Waiting

We were told to be at a meeting of the Municipal Board this morning in regards to the land for our next housing project. The time to be there was set at 9.00 a.m. We arrived early in order to set up our projector and have it ready for our presentation.

All was going well when a young man wearing a phone in his ear - always a danger sign in my mind - arrived to tell us that we couldn't set up the equipment before our presentation and that the presentation wouldn't be until 10 or 10.30. The Board meeting started at nine and, for some odd reason, they couldn't have a projector sitting on the table while they met. It is 11.00 now and we are still waiting. Not sure how the presentation will go because we have to go through the rigmarole of setting up computer and projector while one of us talks to the group.

One of the frustrations of working here is the reluctance of so few to help out. There seems to be a feeling that, since expatriates have recourse to unlimited funds, we should pay for anything and everything and at an inflated rate. Totally frustrating.

Post Meeting.

The presentation went fairly well. Manuel and Chepe did their usual stellar job of presenting our program and telling where we wanted to go with the next project. The Board was somewhat interested but only after the intervention of a fairly impassioned plea by the Mayor did there seem to be any indication that action should take place quickly.

Afterwards, we met with our lawyer to discuss cost of documents and so forth. Once again, we were taken completely aback with the cost suggested. Using a simple calculator, the lawyer was asking for what would work out to a million dollar a year income. She was genuinely puzzled why I would think it rather exorbitant or why I would have trouble getting the money. After all, we would just pass on the price of the lawyer fees to the people in the project ... in other words, we would just ask the poor to pay more for their homes - the equivalent of one month's minimum wage for each home owner for each document ... and no saying how many documents we would need finally. The solution, in the lawyer's mind was that we could pay later ... didn't have to pay up front. I missed the point of the solution as it would still have to be paid. The lawyers' union has, evidently, set prices for certain types of transactions and you are supposed to pay those rates regardless. When land is involved it is partly based on the amount of land involved - so ... more land, more cost.

Enough griping.  Won't help find the solution. It has been one of those weeks with frustration after frustration by people who want to milk the cow without feeding it.

TTYL

BB

Student Days

Last week were two days to celebrate the students. Tuesday we showed movies with a projector I brought back with me from Canada. You can get them here but they are much more expensive. It worked nicely projected on to one of our white boards.

Friday was a school dance. With so many students, we are going to have to move special events to another location. Insignificant issues like edible plants are easily forgotten in the excitement of the party. The students put in a few lempiras each and had the normal, anti-nutritional snack fare. I see that, thanks to the rains, most of the plants have recovered from the traffic.

We continue to measure land for our next housing project. We have, finally, established the majority of the boundary points. Four more points on one plot and it will be done. Very little official marking of boundaries has been done with a GPS. The person formerly in charge of the land office was more inclined to make up maps and give them to folks for a small consideration. Then he would, conveniently forget to input them into the office computer. This, of course, leads to difficulties when it is time to establish boundaries. We met one of our "neighbours" and are now using his map (from three years ago) as a starting point. Consequently, the need to measure again. Edgar and I were the ones able to read the maps and help the two men from the land office figure out which points went where. Sigh.

Monday, Edgar told me that he had taken a bag of Pigeon Pea seeds and planted them on his property. Hurrah. He planted over 100 seeds. it is an exciting first step in making his land productive year round with vertical sources of nutrition. He has, as well, ordered Willow cuttings to plant along the stream that bounds one side of the property. This week, as well, he gave two, standard shaped hoes a try. He found that they were faster and less painful to use than the traditional digging hoe or grub hook. He is quite excited about trying two others that we bought yesterday.

A hoe which can be used while standing upright is a great improvement. It means, as well, that the maize can be weeded earlier and more often which results in better production. Often, the tedious, painful way of weeding means that the weeds are often over a foot high before being tackled. By that time they have done serious damage to production. I need to find a Dutch hoe yet to see how it performs.

The fish are still alive and, yesterday, Edgar divided them into three tanks. We designed a small aerator using 3 toilet plungers. It seems to work quite nicely.

Another art project - a sign for Chipilin - the girl is quite pleased and so am I to see a plant being labelled so nicely.

TTYL

BB

Johnny modeling his art project - a scarf made using nails, a block and a crochet hook

Karin modeling her scarf.  School plants in the background.

