July 18 – 25 Richard’s Team Comes to Continue Work on Rosa’s House and More

 New team, same leader

Richard Brelsford’s team 19 members including families with teenagers, continued the construction of Rosa’s house that the Elevate youth group team had begun in June. The Elevate team had laid out the house, installed columns, built walls, and installed a roof.  The house has earthquake resistant construction, with an approved design, and is composed of concrete slabs for rapid construction.  For more information,  see the blog I posted in mid-July (below).

Richard’s team members followed the Elevate team’s program, dividing each day into groups.  During the mornings, most worked at the house, while a group of four or five helped with advanced English classes.  In the afternoons, another group of four or five helped with children’s activities at the Los Chiles Methodist church.  In this way,  most team members participated in all three activities.    Below are some pictures taken during the week.

Attending church service

The Sunday School program was well attended.

Sunday evening service with communion.

Continuing constructing Rosa’s house

The tasks the team carried out included: applying wall treatments to both the exterior and interior walls;  building frames for and installing exterior fiberboard in the roof’s eaves, gables, and soffits; digging and installing a septic tank and drain field; and placing concrete floors.  All enjoyed the experience, and no one had problems getting to sleep!

The team walks to the work site.

The work week started with a prayer at the job site.

Bringing in the concrete mixer to the site.

Mixing concrete for the new floor.

Placing concrete floors.

Chente makes a list of items to get at the hardware store.

Installing the electrical conduits.

Power outlets are embedded in the columns.

Chente installing cable into the conduits.

Digging the ditch for the septic system was a lot of work.

Filling in the drain field.

Rocks fill the drainage ditch.

Backfilling the drainage field’s trench.

Blake Davidson, AVS Executive Director, takes a turn at shoveling

One, two, three! to move the heavy pipe in place to make the septic well.

Installing the septic well.

The lid to the septic tank had the team members’ names.

The team was happy to complete the drainage ditch

The plain concrete walls need to be prepared to receive mortar.

Fran applying cement mortar to the concrete panels.

Applying the concrete finish is harder than it looks.

AVS interns help with applying concrete mortar.

Chente, an AVS carpenter, finishes off the eve.

Installing the exterior fiberboard in the house’s gables.

The team.

Helping with English classes

Advanced English classes are held Mondays to  Fridays from 8 AM to 11 AM.  Agua Viva Serves’ three interns have participated in many of the classes, and work teams have contributed members as well.  It has been an excellent way for the teams to learn about Costa Rica; meet local young people; and make friends.

Practicing answers to customers’ complaints .

Practicing filling out forms.

Friday afternoon there was a soccer game with the English students.

Working with children in the afternoon

Four or five of Richard’s team volunteered each day to work in the afternoons with children at the Los Chiles Methodist church.  There are few, if any structured children’s activities in Los Chiles, so attendance was good;  around 60 children most days. Team members help with craft,  lead games,  and, on Thursdays, participate in Water Day.

Making bracelets.

Bubbles are a lot of fun

Slip and slide on a large plastic sheet is a favorite water day activity.

Long Time Friends Install a Well, June 2 – 5, 2015

Cano Negro, a large wildlife preserve, is about 45 minutes south and west of Los Chiles. The land is relatively flat, with cattle ranches and farms that grow manioc, oranges, and sugar cane.  Chompipera is a small group of very simple houses near Cano Negro. A member of the Los Chiles Methodist church works in the area and mentioned Chompipera to Agua Viva.

In mid-May, a team with the Wesley Foundation at University of Central Florida installed floor in two houses.  The houses lacked a reliable safe water source and water is brought by hand from over 1/4 mile.   AVS made plans to install a well as soon as the water well drill rig became available. .

Jugs are used to bring water to the houses

A Different Way to Spend Some Quality Time Together

Three long-time friends from the Orlando took a week of vacation together in early June to help Aqua Viva Serves (AVS)  install the well.  They were joined by three interns who will be with AVS from June to August.

