DATE CHANGE!!

Okay so it was just brought to my attention that Monday the 18th is MLK day. That means that some of you will have the day off and I don't want to make you go to a meeting on a day off, so lets change the date. (sorry, I just never get those days off so I forget when they are!). So let's do Monday the 11th. I know that brings up the meeting a week, but this will also give us more time to figure out any questions that come from this meeting.

So lets do 7pm still.

thanks,

Ashley

Nicaragua Construction Meeting

Hi all,

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and will be ready to gear up for the next two months of preparation for our trip to Nicaragua in the end of February/beginning of March. It is coming so quickly!!

I would like to have a meeting on Monday January 18th at 7pm at the Fremont Service Center. This meeting will cover the budget for the project as well as the construction portion of the project. If you are traveling to Nicaragua with us, have construction experience, have managerial experience, or are just interested in participating in the ongoing preparation for the trip, please try to attend this meeting! I am setting it a few weeks out so that everyone has time to think about the aspects involved in the implementation of this project. I will be addressing the team leads below depending on what part of the project we are discussing, but if you have any input on any of these topics, please feel free to contact me, the team leads, or bring your suggestions to the meeting. Please come prepared to discuss the following topics:

Budget
-we will discuss the budget that I will have created
-talk about any extra expenses that might come up
-decide on a reasonable "fluff" amount to be added in in case of emergencies, etc.
-more detailed budgeting of rain catchment materials
-discuss reasonable budgeting for irrigation side with knowledge of agronomist progress/Agros funding

Construction Safety
- We will go over the construction health and safety plan and talk about the importance of construction safety.

Availability of Construction Materials
- Rain Catchment - Kari, we already have a working list of necessary items and I think that we know that most of these are available in Nicaragua, but lets make sure by confirming with the agronomists

Constructability of project
- Irrigation - Erin, it would be good if we could coordinate another skype call with the agronomists in Nicaragua before this meeting so that we have a better idea of where they are on the pump installation/irrigation side of the project and therefore know what will be required of our time when we arrive.
- Rain Catchment - I would like to discuss the best conditions for the placement of the tanks so that we are all aware of what to look for at site. I would also like to discuss how we will be attaching the gutters to the hacienda roof and the best engineering practices associated with that work.

Construction Schedule
- Irrigation and pumping - I have a feeling that this will be a bit hard to gauge if we don't know the exact progress on this side of the project, but we need to discuss possibilities.
- Rain Catchment - I think we can put a reasonable schedule together for this portion of the project.

Troubleshooting
-It will be a good idea to put together a list of troubleshooting ideas for the pump/irrigation & the rain catchment system.
-Please come to the meeting with materials that you think we should carry with us to Nicaragua that could help us in the troubleshooting process ( i.e. pump manual, pump report for reference, rice university rain catchment report, other rain catchment documentation, possible contacts in Nicaragua that are relevant to these projects?)

Wish List
- If by chance we get ahead of schedule on the project and finish early, or if we finish within our time alotted (we will be allowing a couple of fluff days), we will have some time to do other assessment work or visit other communities in Nicaragua. We should make a list of these and prioritize so that we use our time most wisely.

Okay, so as you can see we have a few important but likely fairly straightforward topics to discuss in anticipation to our arrival in Nicaragua. Just as a note, this meeting is different from those being held by Juan Lara, which I am sure he will be sending out emails for shortly so that he can have help on the health education and o&m manuals for the project.

Hope to see you all on the 18th!!

Have a wonderful New Year!

Ashley

NEW LOCATION FOR TUESDAY MEETNG

Hi All,

Meeting location has changed for Tuesday November 3rd. We will be meeting at the Ballard Neighborhood service center now. Here is the address: 5604 22nd Ave NW Seattle, WA. Please be on time at 7pm as the meeting will only be able to last until 8pm!

Thanks,

Ashley

Construction Preparation Kick off Meeting

Hello everyone!

I am excited to announce our kick off meeting for the construction preparation phase of our project. It will take place at 7:00pm on Tuesday November 3rd at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl ) The design is basically planned out, but there are many things that need to be done to make this project a success.

We will have a few separate groups involved in this project process. You may decide to be in one of the groups or help out with 2 or 3, but wherever you would like to help, we would be happy to have it. Here are the groups and the tasks to be accomplished by each.

Irrigation Construction group (led by Erin Jenkins and Lolly Kunkler)
-build a list of materials for construction
-discuss safety measures, personal protective equipment, and best practices
-work with the education team to develop manuals for this portion of the project
-make a list of project team roles for the community members

Rain Water Catchment Construction Group (Led by Kari Vigerstol with help from Ashley Giesa)
-build a list of materials for construction
-discuss safety measures, personal protective equipment, and best practices
-work with the education team to develop manuals for this portion of the project
-make a list of project team roles for the community members

Health and Education Team (headed by Juan Lara)
-determine the health and education materials most needed by the community
-help the project teams to create manuals
-help with translations of materials
-produce materials to be used to teach the community about their new systems and how they can improve their lives with them.

Bridge Assessment Group (headed by Paul Moore) (this group will likely not be meeting as much, but there may be some help needed here).
-gathering materials needed for assessment

A few of the team members and I have been working very hard on the pre-implementation report for this project and are coming to a close with that. This report will be available on the EWB-PSPP website under the Nicaragua group within the next few days. Please take a moment to log on to EWB-PSPP, download the file and read through it before the meeting on Tuesday. I will also try to post all other pertinent information to the website so that you can all get up to speed on the project.

