An incredible year has passed since OGG first
met the small community of Tzibal in 2011 and, in their effort to continue the
connections created during one unforgettable week, com- mitted themselves to
the construction of the Cancha. Not merely a basketball/football court nor a
water-catching roof. The Can- cha is a collaborative project proposed by the
Comité de Mujeres, promoted by the COCODE, conceptualized by Baird Sampson
Neuert Architects/Blackwell & Associates, and funded in large part by
passionate young students from across North America. But most importantly the
Cancha and Centro Comunitario will be produced and presided over by the men,
women, and children of an isolated but inspirational pueblo.
This rag-tag consortium of
dreamers and doers continues to be connected by friendship and solidarity but
many now find themselves cast out and spread across the hemisphere, some by
travels, some by studies, and others by professions. So, to all those who
remain committed or perhaps just curious, read on, these pages are for you.
First you will find a comprehensive up- date including news on the Cancha’s
design and construction, other community developments, the state of fundraising
and financing, as well as evaluative perspectives and prospects 365 days on.
You will also find stories, in word and image, from OG’s most recent visit to
the land of luv and tortillas.
On Behalf of the OG Alumnos and
the community of Tzibal, thank you and Bantiox.
Developments
From its
conception in the dirt to its most recent digital rendering by Baird Sampson
Neuert and Blackwell & Associates, the Cancha as seen some dramatic
changes. Originally envisioned as little more than a slab of concrete measuring
22 x 25 metres, the imaginations of local and international stake- holders now
see a community campus encompassing four cuerdas (40 x 40 metres). The official
NBA sized court complete with hybrid basketball/soccer posts and Mayan styled
bleachers will occupy the lower three-quarters while a tiered community fruit
and vegetable garden will occupy the slope above. Freestanding composting
latrines and sink facilities will be discretely situated amongst Macadamia and
Cypress trees on the facility’s outer edge. The Cancha’s roof will be
constructed with an innovative steel cable and polypropelyn rope web onto which
aluminum and plastic tiles will be fastened using bamboo purlins. This
represents a wholly new and novel intersection of modern design, local
materials, and indigenous know-how. Despite the incredible reductions in load
due to the minimizing of structural and material costs, the four A-frames that
punctuate the Cancha’s four corners have had to be reinforced to support the
tension system above. The result is as impressive as it is innovative.
To accommodate
the more ambitious structure and its surroundings, the community and OGG 2011
ponied up Q15,000 (approx. $2000) to purchase more suitable land in close
proximity to the school. Despite the reduced grade and increased accessibility
however, the site still required a great deal of preparation prior to the
commencement of construction. In this regard an appeal was made to the
Municipality, economic conditions, the Municipality refused Tzibal’s re- quest
for help. So, in place of bulldozers, jackhammers, and gas powered tempers two
OGG crews joined with the men, women, and children of Tzibal clearing, tiering,
and levelling the Cancha's acreage. But the manual labour was hampered by the
local climate, economic and otherwise. Due to a poor growing season and
consequent delays to community bean and corn harvests, Tzibal’s men were called
away to work for fincas as far as Petén and Mexico. Unsurprisingly in their absence,
little progress could be made towards the completion of the Cancha. With added,
inflationary pressures, increasing fuel costs, and decreasing government
assistance, construction schedules have had to be amended.
In place of a
single sustained effort, the Cancha will now be created in two phases. Phase 1
was inaugurated on August 25, 2012 in small a ceremony attended by the local
teachers, the Director of the District School Board, the CO- CODE, members of
the community. The uncharacteristically quiet occasion was also marked by the
donation of the remaining $10,000 raised by OGG participants.
During the coming months, the Cancha’s
large foot print will be formed and poured. The innovative trusses will be made
to order by steelworkers in San Pedro Carcha be- fore being anchored in
concrete. And the basketball nets/ football posts will be acquired and
attached. Completion of phase 1 is expected in the first quarter of 2013.
Phase 2 which
will include the construction of the roof, and composting toilettes will then
extend through the spring and early summer with the Cancha’s inauguration
tentatively planned for July/Aug. 2013 to coincide with the OGG “Off the Grid”
program. The new timeline is based on a
reassessment of construction schedules and re-evaluation of budgetary projections
conducted in collaboration with the community.
Based on these discussions and recent developments we deter- mined that
current financing would be insufficient and a renewed fundraising campaign
would be necessary to complete all of the Cancha’s component parts. The new campaign,
which will launch on Nov. 26, 2012, will therefore seek to raise an additional
$5,000 to cover the budgetary shortfall and allow phase 2 construction. An
updated detailed budget has been released (below) and donations are currently being accepted at the Cancha's new Causevox page @ www.cancha.causevox.com.
Your continued support is greatly appreciated
Thank you and Bantiox
Local Headlines
The Mano
Dura grips Campur
President Otto
Perez Molina, a man both respected and reviled for his “mano dura” has so far
lived up to his slogan. Elected in 2011, the ex-general pulled no punches
launching an ambitious expansion of Guatemala’s military and police. Both will
see physical increases of 20% and 40% respectively and detachments will be
deployed to communities, small and large, across the country. In Campur,
soldiers have replaced civil police in a dramatic sign of the Mano Dura’s
reach. A fortified barracks has replaced the modest office of the exiled PNC
and the sight of green camo is now a common occurrence on the streets of
Campur. In the con- text of increasing delinquency reaction has been mixed.
Some see the military contingent as a bastion of security while others see only
its own misconducts. Either way the Mano Dura shows no signs of softening.
The COCODITO’s plant new roots
17
year old Alejandro is in most respects an ordinary Guatemalan teenager. A
spitting image of his dad, Alfonso, the young Tzibalense man is a mean
footballer, a talented drummer, and a charismatic DJ and MC. But Alejandro is
also the ambitious leader of the new COCODITO’s. A common Spanish play on
popular words, the addition of ITO denotes a smaller, cuter version of the
local COCODE or Community Development Council. This small group of impassioned
youth aged 12-17 have launched a campaign to ignite the developmental
imaginations of their companeros and see those visions of what Tzibal could and
should be realized through small scale projects. The first of these mini-proyectos
is a tree planting campaign to introduce shade and shelter to the otherwise sun
baked or rain soaked road connecting Tzibal to neighbouring Campur. The second
project will be to chronicle the COCODITO’s increasingly ambitious campaign.
So, stay tuned.
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