The well be the first AVS well in the Cano Negro area.  AVS knew that other wells in the zone were producing good quantities of water so hopes were high.

The team arrived mid-week and began working at installing the sump pits used to clean the water going into the well. Below are a few pictures taken during the well’s installation.

Digging sump pits is hard work

Everyone gets a chance to clean the sump pits

Omar is running the drill rig while Andrew is mucking out the sump pits.

Andrew and Melanie are getting water needed to run the drill rig.

Interns taking a break, enjoying the new concrete slab.

The team brought along some crafts for the children.  They really enjoyed the creative activities

Working with the crafts.

Some happy faces after making some bracelets.

Kids and adults are happy with the crafts.

The 160-foot deep well has been cleaned, and it appears there is abundant water.  In the near future, a submersible pump will be installed, along with an electrical hook-up,  controls and a pressure tank. A water distribution network will deliver piped water to each house in the community.

Cleaning Chompipera well

Return to Medio Queso – the well makes an impact

Last year a work team installed a well in the community of Medio Queso.  Medio Queso is on unused land that was abandoned by a large corporate farm. The community, which consists of immigrant day laborers, has limited resources, as evident in their homes that are typically made of scrap materials and plastic sheets.   The people are in the process of applying for and being selected to receive land deeds through a lengthy government process.  When I first visited the community,  its water supply was an open, hand-dug, shallow well.  AVS installed a new well, along with a water tower in 2014.

This past week I visited Medio Queso again and talked with one of the local leaders.  He said the well has changed in the community. Initially a small group of families were hooked into the water system; now there are 14.   More importantly, with an assured water supply, people are starting to raise some livestock, mainly chicken and pigs.  This is a real improvement.

Chicken pen at Medio Queso

Some piglets at Medio Queso

The community has organized in order to maximize assistance offered by various agencies. They want to move ahead with receiving land titles;  hook up to the electric grid, and set up a repair and replacement fund for the well’s pump.

The well AVS built has led to real change for the Medio Queso residents; it has brought them hope for a better, fuller lives. It was very gratifying to see the changes.

June 22 – 26, 2014 Family, Friends, and Neighbors

Each work team is different. A nine-person team of adults and youth was brought together by the Davidson family who are actively involved with Agua Viva Serves (AVS) . Most team members were neighbors living on the same block, with a few relatives, and a friend to complete the mix. After making contact with AVS, the team decided to drill a well and place a floor slab for a new house.  They worked well together including the middle-school members who were involved in a continuous card game when not at a project site.

June is at the start of the six-month rainy season in northern Costa Rica.  Los Chiles is in a zone that receives 150+ inches of rain.  Several times this week I  thought ” if this rain keeps up we are going to easily receive a year’s rainfall within a few weeks!”  The rain had two impacts on the team’s work. One was driving on muddy, and,  at places, very slippery roads to and from the well and house sites.  The other was that the heavy rain affected placing the concrete floor slab. Fortunately, the roads were navigated without too much difficulty. AVS’s 4-wheel drive pick-up truck, got stuck only once,  and the floor slab was placed with only a few hours delay.

Awning helps during the rain

 

A Well to Serve Several Families

The Herreras live in San Isidro, about 20 miles from Los Chiles where AVS had installed two wells during the past two years.  The Herrera family knew of the wells and decided to donate land for a well to serve their family and up to five nearby neighbors.  The new well produces 60 to 90 gallons of water per minute.  I am sure the new well will bring a major change for these families.  Their existing open, shallow wells become easily polluted and produce minimal water during the four-month dry season.

Preparing sump pits

Drill bit starting well

Getting water from a stream

Each day four team members went to the well site.  The Herrera family, and nearby neighbors joined the team to help as needed.  Well drilling started on Monday and it was cleaned on Thursday afternoon.    Each day a delicious lunch was prepared by the Herrera family.