Please email me if you have any questions and I hope to see you all on Tuesday!

Ashley

PICTURES!

I have set up the majority of our pictures from the assessment trip in a photobucket account. URL = http://photobucket.com/nicaraguaassessment and the password is nica2009.

Better late than never! They are not tagged or in order as they came from three different cameras, but if you have questions about a certain photo, just ask!

Enjoy!

Ashley

September Working Meeting

Hello all,

Our next working meeting for the El Eden project is going to be Wednesday September 16th at 7pm. We will be discussing the preliminary design report as well as the budgets for the projects. This meeting will be at my apartment at 2416 Dexter Ave N. Apt C. Seattle, WA.

Our next team meeting will be Thursday September 24th at 7pm. This meeting will be at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center.

Looking forward to seeing you all and moving ahead on this project!

Ashley

August 27th Meeting Agenda

August 27th, 7pm, Fremont Neighborhood Service Center ( http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nsc/fremont.htm )

Ashley - News and Information regarding project, new "working meeting" schedule, timeline, travel dates

Caroline - Health Assessment review - what we should be aware of and how we can help (Juan - may want to start researching some of the education materials needed for this after our discussion)

Erin - pump alternatives - news and background about pump

Erich/Lolly - Irrigation Alternatives

Kari - Rain Catchment/filtration alternatives - will we be able to do both?

Looking forward to seeing you all! Things are starting to get exciting with design!

Ashley

August 19th Meeting Minutes

Erin - The pump that Agros has set aside for the El Eden community will not work with the flow conditions in the late dry season. Erin will be looking at the ideal pump possibilities from the same company since we know that the Es Casan store in Matagalpa/Managua carries that line. Ashley and Erin to have phone conversation with Mario and Laurie sometime in first week of September to make recommendations and talk about the reasons the system will not work with the current pump.

Lolly/Erin/Kari/Erich - Finishing up Alternatives Analysis reports. All will have reports to Ashley by Friday August 28th at the latest (earlier would be preferred if possible). Ashley to compile analysis reports and have them to Sustainability committee by their next meeting (usually first Monday of the month which should be the 14th with the holiday).

Kari - Going to be in charge of making decision about whether we do both the filtration and the rain catchment design for one house or just the filtration.

Ashley - Has a call in with Peter Waugh with EWB-USA who is our project manager for the project. Wants to ask questions about USA's expectations on reports, timelines, and whether rain catchment/filtration needs to be new "project." Will report when I speak with him.

Now that we have more information from the pump manufacturer, we should be able to move along with the design! Keep up the good work!

Ashley

Meeting Minutes, Meeting Announcements

Meeting Minutes July 28th Team Meeting

Paul - Checked out the bridges to prosperity site and other resources. Only kinds of bridges ever done in the third world are suspended bridges. Paul thinks it is reasonable for us to do this project ourselves - will likely be an end of 2010, early 2011 project

Lolly/Erich/Kari/Erin - working on alternatives analysis - will reconvene at next meeting to talk about alternatives and which is most feasible.

Ashley - met with Laurie.
-Found out we don't need to send someone in October
-Discussed possible ways to work with surrounding community (Laurie said that
Agros has worked with the community in the past as well doing reforestation and
a project at the nearby school)
-Discussed options for project financing between ourselves and Agros
-talked about travel time being either early February or early March
-scheduled conference call with Laurie/Me/Mario (Agros Nica) on August 11th


Meeting Announcements

We will be having a working meeting on Wednesday August 19th, place TBA. This meeting will involve discussing and deciding on the alternatives analysis as well as any questions regarding the prelim report material.

The next meeting after that will be Thursday August 27th. We will be discussing the health assessment, the choices of the alternatives analysis, and next steps for the project.

Thanks,

Ashley

Meeting Reminder for Wednesday July 29

Hey all,

Just a reminder that we will still be meeting on Wednesday July 29 at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center. Here is the informational link again: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nsc/fremont.htm

Agenda is still the same as below.

We will be deciding on the design for these three projects as well as deciding on whether or not to do the bridge project ourselves or to pass it on to another NGO. It would be great to see all of you there!

Ashley

NEXT MEETING WEDNESDAY JULY 29

Our next meeting will be held on July 29 at 7pm at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center. I will provide directions again for the meeting place when it gets closer to the date.

Tentative agenda is as follows:

Health Assessment Overview - Caroline, travel team (25 min)
Pumping Alternatives Analysis - Erin and team (20 min)
Irrigation Alternatives Analysis - Erich and Lolly and team (20 min)
Water Resources Alternatives Analysis - Kari and team (20 min)
Bridge Feasibility study - Paul (15 min)
Finances/fundraising - Ashley (10 min)

Those times of course are adjustable if you don't need that much time. Let me know where I can help those of you who are working on the alternatives analysis. Also - if you are interested in helping on one of the teams and don't have the contact of the team lead, let me know and I will hook you up with the proper email information.

Things are really starting to ramp up so please try to take part in one of the sub-projects!

Thanks,

Ashley

Meeting Place confirmed

We are good to go to meet at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center. Street parking is pretty much all that will be available.