Fish Fry

Yesterday afternoon, Edgar and I went to find some fish fry for a small experiment we are doing. On the way, we stopped at his place to look at his land and give some ideas. He has some beautiful land and, with some work, he can easily be self sufficient. It will take some work to plant but Edgar is a good worker. He is going to give some new hoes a trial today in the maize he is growing. Currently they are using a small, sickle shaped hoe to weed with and it looks positively painful to see them bent over like that. I will try and get a couple of other types of hoes in San Pedro for him to try. Being able to stand and hoe should speed up the process and keep the fields much cleaner. Having someone try them out is a benefit because I can find out which is best for the conditions here.

The "bag" floats on the tank to equalize water temperature and to accustom the fry to the new water.

We got to the fish rearing ponds and drove up to where we could buy the fry. The track got narrower and narrower with steeper and higher banks to look down. My truck is rear wheel drive and none too happy with slippery conditions so I drove quiet cautiously.

The young man and his wife who helped us live in a watchtower/house/storage room. They sleep in hammocks on the upper storey and have a large flashlight to scare away predating animals at night. People are not the major problem it seems. I think he is referring to racoons. They had a large pack of dogs - friendly, thankfully - to help with the task.

Bag open and water being added gradually to mix with the water from their home pond.

He had a roll of plastic tubing (1 m diameter) and cut off a length. Then he made two tie straps from a piece of old inner tube. His very sharp machete made it look positively easy to cut the inner tube. I know, from experience, just how sharp that machete had to have been to cut through rubber that quickly.

We went to the pond where he caught the fry with a net and counted them into the bag (filled with water). They had an oxygen tank by the pond so ran some oxygen into the water and the bag. We tied it off and set it in the back seat of the truck.

Edgar feeding Calliandra dried leaf powder - Fish are still too flighty to get person + fish in the same picture.

Less than an hour later, the fish were in their new home. We will divide them into three groups later.

This morning, Edgar fed them Calliandra leaf powder. They ate it. This is so exciting. We may have found a food source for families to grow their own protein. Leaf powder is easy to make, easy to store and costs nothing but time. In addition, the trees that can be used often fix nitrogen, provide firewood, are good for animal and human consumption and help with erosion control. The potential is awesome. We will see how it goes for now.

Note the entrance the Gimerito bees have constructed in the top corner of their hive.  They also use the entrance hole in the middle of the front panel. 

A group of three neighbours, including Lydia (fish farming stories) are using  the rest of the swampy land to grow Malanga. This week they sold several thousand shoots (hijos). That is exciting as it is a new source of income. I am quite pleased to see their industry and the success it is producing.

Two weeks into the tube experiement - Chaya cuttings (back two rows), Tephrosia and Pigeon Pea (front row) all doing well. Especially pleased with the chaya. 

TTYL

BB

Gimeritos

Today, Edgar transferred some Gimerito bees into a new home. They had been living in a gallon plastic jug and, hopefully, will appreciate their new digs. I was waiting a beekeeper to move the hives but Edgar said he knew how ... and he did!! In just a few minutes we had them transferred. He is off to the house where he and his mother will transfer the second hive. It was so exciting to find out that Edgar knew how to do this and was happy to give it a whirl.

 

Opening the jug - Obviously they are a hardy insect

The mass of wax, honey and bees inside the new home

Edgar putting on the cover

Hanging the hive - they do well near/by a house

Our next housing project got a boost yesterday as we acquired the maps of the land last night. The official documents are a couple weeks away but ... first step that is concrete. Hurrah. It has been a lot work and not without difficulties.

Not much else for news other than that. Enjoy the pictures.

TTYL

BB

A Duka Stop Now

When I came to school Wednesday I was surprised to see a man sitting out front with various types of snacks and drinks for sale. Evidently, he figured that our school was an opportunity to make a few lempiras. He asked Manuel for permission and so we shall see what happens. It is strange to think of our students as being a market opportunity. My guess is that the man will move on in a few days. For now, he sits on one side of the road in the morning and then moves, with the sun, to the other side for the afternoon. (btw - duka is the Swahili word for a small shop).

The Duka man - perilously close to hurting some of my plants - and earning my wrath :))

 This morning, a student, Maynor,  came with a ginger plant in a bag. He wanted to trade for Vetiver grass and Lemon Grass. It is such a delight when something like this happens.