Well team at lunch prepared by the Herrera family

One very rainy morning, Arturo Mendoza stopped by to help.  My first AVS well, installed in January 2014,  was at the Mendoza family farm.   It was great to see him again and to know that his AVS well  is working fine.

Everybody helps with the drilling – Mr. Arturo Mendoza in the center.

Detergent in the well cleans and makes a lot of bubbles.

Well team at the Herrera well

 

A Floor for a New House

During the week of June 16th members the Lake Highland Prep work team built a concrete floor for the Elicier Calero family.  The Caleros and several other church families, live in a precario (precarious) settlement on the edge of Los Chiles.  Elicier Calaro’s neighbor and relative, Bernarda Calero approached the church to have a concrete floor installed for her family next to their current house.

A heavy wheelbarrow with concrete

Tipping the concrete mixer

So team members, not working on the Herrera family well, worked on the floor slab.  Several members of the Calero’s extended family participated on the floor’s construction too, moving material and hauling water from an open well to mix the concrete.

Everybody working making concrete

Despite interruptions due to heavy rains the floor slab was completed.  A small house is planned to be built, in early August, by a future AVS work team.  This will replacing their current, very minimal, dirt floor building.

Placing the last concrete

Bernarda Calero floor slab complete!

Bernarda Calero looking at the new floor slab

 

These two very different projects will create a real and substantial difference in the lives of the two families.  The Herrera family was especially thankful and made their appreciation known to the team during the well’s cleaning.

Few of the team members spoke Spanish.  We discovered that working with the people who will use a project bridges any language barriers that may exist.  AVS has made this experience possible and I was very happy and proud to be part of the team.

About AVS and how to support its work

Agua Viva Serves’  (AVS) focus is to provide potable drinking water to schools, churches, and the rural population – many of  whom are very poor – in an isolated region of Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border.  First United Methodist Winter Park, Florida, started visiting the project area on mission trips in 1996.  They started the AVS program and drilled its first water well in 2010.  My goal is to help as needed with the project; I speak Spanish and have worked on similar programs in other developing countries.

More information, maps, and many photographs may be found on the Agua Viva Serves website – http://www.aguavivaserves.org/about/

Several people asked how to make a donation to help with the project.  A donation can be made to Agua Viva Serves on their website.    If you wish to give a donation by credit card,  go through the web site – http://aguavivaserves.org/donate/   If you wish to contribute by check, please send it to the Winter Park (FL) UMC, their address is on the website.

In addition, a donation to support my work can be made through the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries’ Volunteer-In-Mission web page.  I am going through the Advance program as an Individual Volunteer – #982465.  The web site is below.  On the web page there is an “individual volunteer” drop down menu where you will find my name – Robert Meredith.   https://secure3.convio.net/gbgm/site/SPageNavigator/gbgm_donate.html?type=1001&project=982465

I would appreciate your support of this worthwhile project.

 

Mid-May 2014, Identifying, Preparing and Partying

After the team from the Wesley Foundation Central Florida University departed on May 10, we used the short break to do maintenance on the equipment and to confirm new project sites. Some new faces arrived to help with the Agua Viva Serves (AVS) program as well. Paola Ferro and Shenica Tulloch from Florida International University came to energize an after-school youth program, also known as Vacation Bible School.

Punta Cortes elementary school – planning a new well

The small community of Punta Cortes is less than five miles due east from Los Chiles. However, a key bridge is missing, so a drive that should take a few minutes takes instead close to an hour over a very rough road. Two years ago the parents at the elementary school hand dug a 55-foot deep well to replace an old well that had collapsed. Unfortunately,  the new well was not constructed correctly and produces a limited amount of poor quality water. As an interim solution they are using a bucket filtration system, but that does not produce sufficient water for the 55 students.