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nsc/fremont.htm

Here is the website that also has a map. See you all at 7pm on Wednesday!

Thanks,

Ashley

Meeting Agenda for June 24th

Hello all,

We will tentatively be meeting at the Fremont Neighborhood Service Center (908 N. 34th Seattle, WA 98103) at 7pm. I have not received full confirmation from the center. If the place changes, I will let you know asap.

We are going to be doing a little team maintenance as well as launching our project design sequences for this meeting. There is much to do and plenty of work to go around. Please come having read the post assessment report and with an idea of how you wish to contribute to the project!

Here is the agenda:

Project team roles and definitions
Fulfilling new project roles
Timeline for design process
Research topics and assignments
Expected progress for next month's meeting

Thanks and I hope to see you all there!

Ashley

Who wants to help??!!

Hello all,

I have been getting a lot of requests for information from everyone that was unable to make it to the meeting last Tuesday. I know you all are anxious to get started on this new information that we have gathered from our trip, so I thought I would give you all an opportunity to get started. If you are interested in any of the following projects and helping to research possible materials and costs associated with the implementation of them, please LEAVE A COMMENT IN THIS POST. That way, I can keep all of these requests in the same area.

So the projects we need to research, besides the irrigation and pumping project, are:
1. Cable stay/suspension pedestrian bridges
2. Rainwater catchments for houses, rainwater storage as an add to the irrigation project, and other rainwater conservation efforts
3. Water filtering for potable water - either at the source where there is a springbox and storage container, or at each individual casa
4. Organic farming techniques, terracing, other efficient farming practices including water efficiency, storage of crops, etc.
5. Coffee processing stations including depulping and sweetwater processing.

These are just ideas that we have gotten from Agros and the community of what might be some appropriate projects for El Eden. If you are interested in researching one of these projects, please let me know in the comments, and I will make sure that we get you what information we have on the subject.

Also, I need to know which date works best for people to come to the next meeting. The two that I have chosen are Thursday June 18th or Wednesday June 24th. I plan to have the post assessment report up on the EWB-PSPP website in the next week or so. I will send out an email when I post it so that you can all download it and read it before the next meeting. It is very important that you read the report before the meeting so that we don't spend too much time re-explaining the trip. Juan is also working on translating the health assessment and when he is finished, I will also be posting that information on the website.

At this next meeting, we will be discussing the results of the health assessment and what they mean for our project, as well as assigning new tasks, regrouping on the irrigation project, and talking about fundraising. Please come prepared!

So again, please COMMENT HERE ON THE BLOG if you have a preference in meeting date, and if you are interested in helping out with some of the research on the other project possibilities.

Thanks so much and looking forward to meeting with you all again in June!

Thanks,

Ashley

Team Meeting Agenda for 5/19/09

Hi all,

We will be meeting at Kari's house in Fremont on Tuesday for our meeting. Her address is 3635 Fremont Ave, Unit 206. There are two visitor's spots and then parking along Fremont Avenue.

Here is the agenda for our meeting! This will be an important meeting to make if you can because it will be full of information from our recent assessment trip.

Agenda:

Ashley/Erin/Kari
- Present slide show while explaining how the data taking process of the trip went
- Give thoughts on working with Agros/community of El Eden

All
-Questions/comments!

Ashley
Next Steps:
-Talk about priorities for our next trip and the possible dates.
-Talk about the new groups that will need to be formed in our team
-Next meeting time/place


Now here are a few pictures to keep you excited!


Some Preschool kids at San Jose spying on us


Some homes at El Eden


A few community members at the spring in El Eden


Francis, the woman at the community who made our meals while we stayed there, and her daughter Ashley.


Chiles!


Doing some water testing


Community members gathering for our meeting


The ZM76 pump as installed at San Jose


The Agros Nicaragua team, Jessica (our translator) and the EWB-PSPP team

NEXT MEETING TUESDAY MAY 19

I have decided to push back the meeting for a little while. We need to pull together our notes and such before we have a meeting on the assessment trip. Since I didn't really receive any input on days that people preferred, we are going to go ahead with Tuesday May 19. We will not necessarily meet every two weeks anymore, but will likely have more discussions over the blog and emails and have a reporting meeting at least once a month. We will go over that scheduling a bit at the May 19th meeting.

Just an FYI, this meeting will likely be a little longer than normal (no more than 2 hours), but should be very informative for those of you itching to find out what happened on our trip.

Look forward to seeing some videos and pictures, hearing about the community and Agros Nicaragua and the opportunities we think we will have with them, learning about some fundraisers that we are thinking about putting on, and helping to develop other sub groups and committees for the project.

I will post an agenda sometime next week.

Hands on Irrigation Opportunity!

Hey Everyone,
I wanted to let everyone know that the Interbay P-Patch is going to be doing some renovations to its drip irrigation system this year and there is the opportunity for people from our team to gain some hands on construction experience as well as provide valuable support to a great local organization. For the proposed work I have taken the lead on putting together designs, material list, and cost estimates, but I would be very grateful to have the help of some of our engineers with the actual construction work.

