the dimensions before they started digging the upper pumpstation is a bit too wide and the lower pump station still needs some work. No worries though, with some quick thinking by Dave Tanzi, we adjusted our desgins for the upper pump station.
- We gave Angel and the family the gifts that they prepared and they were very thankful. They thanked us for our work so far and Angel told Monal (la jefa) how proud he was of her work in leading our commitee. Steven and Nancy (Angel's children) want to be engineers as well ;)
After our meeting with the architects yesterday we had a quick lunch and piled into a pick up truck heading for the pump station sites. The road was pretty bump but I got a couple of nice photos of us passing through the clouds. Yes, passing through. NSCI is about 10,000ft above sea level and we were driving up the side of a mountain.
When the truck stopped, it seemed as though we were in just another part of the mountain. Little did we what would happen next...
Okay, enough with the suspense. We arrived to observe the volunteers efforts in excavating the lower and upper pump station sites. But we had to get there first. The slopes were narrow and steep. There was a lot of clumsy slipping and sliding and nervous glances off the edge of the path that we were on. Once we made it to the upper pump station ( a 10 minute descent), Dave offered that this was only the 'upper' pump station... the lower one was much, much lower.
At the upper pump station we took pictures and dimensioned the current state of the hole. As mentioned before, they dug a bit too wide but we made corrections in the design for that. We noted the material on the left side of the hole (which is also the the side of the upper station tank) as it would need to be drilled for the new pumps we want to install. Herbert spoke with the volunters and got them on board with what we were looking for and we left for the lower pump station.
The lower pump station was more like a 15 minute descent and by the time we got there the voulnteers there had left for the day. Again we dimensioned the excavated hole and made note of how much digging was left to do. At the lower pump station there was a nice view of the mountain side and even though we were very high up already, the treetops at the top of the mountain seemed to be at the same level as the sun. I understand why Guatemala is known as 'the land of the high trees'. After a short photo op, we went a bit higher to try to see the springs. We ended up seeing the waterfall and deciding it was time to go back.
Going down was a lot easier...
Dave said most of the difficulty was because we were not used to the evlevation and so we lost our breath quickly. Monal told me about the time when they did the same hike in the pouring rain and I thought not to complain too much. Even so, the slopes were extra steep when going up and it took us twice as long to go up than it did to go down. Not something I am looking forward too again although we made plans to see the sites again tommorrow.
On Wednesday the materials should be at the sites for the begining of construction. We are excited to see that progress.
In other news, spirits in the community are up, our team is hopeful and we have beautiful weather in NSCI today.
Questions, comments, concerns or just miss us wildly? Leave us a comment! Pictures to be up soon.
:) :) :)
-Natalie
Monday, March 14, 2011
Happy Pi Day .:) pt 1
3/14
Last night was pretty cold--not like New Jersey cold, colder, like (insert analogy here). I slept with a hat and scarf and 3 thick blankets and still ended up shivering. We all weren´t used to this kind of heat, even Monal and Herbert complained. Even so, this was the least of the intensity of today.
Pancakes for breakfast and then meeting with Maricio and Wilda, the new town architects. (Sheel wanted to insert a <3 here)Yes, we liked them a lot. Besides being really knowledgable about the basic designs, the architects knew specifically which materials would we need to buy and how to go about buying them. With his help, the materials have been bought and we feel comfortable leaving him to lead the community´s efforts in the pump station constructions.
Nicknames;
Then, the climb ...
-(Nat) CM
Last night was pretty cold--not like New Jersey cold, colder, like (insert analogy here). I slept with a hat and scarf and 3 thick blankets and still ended up shivering. We all weren´t used to this kind of heat, even Monal and Herbert complained. Even so, this was the least of the intensity of today.
Pancakes for breakfast and then meeting with Maricio and Wilda, the new town architects. (Sheel wanted to insert a <3 here)Yes, we liked them a lot. Besides being really knowledgable about the basic designs, the architects knew specifically which materials would we need to buy and how to go about buying them. With his help, the materials have been bought and we feel comfortable leaving him to lead the community´s efforts in the pump station constructions.
Nicknames;
- Sheel: Mr. Health and Saftey
- Monal: Mona
- Herbert: Herby or Mr. Herbert or Loco
- Natalie:Croch Master ( as in crochet... )
Then, the climb ...
-(Nat) CM
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