For the past week, we have been working with a NGO called Centéotl. Centéotl is a group that offers resources to communities so they can become more sustainable. They have been working to reforest and to create irrigation and potable water systems in the villages that surround Zimatlan, mainly through the construction of cisternas (water tanks) and presas (dams). Our task for the week was to interview and talk with the people of the villages of La Soledad, La Guadalupe and El Carmen about their experiences with water and Centéotl. Our home base was La Princesa Hotel in Zimatalan. The small city was more or less a home away from home for all of us.
What was truly unique about our group’s experience was that we got to spend time in these small villages and got a chance to compare their simple lifestyles. The villages were all extremely welcoming; each member greeted each one of us individually and told us how happy they were that we were there. Hearing how excited they were to meet us and share their experiences with us was inspirational. After interviewing the members of La Soledad on Monday, our guides from Centéotl gave us a tour of their community garden that was irrigated with a new cistern. That night we stayed in La Soledad and got to see first hand their way of living. The lifestyle is very simple, cooking on wood fueled stoves and using tortillas as their plate, utensils and food. All of the communities had a lot of pride in their food.
Upon our arrival to La Guadalupe, the second village we worked with, we all realized how happy the villagers were to have us there. After each person was introduced, everyone responded with a round of applause. We spent the day hearing stories about life in the village before and after they had cisternas and we talked with people about their ideas for the future. Everyone was incredibly educated about water conservation. After we finished discussing the water projects they made us lunch. We ate an amaranth and egg lunch. After lunch we returned to Zimatlan to process the information and stories we had just heard. It was strange to go between such small closed communities and Zimatlan. Though the villages were only about 15 minutes outside of the city the feeling between the two was dramatically different.
On Wednesday, we spent the entire day at the market in Zimatlan. All of the surrounding villages congregate every Wednesday to buy and sell everything from beans to batteries and pants to pastries. This is the only time during the week that many people venture from their pueblos. The market takes over the town center, with hundreds of vendors setting up shop for the day.
On Thursday we went to the third village, El Carmen. This village had the most developed water infrastructure, with many cisterns, three dams and a lot of irrigated land. We visited all three damns, one of which was under construction. They were all mainly constructed by the women of the village, since most of the men are working in the U.S. or other parts of Mexico. A big problem is the sedimentation of dams, which slowly fill with sediment from runoff during the rainy season. All three of the pueblos were planting trees to slow runoff and increase absorption of water to counter this problem.
The last day was spent compiling all of the data that we collected into a report, which we presented to Centéotl. They were very happy with our work and we were proud of what we accomplished. Overall it was an amazing learning experience and we felt like our work will have a positive impact in the future for Centéotl, the people of the pueblos and ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment