Difficult Choices

This afternoon we had our meeting with COTMA to lay the groundwork for Rain on the Roof. It was a very good meeting with 6 members of COTMA, the community organization from Platon. We talked over our mutual desires and expectations about starting the roofing project. Then Paul described the data matrix he'd made that described the conditions of the roofs, the walls of the houses, the size of the cisterns, the number of neighbors who would benefit, etc. I was very glad to see two older people there including a woman my age, Madame Elisna. The group represented five different communities in the zone so we were especially pleased! MSM had identified 30 potential starter houses and Cotmas was asked to chose 5 to start with, adding any others they had particularly strong feelings about. In the end they chose 4 from the 30 we identified and then added one other. We also had them pick the next 5 so we could begin some long ranhge planning. Now it is up to them to develop a labor and materials budget which they said they would hope to give us on Monday. If the budget is reasonable and within our window then we will begin the project. By the time our April team arrives we should hopefully have five completed roofs which will provide clean water for their surrounding communities.

We had a fun trip to Dubreuille, riding in Robert's truck and stopping along the way to pick up Pr Saurel on the side of the road, then Nickoderm and finally one other COTMA member. Pr Saurel was carrying dishes and a blanket and a sack of clothes, possibly new items to outfit his new house behind the church, now that he is married. Today was his one week anniversary.