This week, Chapala Sunrise Rotary Club had the pleasure of hosting the Richmond Sunrise Rotary (British Columbia, Canada) and the South San Francisco Rotary clubs.
These two groups donate money to Sunrise Rotary’s latest Global Grant project: a wetland sanitation installation in the village of Ojo de Agua, just east of Mezcala.
This is Sunrise Rotary’s second major project in Ojo de Agua, the first being a well and the delivery of potable water to all the homes in the village.
In a needs assessment, villagers prioritized potable water and then sanitation, so Sunrise members are thrilled to be completing the wish list.
Originally sewage ran in an open ditch from the edge of the village down to Lake Chapala.
There are many moving parts and contributors to this project. The government of Poncitlan has donated pipes to bring sewage to the project site, and will also lend heavy machinery and operators, while the Asociación Intermunicipal para la Protección del Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable del Lago de Chapala (Aipromades) has conducted a needs assessment with the villagers and will be helping Sunrise Rotary with purchasing and accounting. During construction of the project, the Centro de Investigación y Acción Educativa Social (CIASES) will employ villagers — a second benefit to the village.
This is indeed a project of cooperation: the governments of Poncitlan, Mezcala and Ojo de Agua, with Aipromades and CIASES and three Rotary Clubs: one each from Mexico, Canada and the United States. This is how Rotary works.