2012 Mexico Melaque: 2013 January 16 In The Trenches

Humanitarian aid is a pretty big deal amongst the long-stay snowbirds (is that a redundancy?) in most places, and that's certainly the case here! Our friends Cheryl and Kelly have been doing work down here for 3-4 years, and this year Deb and I brought down 3 - 50 lb bags of food, clothing, shoes, etc whilst Cheryl brought down 10 bags! The target for all this largesse is the Indios, the Mexican first nations. They are truly a breed apart down here; the adults are often under 5' tall, they are very poorly educated, and their only employment options are stoop labour in the fields and perhaps selling trinkets on the street or the beach. With the ongoing lack of education, future generations are pretty much screwed as well.

Our friend Chuck, who is from Indio, California (rather droll, don't you think? From Indio, working with the Indios? Sigh. Never mind then.), is a Rotary Person and he raised a bunch of money up north and brought it down here for specific humanitarian projects. He has formed a Melaque Rotary chapter, which is composed entirely of snowbirds. There is another Rotary Chapter in Barra de Navidad, and while I haven't personally met them I have been told that they are essentially demons from the pits of hell. In other words, the clubs aren't getting along really well. Kelly and Cheryl are completely disgusted with both sides, and just work independantly. In addition there is Doctor Rosa, a local physician who has taken a personal interest in one group of Indios in a nearby community; her and her husband are running what is essentially a mission for them including a school, kitchens, washrooms and showers, laundry facilities, and a few residences. She is a saint, and works with anyone who has money and time to spare. Overall it's a pretty complicated situation, but things are getting done.

Of the men living at our villa, four of us (Howard, Bob, Joe, and myself) are operating as hired guns available to the lowest bidder, which has so far turned out to mean we work for free. Everyone of course has some level of skills from our previous lives, so as a group we're a pretty handy bunch. The project for the past couple weeks has been putting a sewer system into a 10-room school in the nearby community of El Ranchito. Notice I don't say "putting a NEW sewer system....". This school is getting pretty long in the tooth, it definitely needs a lot of TLC, and it will be a LONG time before the government gets around to doing anything about it as Indios are at the bottom of the food chain here. So, Chuck has $3800 from Rotary to 'invest' in the property, there is an expectation of volunteer labour from the locals, and us old guys are the Rented Mules.

Once we determine where the trenches need to go, and the volunteers dig the trenches, this should be a 1-2 day job. In Mexico, that means it's gonna take about a month. First you show them where to dig the trenches and go away for a couple days. Then you come back and find out that they've dug half of them in the wrong place, so you instruct them to do it properly and go away for a couple days. Then there is a big rainstorm and the trenches are pretty much all filled in. Then everything appears to be ready to go, and there is a frenzy of pipe cutting and laying until you get around to the back side of the school and you find out that all the tree roots crossing the trenches have not been cut as the guy digging the trench felt bad about hurting the trees. So you instruct them to cut the fracking roots off and go away for a few days. Then you come back and all the pipe is locked into a schoolroom and the only guy with the key is in Manzanillo for the day, so you go away for a few days. And eventually all the stars align and you get all the pipe in the ground. This is not a comedy of errors, this is pretty much business as usual and you just have to adjust to it or you'll get an aneurism.

Joe and Howard engaged in precision work.

Lots of existing stuff to work around and under!

This puppy goes straight down 8' and under a retaining wall

Bob basking in the afterglow of a job well done

We had a lot of fun doing it, I only pulled one muscle in my back, Bob recovered from heat stroke quite quickly, lots of beer was drunk, and the school now has a proper sewer system tied into the municipal system, with 400 feet of new pipe and cleanouts and everything!

So what did Chuck get for his $3800? We figured that the complete cost for the new sewer system was $400. In addition, a number of roofs were repaired or refurbished (a big deal when they are made out of tile or concrete), the school was repainted inside and out, the washrooms were completely redone, and showers were added as most of the children have no opportunity to take showers at home. Not bad for under four grand!