After a morning of sightseeing around the capital, Bob and Steve checked out of the hostel and took a taxi to the airport for their flight to Pittsburgh. There were no anticipated flight delays or cancellations even with Hurricane Irene on the east coast.
Last Day In Tingo
This was the EWB team’s last day in Tingo Pucará, and the group was scheduled to be picked up by Fransisco and his brother at noon and driven back to a hostel in Quito. In the morning, a cement mixer that the village had rented was delivered. The villagers manually lifted the machine out of the truck and then pushed it up the hill to the work site. This took the labor of 10 villagers and EWB team members.
Cement mixing began in the morning and the walls began to be poured prior to our departure.
Prior to leaving, Bob and Steven spoke with village leaders to ensure understanding about the remainder of construction of the pump tank, namely the use of number 12 rebar in the roof slab. In addition we received a farewell thank you speech from the president of the water committee, Alberto Manzano Manzano and a song by the children in the nursery.
After setting out on the road, the EWB team and Fransisco and his brother stopped a restaurant for a hearty lunch of burgers. In Quito, we checked into our hostel and cleaned up before going out for dinner.
Health Surveys Are Completed
In the morning, Barb walked to Guangaje to meet with Dr. Avarca regarding the area’s health issues. This would put the issues discussed with the Tingoans into perspective with area norms. Unfortunately, the clinic was locked and closed due to the doctor’s conducting community visits and no locals were aware of when it would re-open, although there were patients waiting outside to be seen. After waiting, Barb determined that the data could be collected at a later date, or PCV George Beane could assist with collection of the data after he returned back at his work site.
The day was spent preparing forms for the pouring of the walls. The EWB team helped women and girls with wheelbarrows of cement, gravel, and sand being transported to the work site. The men of the community worked on the inside wall form bracing. The process was driven by the construction knowledge and past experience of the men.
The resulting structure was labor-intensively created but was quite sturdy and would certainly hold the forms in place during the pouring process.
The final health and social impact surveys were completed with villagers, with only one survey unable to be completed by a villager who was present during the construction process. In the evening, Barb spoke to Jose Augustin Lutuala Lutuala, who is a certified health volunteer and a certified midwife for the area, about the demographics in the village and different health problems. He provided Barb with a more detailed list of village residents based on family that included names of children. The list had not been updated since 2009, but it was the most up-to-date listing of the community, and includes dates of birth for all of the residents. He also showed Barb a health map of the community and explained his function therein. He is responsible for ensuring that the health of the community is maintained and makes visits to households on a monthly basis to see any health problems and if the problem was serious enough to suggest a visit to the local health center. In all cases, forms would be filled out and sent to the health center so they would have a record of the illness. Jose Augustin also showed a variety of health education materials that he has been given at trainings by the government.
George Heads Home
In the morning, PVC George Beane left for his scheduled vacation, so all further translating with the village was conducted by Barb Pavliakova. Prior to leaving, George introduced Barb to some of the workers in the Sub-Centro de Salud Guangaje (Guangaje Health Clinic) in the neighboring village, so she could talk to some of the doctors about health in the area and potentially collect data on different disease trends in the area. Unfortunately, the doctor, Dr. Paolo Avarca, was unavailable, so the secretary provided an appointment Thursday morning at 10am to speak with him. The Tingo community began constructing the scaffolding to be used for tank access during construction and for bracing of the wall forms. Adjustment and construction of the wall forms continued throughout the day. Much progress was made in preparing the forms for pouring. Further health and social surveys were also completed.
Pouring the Storage Tank Floor
In the morning Steven and Bob worked on carrying sand, aggregate, and concrete with the community from the storage area to the work site. Workers finished the rebar hoops on the upper part of the tank at 20 cm spacing. There was an argument concerning the total length of rebar that would be in the tank between the EWB-team and the men of the community conducting the construction. We came to a consensus to cut the 12m pieces of rebar in four equal segments to get the most out of each bar without changing the design. Concrete was mixed and the floor layer was successfully poured and leveled.
Meanwhile, Barb went to visit the local nursery and observe what the practices were to get a better idea of the division of labor and the community members’ lifestyles. There were three caretakers for 17 children aged 0-5 years of age, who cared for the children from 9 am to 5 pm daily. Breakfast and lunch were provided for the children. In the afternoon, the EWB team and the community constructed the inner wall forms. Additional health surveys were also taken.
Construction Terminology Translations
English |
Spanish |
Kichwa* |
| above | ariba | cowapi |
| below | abajo | bamba |
| cieling | techo | tapa |
| floor | piso | bamba |
| wall | pared | piyca |
| measure | medir | midina |
| measurement | medida | midina |
| until/to | hasta | caimanta/chaimanta |
| there | alli/alla | chaiman |
| entrance | la entrada | yaicuna |
| exit | salida | yugshina |
| air | aire | waira |
| overflow | reboso | yugshina |
| like this | asi | chashna |
| frames/forms | enconfrado | pircuta rurana |
| slab | losa | catana |
| nail | clavo | clavo |
| to cut | cortar | pitina |
| mark | marka | siñalana |
| chalk | tisa | aspina |
| here | aqui | caipi |
| twenty | veinte | ishqui-chunga |
*These spellings are probably not correct. I simply wrote down what I heard Alberto say using only my own understanding of American English phonetics.