In two weeks we will be replacing one of the drip systems for a part of the P-Patch that grows vegetable solely to be donated to the local foodbank. The current irrigation system is a tangle of above ground lines that typically break during the freeze-thaw cycle of the winter and need constant repair and replacement. My proposal is to put the majority of this system underground, and install several above ground facets to connect to removable drip lines. The entire scope involves about 20 feet of 1” PVC pipe being put underground, the assembly of the facet risers, and the trenching and backfilling of the lines.

Although it’s a much smaller scale system than the El Eden improvements, the materials, and construction techniques will be very similar and this could be an invaluable experience for the members of the team who will be participating in the implementation portion of the trip as well as being involved in the design. I have arranged with the P-Patch to begin construction on Saturday May 9th, and if you can to help out or be involved in any way, please let me know.

I think an early start, would be good. Let’s plan on meeting at 9 am.

the P-Patch is located on 15th Ave W, just south of the Interbay Golf Course. The address is:2501 15th Ave West.

Here’s some nice background information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbay_P-Patch
http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/locations/11.htm

See you all there!


Erich Ellis

Back from Assessment

Hello all!

We are back from our assessment trip in El Eden! Over all it was a really great experience, especially with the community members and the Agros team down in Nicaragua. It was very impressive how involved Agros is in the communities that they are helping to create. I am confident that they will be an exceptional partner! We are looking forward to sitting down with all of you and sharing all of the pictures, results, and experiences of our trip. We have a lot of new information and will likely be forming some new groups besides just our water and energy groups!

As I did not receive any comments about meeting change, I will probably just decide on a new day of the week to meet. We will try to keep the meeting time at 7 since that seems to work out for everyone. I am leaning toward either a Tuesday or Thursday night meeting. If you have any strong preferences, speak up and I will do what I can to weigh the decision.

I will post here sometime this week about our next meeting time. It will probably not be for another week or two so that we have time to go over our notes, collect our thoughts, and maybe even create a little slide show of our photos for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks!

Ashley

Assessment Trip Timeline

• Thursday April 16^th
• Kari and Ashley depart U.S. at 8:15 A.M.
• arrive in Managua at 8:05pm
• Shuttle from Managua Airport to hotel
• Spend night at Hostal San Agustin
• Friday April 17^th
• Meet with Agros personnel (8AM pickup at San Agustin) (Erin to meet at San Agustin in the morning)
• Meet with architecture and agronomy students from UCA (Catholic University)
• Shopping for on site materials (posterboard, tubing, etc)
• Stay in Managua for night at the Hostal San Agustin.
• Saturday April 18^th
• Rent Vehicle at Dollar Rent a Car
• Visit San Marcos (community south of Managua) with Agros staff.
• Travel to FEV/El Eden
• Stay at FEV just north of community.
• Sunday April 19^th
• EWB Team Meeting at FEV in the morning.
• Go to El Eden community in the afternoon.
• Meet with Community Board to discuss expectations, etc.
• Camp at El Eden.
• Monday April 20^th
• Presentation/meeting with full community
• Work on El Eden site (Soil tests, water quality tests, survey land, start flow/head tests).
• Camp at El Eden
• Tuesday April 21^st
• Work on El Eden site. (finish flow/head tests and land surveying)
• Camp at El Eden
• Wednesday April 22^nd
• Travel to Matagalpa.
• Spend day checking on supplies, materials, prices, etc.
• Stay in Matagalpa.
• Thursday April 23^rd –
• Travel back to El Eden.
• Work on El Eden site. (finish up any odds and ends)
• Travel to San Jose?
• Stay at FEV.
• Friday April 24^th –
• Visit community one last time to say thank you, tell them when they can expect to hear from us, etc.
• Visit San Jose?
• Travel back to Managua mid-day.
• Stay in Managua
• Saturday April 25^th –
• Fly out of Managua at 12:10pm
• Arrive in U.S. at 8pm

Assessment Launch

Hello All,
I know that it has been quiet on the blog for awhile now! Those of us on the travel team have been busy getting ready for our departure. I think we are all set now that I have picked up the GPS unit and pea shooter from the Bolivia team. We are going to try to get as concise GPS points as possible so that we can map out the area for everyone to get a better picture of where everything is on the property. Hopefully it will work out! Of course, we will also be taking lots of pictures so that you will all see what we did.

FYI - my annual softball season through my work starts when I return and the games are on Monday nights. I was thinking that we would change the meeting nights to either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. If you have a second, post a comment letting me know which of those days works best or worst for you and I will try to accomodate as many people as possible! We will likely be furiously working away on the post assessment for a couple of weeks after the trip, but I will try to schedule a meeting around the second or third week of May so that we can all re-group. I am sure we will be posting on the blog before that though, so keep your eyes open!

I am waiting to hear from Laurie at Agros for a few last minute details, but when I have the finished rough schedule, I will post it before we leave so you can all have an idea what we will be doing in country if you haven't been to meetings lately.

Looking forward to getting down to the site and getting some concrete information so that we can move forward with our design! Also looking forward to working with all of you again when we return!

Adios!
Ashley

Pumping/Energy Assessment Checklist

If anyone wants to look over the checklist pumping/energy team developed, I just uploaded it to the EWB-PSP web site. It may not be pretty, but it should work.

I believe you can find it here once logged in:

http://www.ewb-pugetsound.org/?q=webfm#
hint: look in the Nicaragua folder

Also, does anyone out there have access to a 100ft tape measure that we could borrow? Bonus points if it also has meters on it. Double bonus points if you can deliver.

