Aqueducts!

This aqueduct project is a marathon.  I mean, I assume the metaphor is accurate.  I’ve never run a marathon.  Guess you’d have to ask my brother, the ultra-marathoner, what that’s actually like (https://steeplesandsunglasses.wordpress.com/).  We’re on the final leg.  It’s almost over.  Construction began in January.  It’s been three exhausting months.  The project itself, of course, began long before that, a year and a half ago, as we formed water committees and started gathering all the data needed to make the designs and apply for the grant.  And I can’t be sure it’s going to work – to see whether my modeling and calculations hold up – until construction is finished.  That time is coming soon.

And even with that, this won’t be the end of the project.  Sure, in the next month, I’ll have to close out the grant, turn in the receipts, write up the report and as-built drawings.  But that’s not really the end.  Really just “the end of the beginning” (thanks, Churchill).  Eric, my previous Volunteer, told me that he thinks about Quebrada Pastor every day, that he spent the last two years wondering and hoping that the aqueduct projects he helped build still work, that people still have water.  When he came to visit last month, he asked each group if they always had water, if anything went wrong, if they were still collecting the monthly fee.  It was a window into my future – hoping that the Water Committees remember their training enough to manage their aqueducts well, hoping I had anticipates and avoided potential problems, wondering whether the project was ultimately a success, if it really did improve people’s health and lives.

That’s a tough thing about this kind of work – change is slow, results are slow to see.  “Sustainability” means we’re looking at the long term – which means it will be many years before we can prove whether any of this is truly sustainable (though perhaps fewer to prove whether it fails).  Every time Angel asks me about the craftsmanship quality of their work, I’ll tell him, “It’s your aqueduct.”  He’ll tell me, as he goes to improve it – “We’re not thinking about the short term.  We’re building this for the long term.”

I’m glad they take that kind of responsibility.  It seems like a good sign for success, that sense of ownership.  Aside from telling them that, “It’s not my project.  It’s your project,” I also remind them that, “I’m not the boss.  The Water Committee is the boss.  I’m just the engineer.”  This sums up our roles in the project – and shows that they are in control.  They are the ones making this happen.  They are going to have water in their houses because of what they did.  And they are going to take care of this thing in which they have invested so much.

They are responsible for the decision making, and a lot of the hands-on field problem-solving.  The most joyful moments of the work for me are when we combine my analytical contribution – this is what is going to make this work the way we want it – with their hands-on resourcefulness – so how are we going to make this happen?  That’s the part that’s really fun, because I feel like we are maximizing our roles in this project, balancing our contributions, each of us playing to our strengths, a true team.  I hope they find it empowering to know that they can do the problem-solving needed to get water to their houses.  So much of learning in the campo happens by doing and seeing – not by reading and writing (much to my chagrin when I want to draw them a diagram) – so working together on this infrastructure project is a vivid way to learn that sense of empowerment, ownership, control, leadership, teamwork, organization, planning, and problem-solving.  And that’s a benefit unto itself, apart from getting water in the house.

We’re almost there.  So close.  I’ll keep y’all posted on whether this thing actually works.  When we start it up, anyway.  After that, it’s all up to them.

Pictures:

Gone fishin’ – an evening excursion with another Volunteer – we didn’t catch anything except for the glimpses of dozens of starfish in the shallows, a few alligators in the mangroves, several satellites streaking across a shining Milky Way, and swirls of bioluminescent creatures in the water.  That’s enough of a catch for me!

Gone fishin’ part two -- a daytime trip in Quebrada Pastor – my guides paddled me in a tiny dugout canoe through the mangroves (without capsizing!) out to the sea, where they showed me starfish, coral, parrot fish, spiny urchins, jellyfish – there’s a whole aquarium right at my doorstep!  Then they brought me back and served me some fish they had caught that they fried up with coconut rice.

More critters!

I've ever seen the red frogs with spots on them!

 Construction continues…

A “photo shoot” for Willy’s business, Heidy Organic Chocolates – be on the lookout for a beautifully-illustrated website, coming soon, so promote his chocolate products…