Maynor with the Ginger plant

 With the rains, we can begin to plant some more stuff and that is exciting as well. Edgar has planted a whole bunch of plants on the opposite side of the road from the school. He is, as well, gradually creating more space along the roadway. Erosion has built up a good amount of soil. He takes the soil, uses it to create seed bags and then uses the resulting space to plant more plants we want to propagate. The road looks nicer as well so everyone is a winner.

Maynor with Juniapa - edible plant / good for cooking

  This week Edgar started some seeds and cuttings in tubes. We are experimenting growing things in 2 foot tubes. The idea is that they will have a much longer root mass when we transplant them. This will mean the roots can head for moisture much more quickly. As well, we can use a post hole digger in the future to drill the hole for planting. The tubes can be reused for more plants. Saw a picture of a company using 3 and 4 feet tubes in the States so want to see what happens. If we can gain 3 or 4 months in the field it will be worth the effort, especially for higher value trees.

Edgar with tubes - leaf dryers in the background

Someone passed on a very neat world clock site - Poodwaddle. It has some incredible statistics to absorb. One of the staggering things I noted was that there is 1.6 more sugar produced than vegetables, 2.13 times more sugar than milk, 14 times more sugar than fish. The cost to health and environment is and will be staggering as this imbalance continues to grow.

We spent a number of hours working on some land issues for our next housing project. The importance of finding a way for poor people to get homes and land legally was underscored yesterday. We passed one location where 80 people are occupying some land. The person with me said that in this area alone, over 600 people are invading land. Unfortunately, often this process is done simply as a way to make money - either through extortion, bribery or future sales of stolen land. However, a root cause is the problem of legal ownership of property.

So ... today so far - cropping Vetiver grass for worm food; planting ginger; giving Vetiver and Lemon Grass; taking and sending photos of edible Honduran plants to an African friend working on a book; organizing photos of students for biographies; helping a young man create a business plan; tracking down prices for equipment; accounting (month end); phoning condolences to friends in Vegreville ... and it is just coffee time. Certainly not boring at all.

TTYL

BB

Wow - A Month

For the past ten days, in addition to keeping things going at the school, we have hosted two Canadian visitors, a father and son. The father, Bruce, and I worked with the same organization (MCC) in East Africa twenty five years ago. He was in Somalia and I was in Northeast Kenya.

 

Testing the water

Column Blocks - Bruce and Carlos

Column Block and U shape mold

Edgar, Bruce and me - Planting seeds

Bruce is one of those amazing people who can look at something mechanical, understand how it works, why it works and how to fix, modify or replace it with something else. I am always in awe of that type of skill. He was here to see what types of things we are doing and to see how they can be implemented in Haiti where he is working with various groups. Fortunately, we had a few things to look at.

Last week we visited Siguatepeca where we saw a Waterstep water purification system. For less than $2,000 this system was installed and is capable of purifying 38,000 litres of water per day. Imagine what a difference that can make. One of these has been installed in a primary school and the children are able to get clean water for their homes. The principal says he already notices a difference in attendance and the ability of students to participate more fully because they do not have stomach problems. This is likely the new system we will use in our next housing project.

We also tried out two new block molds ... with varying success. The good news is that we now have a model to work from. The welder was involved in making the blocks so now has an idea of what was lacking. These two types of blocks should save time, money and lumber. One type is already being used in other communities but not here in Santa Cruz.  The column type block is not yet being used. We will find out next week if builders are interested. The first blocks are curing now and need a couple more days to get hard enough to work with.

 

Closer look at the tup - Cucumbers sprouting ... enlarge the picture and you can see them.

Bruce brought with him some drip irrigation supplies. He and Edgar spent a morning putting a short run together. The cucumbers are up and we wait for the other plants to sprout. This type of system will be of great value for small gardens as well as larger plantations. Even though we get plenty of rain in a year for trees, the sporadic nature of several months a year makes it difficult to grow vegetables. This system can be used on a large scale as well. In Ontario, a man used it for 40 acres of corn. In a side by side test, the field with drip irrigation got 280 bushels/acre and the one without 80. We will work with this more over the next few months.

Land conflicts are an ongoing problem. We met a group of 50 families who are being pushed off their land by a "landowner". Haven't heard what the final verdict will be. In our own case, a housing project is being held up by unexpected negotiations and intransigence. I always think of how hopeless it must be for the ordinary Honduran when facing these kind of difficulties. I have options and some connections. They don't.

Thank you for following along.

TTYL

BB