Thanks,
Erin

Item list for trip

We are trying to put together a list of items that we need for our trip and who is going to be bringing them. Let us know if you can contribute by commenting! I will check the comments and edit the post as necessary. Also, feel free to make suggestions as well.

Items in bold are the ones that are still needed.

Camping/health
Tent - Ashley
Sleeping bags (3) - Erin(1), Ashley(1), Kari(1)
Sleeping pads(3) - Erin(2), Kari(1)
headlamps (3) - Erin(1), Ashley(1), Kari(1)
small lantern-Ashley
cookstove-Erin possibly
Pot, utensils, cups, bowls-Erin
Water filter with Pump and UV-Erin(pump), Amelia(UV)
Iodine tablets-Kari
Water Bottles (3)-Erin(1), Ashley(1), Kari(1)
First Aid Kit - Caroline
Mosquito nets/tents for the hotels(3)-Ashley(1), Kari(1)

Water Quality Test Kit
Sample bottles - Paul Moore and MDE
Written note from lab/EWB -Kari?

Soil Test Kit
Jars- in country

Flow/Head Measurement Kit
Small Tape Measures(3) -Ashley(1)
String-Erin
Floats(rubber duckys, boats, etc)-purchase
Carpenter's level- Ashley possibly
100 FT Tape measure-
Timer- Erin
Surveyor's tape-
Slope/Angle Measurement tool-

Energy Kit
Voltage Meter-Ashley(compliments of McDonald Miller:)
Multi-headed screwdriver - Ashley
Good pair of Gloves(2 or 3)-Ashley(1)

Documenting supplies
Calculators (2)- Ashley(1), Erin(1)
Pencils-
Graph Paper- Erin, Paul
Sharpie Markers- Paul
Laser Pointer-
Cameras-Erin(1), Ashley(1)

Team Meeting Agenda for 3/30/09

Meeting will be at Erin's house again.

856 NW 60th St.
Seattle, 98107

Agenda:

Ashley
- updates to project
-check on action items from last week's meeting

Attendees to Sunday's field testing
- results, thoughts, etc.

Lolly
-water task and supply checklist - should be posted to EWB-PSP or the blog by Monday's meeting, but just give a quick overview

Erin
-pumping task and supply checklist- should be posted to EWB-PSP or the blog by Monday's meeting, but just give a quick overview

Working Group Discussion
We mainly need to have a discussion about how to present materials to the community, how to be thorough in our findings, etc. Erin has been asking for this as well and I think it is good to go in with some ideas so that we are not flustered and throwing things together.
-how to discuss our intentions/expectations with the community
-what to say
-how to make sure we are getting input from all parts of the community, not just a select few
-what we need to document as far as results, concerns, etc
-extra things to pay attention to...

Ashley
-talk about a possible meeting for next monday just to be sure we are ready to go

energy/pumping team meeting canceled 3/29/09

Hi everyone,

The energy/pumping meeting for this Thursday, March 26th is canceled (diverted is a better word).

Instead, please consider attending a field day on Sunday March 29th at 9am at Matthews Beach in Seattle. We will meet at the very central and easy to spot bathroom/lifeguard building. Population at the park should be low this weekend so I doubt you'd have trouble finding the group.

We are estimating that this event will last approximately 3-4 hours if one stayed for the duration. It should be interesting to look at practice rather than just theory of some of the things we have been discussing (but hopefully not TOO interesting!).

Matthews Beach Map link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=matthews+beach+seattle&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF8&split=0&gl=us&ei=auPKSfvBF5HItQPkm4W8Cg&t=h&z=14

I will lead a practice session of measuring stream flow rate and head (elevation change) of a slope. The water team will be testing water quality and evaluating soil types. There should be opportunity to observe and/or participate in all of these as we are trying not to overlap them.

Pardon the late notice on the cancellation of Thursday's meeting. My how time flies.

Thanks,
Erin

Team Meeting Minutes From 3/16/09

Ashley-Project Updates

• Updates available on the blog
• Documents now posted on EWB-PSP
  
• EWB-PSP is now streaming the blog as well

Amelia-Projects/Sustainability Meeting

• EWB-USA closing new program applications for chapters that already have programs
• Tanzania, Nicaragua, Susadel, and Ethiopia are all open programs for EWB-PSP
• Action Item: Amelia will post her project status production on the blog/EWB-PSP
• Action Item: Ashley needs to tell Will about the Agros staff involvement with the team in Nicaragua

Caroline-Health Assessment Update

• Summarized final documents for health assessment - posted on EWB-PSP
• Documents sent to Laurie and Mario (Nicaragua Agros Director)
• Action Item: Caroline to set a meeting time with the three travelers to discuss travel health forms, etc
• Action Item: Ashley to talk to Tanzania team about first aid kit
  

Lolly/Erich-Water Update

• Task and materials lists developing
• March 29 for soil/water quality testing
• Action Item: Lolly to talk to Carmen Cejudo about logo
• Action Item: Kari to check on a possibility of stream gauge testing and a letter from either EWB or a lab to bring back water samples from Nicaragua
• Action Item: Lolly/Erich/team to finish up materials and task lists and to post on blog
  

Erin-Energy/Pumping Update

• Task and materials lists developing
• Might coincide metering and hydro testing with soil and water quality testing
• Next energy/pumping meeting Thursday March 26th 7pm
• Action Item: Erin/team to finalize task and materials lists and post on blog.
  