Meeting with Punta Cortes school leaders to define the new well

Bucket system used to filter water Punta Cortes school

A site visit was made which included meeting with the school’s administrator and members of the parents committee. The well, in addition to supplying water to the school, will also serve a nearby church and as many as 10 houses. Over 100 people will benefit.

The well’s installation started during the last week of May and is expected to be completed in early June.  More details to come!

 San Gerardo Parsonage – starting a new house

About half way to Punta Cortes you pass near the San Gerardo Methodist Church. The congregation within the past five years, constructed a church building on a lot that has sufficient land for a parsonage.  However, the current parsonage is small and in poor condition.  AVS received a request from the church last year and made a commitment to help the congregation construct a new parsonage.

San Gerardo current parsonage

Center of new San Gerardo parsonage

First, the house’s site was determined. The pastor and his wife were very involved in that decision. So the work teams can move quickly ahead after their arrival in mid-June,  it was decided to prepare the foundation and rough in the plumbing. By late May, a three man team had excavated the foundation walls, placed the reinforcing steel, constructed the cinderblock foundation walls, and brought in and compacted earth to the proper elevation so a concrete floor can be placed.

First row of foundation block

Laying out parsonage foundation

Reinforcement steel in foundation San Gerardo parsonage

Parsonage foundation compaction

 

In late June, several work teams are scheduled.   They will complete the parsonage’s construction by placing the concrete floor,  building the walls, raising the roof, and installing the plumbing and wiring. Local church members will provide meals and some labor.

Daily Afternoon Children Activities

Normally children attend school in the morning or afternoon; for example,  grades 1 – 3 attend in the morning, and grades 4–6 in the afternoon,  reversing the schedule each week. However, since early May, the public school teachers have been on strike.

Organized play at Coquital church

By coincidence, AVS had planned a weekday afternoon children’s program for May, June, and July. Funding had been raised to allow for several young adults to come to Los Chiles to help create and direct children activities.   The first two volunteers, Paulo and Shenica, arrived in mid-May and started working with the local leader, Karina Perez with the children’s program at the Los Chiles church. After a week at Los Chiles, they carried out a similar program with children at the rural Coquital Methodist church.  Several other short-term teachers are scheduled to work over the coming two months.

The program offers some structured activities, arts and crafts, group games, singing, and fun activities.  It has been a big hit with the approximately 60 – 70 children attending in Los Chiles and a dozen kids coming in daily at Coquital.  I am sure the program made a lot of parents happy as well.

Testing a new water storage system

Martha, one of the Los Chiles church’s members, has a house built by AVS. Where the house is located is disputed land, and there is neither electricity nor an on-site well. The water authority in Los Chiles delivers potable water into a storage barrel located at the side of the road in the front of the house.

Martha’s house does has a rainwater collection system – using the roof’s gutters that discharge into a 55 gallon plastic barrel. This amount of water does not last more than two or three days, and the water in the barrel promptly gets polluted.

BOB Water Storage system – harvesting rainwater

Rainwater harvested with BOB system

 

 

An AVS volunteer in the US took an interest is this issue and investigated alternative storage systems and brought one down to Los Chiles to test in the field. We built and are testing the BOB water storage system that will hold around 375 gallons. Note: BOB is just a name, not an acronym!  Although the assembly was a challenge, we soon had it up and running. The water collected was of good quality, and Martha enjoys having more water available for laundry and other domestic tasks. We are monitoring its use – stay tuned.

 

A Birthday Party

Agua Viva Serves uses the Hotel Carolina in Los Chiles, owned by the Herrera family, to house and provide food for volunteer teams. Doña Thelma, the owner’s wife, has an annual birthday that all her children and grandchildren attend. I was fortunate to be invited and joined in the activities. A piñata is traditional at Latin American birthday parties; at this one, though, the adult women were the ones scrambling for the candy. There was a lot of food, cake, and a good time was had by all.

Huberto and Dona Thelma enjoying her birthday party

Scrambling for treats fallen from the piñata.