The Disagreement
The community spent the morning bringing cement and gravel to the work site to prepare for concrete mixing upon arrival of the sand. The EWB team took an inventory of the remaining rebar, to ensure that there was enough to complete the construction of the pump tank. We found that we had just enough number 12 rebar for the roof, so they were saved. There were no remaining number 6′s, but there were plenty of number 8 and number 10 rebar, so these would be used for the walls instead of the 6′s originally called for in the design. There are also a few number 5 rebar remaining.
After discussing the rebar situation with the village men that were in charge of the construction, including Maestro Juan Augosto Tigasi Lutuala, a well respected community member with higher level construction experience, we encountered some difficulty. The original design had called for using number 6 rebar at 40 cm spacing in the walls to provide the design with enough strength. Due to materials problems with the rebar, our EWB engineers, Steven Trate and Bob Stachel, favored changing this design to number 10 rebar at 40 cm spacing, which would increase the strength of the design (although this was not necessary) and make the best use of the materials that we still had without increasing the price of the design. With the help of PCV George Beane, we discussed this design change with the Maestro and other respected men, including Cesar Lutuala Lutuala, Jorge Lutuala Sacatoro, Alberto Manzano Manzano, Fransisco Lutuala, and Augustin Patricio Ugsha Ugsha, who raised a number of concerns. The group did not feel comfortable with 40 cm spacing, feeling that it was too far apart to provide the necessary strength for the walls, although Steven and Bob provided them with calculations justifying the strength and stressed the fact that our design team had checked multiple times to ensure the strength of the design. To preserve relations and reduce friction with the community, our EWB team made the decision to follow the desire of the community, even though the strength of this design would be grossly beyond the needs of the project. We determined that enough number 10 rebar was on the site where the design change could feasibly be implemented and because the design strength would increase, not decrease, from the changes, the overall change resulted in no additional cost and maintained positive relationship with the community.
The remainder of the afternoon work went smoothly. The sand truck arrived with the delivery of the needed sand. The rebar for the footer was assembled and tied as necessary. The footer was then poured and allowed to cure overnight. The rebar for the walls was cut and tied in place and hoops of rebar were also prepared and tied into the wall. By the end of the afternoon, the tank was prepared for the floor to be poured the next day. In addition, health and social impact surveys were conducted with a number of community members.
Storage Tank Construction Begins
The team spent Sunday working on the tank. The community put up a lining on the walls of the tank to help keep the concrete from mixing with the earth walls during the cement pouring process. The bottom area of the tank was dug out wider than originally planned, so we had to account for the use of more rebar than planned in the design. Rebar rings were made for the foundation. We did not have enough number 6 rebar, so number 8 rebar was used to reinforce the over-sized footer. In addition, the village men who were working with our team, noted that the village was running low on supplies of sand, so an order was placed and scheduled to arrive for the next day, Monday August 22.
A community household listing was procured by Cesar Lutuala Lutuala, the unofficial president of Tingo Pucará, to be used by Barb Pavliakova in the administration of health and social impact surveys. In addition, the surveys were explained to Cesar and the other community leaders, and permission was granted to ask a member from each household several questions regarding their health, finances, hygiene, and water practices. These patriarchs also offered to provide help with translation in households that did not have a Spanish-speaker from Kichwa into Spanish.
First Day in Tingo
In the morning, the team walked down to the source to see and document the progress of the construction of the sedimentation tank and pump house. The design was mostly consistent with what had been planned by EWB-PPC, but there was not a man-hole put into the top of the pump house for the pump to be placed through. Alberto believes that the pump can be installed from the door, and if necessary, a hole can be cut in the block wall for the installation and maintenance of the pump. Although it was not fully complete, the construction on the sedimentation tank and pump house looked well-constructed, with the exception of the missing man hole.
The storage tank area had been excavated by the villagers prior to our arrival, so the area was fully prepared with a hole of the basic proportions that we had asked for in our design. The footer was dug deeper than our design, so we had to increase rebar and concrete to adjust. The team spent the afternoon digging holes in the pump tank for the supply and distribution tubes.
Because it was Saturday, the majority of the village was not working on the tank, for religious observance of the sabbath. In the evening, we were invited to observe a marriage proposal ceremony of Marco, one of the youth in the village, to Laura.
On Our Way
The travel team met PCV George Beane at the hostel at 8:15 am. Fransisco, Juan Mateo Espinoza’s friend who will be providing transportation to and from Tingo Pucará, arrived at 8:30am.
Prior to leaving for the community, the team went to review materials at a PDV wholesaler that had won a bid for the project. We inspected the 40 mm stainless steel and PVC pipes. The quality of the pipes was appropriate for our design, but there were some discrepancies in the understanding of the measurements provided; where 2 inch pipes were needed, 50 mm pipes were ordered, which were considered the equivalent of 1.5 inch pipes in the Ecuadorian measurement system. In addition, the diameters provided in millimeters were inside measurements for both PVC and stainless steel pipes, but were outside diameter measurements for the galvanized iron pipes. As a result, some of the sizes are incorrect and we had to increase the sizes ordered. The supplier was flexible and helpful about how to convert the sizes to ensure that all pipes would fit with each other and would be the correct size for our water systems needs. We were also able to inspect and confirm the specs on the water pump. The supplier also took us to their plant so we could visually inspect the 40mm stainless steel pipes. All pipes were correct quality and size, though we determined we would need to order connectors for the pipes.
The travel team drove to Latacunga and stopped at the local hardware store to pick up basic supplies needed for the construction. We drove into Tingo Pucará and arrived at approximately 8pm where we were welcomed by the community.