Ashley - Travel items/fundraising

• Action Item: Ashley to make a list of travel items and post on the blog so everyone can comment and say what they might be willing to contribute to the team
• Fundraising is going to become a bigger part of our group when we get back from assessment- looking for someone to take this on...

Next Team Meeting: March 30, 2009

Nicaragua Team Meeting Agenda March 16, 2009

We will be meeting at a new location! We will be having our meeting at the Fremont Dock. It is located here: http://www.fremontdock.com/map.htm.
- there is a small parking lot and if that is full there should be street parking.

There is a lot to cover at this meeting, so I am hoping that we all come to the meeting prepared for concise, informative de-breifings.:) Looking forward to meeting with you all on Monday!

Agenda:

Ashley

• Project Status Update
• Blog/EWB-PSP website intertwining

Amelia -

• News from Projects/Sustainabilty meeting?
• Project layout graphic for present and future use
  

Caroline -

• Summary of final documents for health assessment.
  
• Sent to Laurie and Nicaraguan Agros staff.

Lolly/Erich -

• Report status of task and materials list
• Talk about soil/water testing date
  
• Next meeting?

Erin -

• Report status of task and materials list
• Talk about possible metering and hydro testing date
  
• Next meeting?

Ashley -

• Travel item list - do you have anything the travel team can borrow?
• Fundraising opportunities - Cameras (Erin), restaurant (Erin), liason for end of year EWB fundraiser, EWB-PSP Nicaragua Pub crawl?, etc. - keep the ideas coming!
• Next Meeting, last meeting before trip - all lists to be finalized. (March 30, 2009)
  

Answers to questions for Agros

Here are the answers we received for the questions that we sent to Laurie and Mario at the Seattle and Managua Agros offices respecitively:

PUMPING

1. What is the name of the Brazilian water pump that you were telling us about? We can't seem to track it down just by searching for it online; is there any way to get information on it?

The pump is an Ariete ZM, Brazilian technology.

2. Where was said pump installed? Was it in one of your villages? Which one? Do you have data on how it is working?

It’s installed and working well in San José. It is propelling the water a total distance of 2km (3.2 mi) from where it is installed in the river. It is also important to note that it is also being used to irrigate crops along its 2 km route.

IRRIGATION

3. Does Agros have any documents describing the farming techniques they promote?

There is an irrigation instruction manual that is accessible to the whole community but there isn’t a manual about agricultural techniques.

4. What acreage/square footage is intended for development of agriculture?

There is a capacity to irrigate 5 mz (8.6 acres), but this would be through drip irrigation.

5. Will this entire site require irrigation from EWB?

Yes.

6. What is the topography of the areas requiring irrigation? Benched? Sloped? Flat? Terraced? Steep?

The topography varies from 10 to 30% incline.

7. Is the crop rotation/harvest cycle known at this time? What is it?

At the moment we are using it to for Tabasco chili peppers in the community, and from December-April the land is used for growing different types of vegetables.

8. Does the village presently have flooding issues?

There are no flooding issues.

9. Is there any data on soil type?

The soil is clay loam.

10. How are the acres we are going to irrigate currently being used? What is the desire in the future- crop types, etc.?

Currently, the acres we hope to irrigate with help from EWB are only cultivatable during the rainy season. It sits unused the rest of the year (or just for corn and beans). With irrigation we hope to grow different vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, squash, and others.

11. Also, do you know if anyone in Agros or a nearby university has rain gauges and data regarding rain fall for the area that El Eden is in?

Only INETER (Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales) or possibly the Mayor’s office in San Ramón has this information.

Documents Available on EWB-PSP Website!

The following documents are now posted on the EWB-PSP website in the Projects; Nicaragua area (http://www.ewb-pugetsound.org/?q=projects/nicaragua)

• 501 New Program Application (Approved)
  
• 507A&B Project Design Compendium (Site Assessment Pre-paperwork) (Approved)
  
• Health Assessment Final Document (Translated to Spanish by Juan Lara and sent to Laurie Werner of Agros to send down to the El Eden community)
  

Project Status Update 03-10-09

• Received travel approval letter from EWB-USA - all hoops are now cleared! - Travel team to depart April 16
• Received answers to questions about community from Laurie Werner and Mario at Agros
• Team leads working on perfecting task and material lists
• Health assessment being translated by Juan Lara - to be sent to Agros/El Eden in the next couple of days
• Great work team! We are really on our way!
  

Soil Website and Field Testing Schedule

Irrigation Team!

Here's the address of the soils testing site that I keep promising to send:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/FI/CDrom/FAO_Training/FAO_Training/General/x6706e/x6706e06.htm
The trick is to open the ftp.fao.org site and then click through the folders as shown in the address..the link does not appear to work directly.
Also you should have all received the excel file of site assessment tasks/tools. Cleary, this document is a work in progress, but I think it may help us work through the site assessment trip goals AND how we will reasonably achieve them. In addition, they can be used to add to the mind map created by Erin.
I will continue working on the doc, go ahead and make your edits as well, we can merge them all before next week's meeting. At that time we can presen the doc to the team and hammer out more/or less details as necessary. We don't want it to be wordy, but we want it to be clear.

