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Rainwater tanks now a familiar sight in Gracias a Dios

Two years ago, the construction of some strange ferrocement tanks next to six of the houses in Gracias a Dios was regarded with a mixture of suspicion and intrigue.  Now the members of the 21 families to benefit from the latest Nuevas Esperanzas rainwater harvesting project have an entirely different response as tanks to collect rainwater have become a familiar, and most welcome, sight in the community.

This week work was to begin on Maria Magdalena Centeno’s tank, the eighth of eighteen to be built in the highest parts of this small rural community, beyond the reach of the piped water supply to San Jacinto and its neighbouring communities.  The first step is to dig a hole and prepare the ground and when the builders employed to direct the work arrived on Monday morning they were met with a pleasant surprise.  The hole at Maria Magdalena’s house was already prepared – she and her 15 year old son had spent the whole weekend digging!  The agreement with the participants in this project is that they each work on their own tanks, providing manual labour to support the work and direction of the builders trained by Nuevas Esperanzas.  It has been wonderful to see the commitment and enthusiasm the families have shown as the work has progressed.

Construction began on the first four tanks back in July and there are now seven tanks almost complete.  Once the base and walls of the ferrocement tanks have been built, the roofs need to be put on before the tank is finally ready to be connected to the roof of the nearby house and begin the important job of collecting and storing rainwater.  Ironically the heavy rains this wet season have slowed progress at times and it is a race against time and the weather to finish the tanks and start collecting rain for the dry season before the last of the rains fall in November.

The construction of these tanks has been made possible thanks to a donation from Olive Branch Mennonite Missions.

11/10/07