The Project Breakdown

Family and friends, it is an absolute honor to put up this blog. After an amazing two weeks of fundraising in Michigan, months of frustration, set-backs, long meetings and organizing THE PROJECT HAS STARTED!

The following is a journal of our work. I will continue to add to it, posting photos and adding stories along the way. I ask that you remember two things: without your donations this work does not exist; secondly, I realize I look good when I have am working construction - but let´s keep this professional!

Who: Friends and Family from the United States and My New Friends and Family Here in El Salvador
Where: Santiago de Chile
What: Construction of Retention Walls and Drainage System
Why: Protect a Coffee Planting Community of 500 plus People Safe from Harsh Rains, Floods and Landslides

A Map of El Chile and Project Plan

Please take note that I have added colors to the photos so that you can use the map to locate exactly where we are in the community.This photo is taken from the street (from the map given, the RED ZONE). The landslide came down this area both passing over the road and using it to head towards what would eventually be my house. Note that before the landslide this was all grass and tress, there was no rock.This is a photo from the same zone, the landslide is behind us and this shot shows the road that was covered then out towards the ocean. You can see a small cement ledge, which is the start of a drainage box-tube that was used so that water would by-pass the road. Clearly the landslide was too much for it.This shot is from the same zone only shot towards the road showing both the tube and the remains of the landslide.A close up of the tube, you can see that there is still quite a bit of mud and rock in it. Rather than just clean it out, we will tear out the tube and create a much This is the basic design for the new system. The brown is the road where the bus passes. The silver rectangle is where the tube used to be. We will tear it out and then build large cement walls and that put a cement covering on it. From the wall we will construct two large legs of cement that head out at 45 degree angles allowing all the rain water to pass through the cement system rather than passing over the road. From there, we will rebuild the road over the system. Enough explaining let´s get to work! The community and I have contracted 10 workers and a foreman to oversee the project. Everyday I meet with the foreman in the morning to discuss the work plan and if I need to go over materials that we need to buy. This is a shot of the guys starting to tear up the road to get at the tube! We had to create a make-shift lane so that the bus could still pass. It is so awesome tearing up a road, and so hard.
Here is a shot at the goal. Get this guy out of there. It is kind of like driving towards the Rocky Mountains, you can see them from far away, but to actually get there it takes work and patience.

I´m not just coordinating, no way baby, I get in there with a pick-ax and a shovel too. The best part about the project is working with these guys, joking around and just soaking it all in! Thanks to all of you for this opportunity! Don´t even think that this is a pose; I was just tearing away in this shot! Clearly the guy in the hat is telling me that I am doing it all wrongA few hours of work and not too much to show for it. Where you can see the tube is normally where the road is, behind where it is flat is the new road we made for the bus to come and go! Here is a majority of the guys getting it done together. We start at 730am and go till 4pm! More to come on the workers... o yes, there will be a BIO BLOG!

Getting some serious progress done on this dang tube!

Most of the guys telling me to put the camera down and start working. Psych, I am in there working baby!Oh yeah!!!!!! THERE IT IS! That is the whole tube baby... after hours of flinging dirt, bad jokes and a few swear words (I mean come on, I hit myself with the pick-ax a few times)... we got there!Oh wait, we have to knock the cement wall down that it was attached to. Break time to inspect our work. The man to the left of me is named Freddy, he is the foreman of the project and has 25 years of construction experience. This project is small for him, good thing too, because it is HUGE for me!

Another shot from the tube down. Look at how big this area is. Before, it was all forest, now, rockface. The tube clogged, the landslide passed over, and just took everything with it.
This shot is from the RED ZONE where the tube is down the road towards the PINK ZONE where we will be building the first retention wall and putting in a long drain along the side of the road.

Here is the design for the PINK ZONE. Around the bend we will be putting in the retention wall. From there, where indicated on the map, we will be putting in the drains. The drawing above that looks like a U is a side shot of the drain that we will construct on the sides of the road. From the RED ZONE, the cement box with cement legs, the water that passes the road will flow down the drains, before forced off the road before hitting the landslide affected part by the new retention wall or continue down the new drain system. So, we need to dig more to get the new retention wall up in the PINK ZONE!

A shot from inside the hole. What a pain it is to dig all this out, haha. Trust me there is no complaining, everyone is SO EXCITED that we are getting this work done!
This shot is from the PINK ZONE where the retention wall will be. The landslide came from the RED ZONE and the part that used the road headed here eventually falling off the road and heading down. The tower that you can see in the background is the church in the community, my house is directly behind it, so the landslide is kind of like a really great driveway for me house considering it past right outside my side-door.

These rocks were all collected around the community after the hash rains. We will use what hurt us to protect us next time around. I think some of these guys were in my front room that night when I escaped!

We will use them as a foundation adding cement to make it strong. This is a shot from the PINK ZONE down to the road where it wraps around. If you look closely at the part of the road that faces us you can see rocks. A huge machine came through and help us channel out a tone of dirt, the drain system will run through here.

More of the soon-to-be drain. This road lowers towards the community. This shot is taken right about the BABY BLUE ZONE in the map above.

This shot is also from the BABY BLUE ZONE, after the bend the road straitens out, where it does, on the right-hand side we will put a smaller retention wall.

This is a water tank we are using, we have placed it in the BABY BLUE ZONE and every morning the community halls water up and fills it. The community is buying the water from out water committee. It is summer and the water supple is low, the families are rationing off water everyday. Every Monday every family has to give a few quarters to the fund to pay for the water need to make the retention walls. This idea was giving during a general assembly where a lot of men were arguing over where this money would come from. An elderly woman from the community stood up and yelled, ´we will all pay for it for the love of God´. This was the end of the discussion. From the Baby Blue Zone, a shot that shows how the road straigthens out. You can see where we will put in the drains.
Another shot but from the BABY BLUE ZONE of where the landslide keep going towards the community right near my house and the chruch.

In the background there is a truck from the community halling up more rocks to where we area building the retention walls.

A shot from my old house. A latrine and a 5 foot wall use to be there, now just remains of what had passed. I want all of you to understand the layout of the landslide and the project, so one more time: The landslide came down the RED ZONE, heading towards the PINK ZONE and fell down passing over the BABY BLUE ZONE ending up right here where I lived.


So that is it for the first update on the construction in El Chile. Thank you so much for your contributions and donations. I will close on this, during the meeting where the woman put the end to the water problem someone stud up and said that if it were not for Jimbo, that this money would not be here and that the community would not be safe for the children to live. From there everyone stood up and applauded me. I stopped them and explained the countless people back home that showed up to the fundraising event, the checks that came in from all of the country. This applause is for you. I am here because I love it. With the help of friends and family, especially Erin Williams, organizing the funds was a very easy process. With the experience of workers in my community, the construction will physically be hard but we will get it done. Without your time, your thoughts, your prayers, none of this would have been possible. I have extended my time here in El Salvador for a few months to make sure this project gets done. Thank you so for giving me this opportunity. I have never been more proud to come from the United States and everyone in Santiago El Chile thanks you all on a daily basis in Church and on their way up the road to continue getting that darn tube out of the road.

More to come,

Jimbo