How does Sunday March 29th suit everyone for a field testing date? 10:00 at Evans pool on Greenlake? It's a little farther down the road, but it seems the only time that most people are available. Kari, can you get a water kit before then?

Shoot me an email if you have any questions!
Lolly

Health Assessment Meeting Minutes, March 1

In attendance: Erin, Ashley, Allan, and Caroline

During this meeting, we worked on the initial health assessment survey which was originally submitted by Caroline. Going through the survey question by question, we added clarifications where needed and added/ deleted questions as appropriate. We decided some questions were better answered by the census and/or Ernesto and decided to separate those questions out from the general survey.

We also discussed the letter which would be given to Ernesto to help explain the logistics of the survey process.

Ashley will take this draft of the survey and format it as appropriate. She will also write an initial draft of the letter to Ernesto. She plans to forward both of these documents to the above mentioned members as well as Juan (as he has been involved with the health assessment). They will have until Saturday to add comments or corrections and then the documents will be forwarded to Juan for translation. The final documents will be sent to Laurie on Wednesday morning (March 11th) for review and to give to Ernesto. Ashley also plans to put the documents on the blog for everyone to view prior to our next general meeting.

Energy/Pumping Meeting Minutes, February 26

In attendance: Erin Jenkins, Goldah Moore, Ashley Giesa

Topics of discussion:

- Goldah presented her continuing research on two pumping system types – grid-tied conventional pump, and a pump powered by a dedicated solar module. She handed over packets of materials for each type including sizing criteria and price estimates from colleagues in the US. We discussed three possible methods of obtaining either of these systems: importing from the US, purchasing through a Central American dealer, or looking for similar substitutes readily available in Nicaragua while on the assessment trip.

- We discussed that another option to add to the pump types is in fact not a pump, but exploring the possibility of a gravity fed system by looking at any water sources above the land to be irrigated.

- Erin presented the mind-map she has been working on for the assessment trip and everyone contributed to its development.

Action Items:

- Goldah will continue to expand the information she has gathered to include supply lists for checking availability and pricing of components during assessment trip.

- Erin will attempt to catch up with Goldah on research of other possible pumping stategies (non-electric, and combining with a future micro-hydro system).

- Erin will thoroughly read the information packet presented by Goldah.

- Erin will add items to mind map that were discussed as well as following out other bullets to their end. Hopefully these culminate in questions that need to be answered before or during the assessment trip. Deliverable is deligatable action items for many more people the next meeting.

- Someone PLEASE come up with a good name for this subcommittee!

Next meeting:

-March 12

-7 pm

-856 NW 60^th St. Seattle, 98107

-Corner of 9^th and 60^th in Ballard

-Enter through back door.

Irrigation/Water Resources Meeting Wednesday February 18th

• Erich reviewed documentation for evaporations calcs
• Kari will be able to perform evap calcs (this wil not be necessary prior to assessment trip)
• Lolly introduced field soil test that can be used
• Lolly to forward soil test website to irrigation team
• Lolly to review with Kari applicable soil tests for irrigation project
• Team to construct/provide necessary testing equipment to Kari for soil investigation during site assessment trip. some materials may be available in matagalpa
• Kari to investigate possible pH testing, Lolly lives by brew shop, can get pH strips if necessary
• Erich has a lot of experience with drip irrigation installation, will inform of opportunities to do pea patch vist
• Irrigation team to compile questions for Laurie
• Ashley will forward questions to Laurie
• Assessment team to do a bacteria test of the drinking water. Seattle U has a really easy procedure. we need to get the bacteria strips and bring a Pringles can (or similar) with us (or purchase there)
• Assessment team to do a visual survey of possible contaminants to the drinking water and / or irrigation water.
• Assessment team to do the health survey to tell us whether the water is causing any health problems.
• Assessment team to bring water samples from both the drinking water and irrigation water back with us for testing in the U.S. -- we need to figure out containers for this and get a letter either from our chapter (on some sort of letterhead) or from a lab here saying why we have water samples in our luggage. other chapters have done this, should be no problem.
• Next Water Meeting to be announced soon.

Fundraising opportunity?

I am excited about the following and found it to be a very interesting potential fundraiser so I thought I would share…

A professor and the advisor for EWB at Michigan Tech University (my alma mater) started a project called Kidsview (http://www.kidsview.org). The idea being to get cameras into the hands of children to see the world from their point of view. He has mostly used EWB-MTU as the method of distributing the cameras to interesting locations. The cameras are sponsored by donors at various rates ($20-50) based on what the donor would like in return-- see the web site for details.

I just exchanged emails with Kidsview about how we might coordinate to create a fundraising opportunity for EWB-PSP while still supporting his project and not just stealing the idea. His response was that we could certainly work something out where our chapter received the majority of the funds raised. Of course the photos would be ours to use for further fundraising opportunities. I can envision Christmas cards or just prints if some turn out really spectacular.

Of course we could wait and do this with the implementation trip, but not only would that be after the fall fundraiser, we all know patience may be a virtue but is no fun at all. So… to do this on the assessment trip we could either try to get people to sponsor cameras in the next month (okay maybe a little crazy with everything else) or just buy a bunch of cameras on our own and work out the details later.

Kidsview is sending me more detailed information soon on how he normally deploys cameras- he is prepping for a Bolivia trip with EWB-MTU right now as well.

Erin

Mind Map for Assessment Trip

Erin recently created this mind map to help get organized for the assessment trip. If you click on it you can actually read it. Feedback strongly encouraged...

Minutes from February 23rd Meeting

In Attendance: Ashley, Erin, Erich, Amelia, Bryan, Juan, Kathleen, Andrea, Rebecca (let me know if I missed anyone)

Ashley Giesa
Updates to project:

• 501 application approved for irrigation, but not for micro-hydro
  
• spoke with EC regarding funding - they will be coming up with a chapter wide funding program for professionals wishing to travel that will involve some kind of monetary contribution from the professional
• Travel team ordered plane tickets and some accommodations for April assessment trip
• Ashley spoke with Diana Underhill and an EWB project manager and attended a webinar explaining next steps for project
  
• Erin, Kari and Ashley to speak with EWB-USA project Manager on Monday March 2 to discuss pre-assessment paperwork
• Kari and Ashley to meet with Phil Thompson of the SU Nicaragua team on Monday 3/2
  

Erich Ellis
Updates to Water Resource group:

• Had a meeting on Wednesday February 18th (Attendance: Ashley, Erich, Kari, Lolly)
• Discussion of soil sampling-Lolly found some good information pertaining to types of soil sampling and what is needed for each application - need to schedule a day to teach sampling
• Erich putting together materials list
• Lolly to put together a list of tasks for the travel team

Erin Jenkins
Energy Team/Water pumping team update:

• Project role change- to focus on the information needed for getting the water supply for the irrigation system
• Still looking into possibility of coupling the two systems and creating the irrigation system with the possibility of future expansion for micro-hydro
• Next energy meeting scheduled for 2/26/09

Caroline Broadbent
Health Assessment Update

• Caroline reviewed the health assessment that she came up with for the group.
• Many concerns about specific language or questions needing more clarification.
• Juan to translate final draft into Spanish
• Discussed the need for the agronomist to send back the assessment to our team so that we can make sure he understands the questions
• Meeting on Sunday 3/1 to discuss health assessment in full
• Still planning on finalizing health assessment within the next week.

Kathleen Prom

• Discussion about fundraising project at the end of the year
  

Next Meeting March 9, 2009.

Project Status Update

• Our 501 application has been approved by EWB-USA.
• Waiting on approval for pre-assessment paperwork.
• Travel team has purchased tickets for assessment trip from April 16-April 25.
• Working on finalizing health assessment.
• Energy/Water pumping team and Water resource/irrigation team are working to create material lists and specific tasks for travel team.
  

Introduction to the El Eden Project

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Puget Sound Professionals (PSP) Chapter was approved for a project in a small community in the mountains of Nicaragua. Three people will be traveling in mid April for a site assessment. This trip will serve to introduce EWB to the community, and get feedback on potential projects; perform a preliminary health assessment; evaluate the resources available for implementing an irrigation sysytem; and evaluate the prospects for a micro-hydro system to generate electricity in the future. The initial focus for projects in this community will be the irrigation project.

Some Background on the Community

The community of El Eden is in the mountans of Nicargua, about 4 hours north of Managua. The nearest large town is Matagalpa, with a hospital and access to most resources, is about 45 minutes away. There are two other nearby communities of San Ramon, and Yucul. The nearest clinic, shops, and school (to 3rd grade) are in Yucul. There is supposedly another school that is closer and not up an apparently incredibly steep hill, but it is across the stream we are going to investigate as the source for either possible project. During the rainy season the kids are hesitant to cross the deeper, faster moving water. Perhaps a log bridge is the most that is ever placed across the water (another potential, future project).
Here is some information about El Eden posted on the Agros site. The photo below is of the neighboring village of San Ramon- taken from the internet. We will be eager to post photos from the assesement trip as soon as possible.



Some Background on the Partner NGO
El Eden was created by Agros. Their goal is to provide opportunities for previously landless rural families to own the land they live on and farm. Agros does this by purchasing large plots of land, such as from a rancher.

Agros concurrently screens families, preferably already coalesced into some sort of organized group (often church related), for their readiness to enter into this sort of arrangement. They will buy their plots of land and communal areas back from Agros over the next 10 years. They have been there for three years now.

When everything is agreed to and the community members are fully prepared and ready, Agros moves them and their belongings onto the land and along with temporary housing kits. This kit consists of items such as wooden poles, tin for roofing and maybe some plastic sheeting. We were told that most participants in the progam are so eager for this opportunity that they would move onto the land even without this. Although clearly this is an amazing opportunity for them, it is also a daunting proposition to owe what amounts to a huge sum of money to them. This is a venture that not anyone would be ready for, but those who are sound like they are excited to get started with their new lives. In short, Agros provides them with very little other than opportunity. We were told that an Agros saying is "All Agros gives you is work, work, work."

What Agros does provide once the community is moved on site is farming instruction and counseling. They help the community move beyond subsistence farming to crops they can take to market. Agros also works as the liaison between other partnering organizations, such as EWB, connecting the community to other non-profit groups that are interested in assisting with infrastructure and other projects. For the most part though, the community itself must create almost everything in their community for themselves.