Meeting With the Mayor

 

So, we have not mentioned to date that our initial meeting with the Mayor of Paita on Thursday had to be postponed.  We had been somewhat apprehensive because finding another time to meet with him seemed to be rather difficult.  So, not to be out done, the secretary of school and the secretary of the Mayor “conspired” to have us show up at the mayor’s office.  He was scheduled for a meeting with an Ecuadorian delegation when we arrived, but he promised to meet with us as soon as he could “duck out” of the other meeting.  After an hour of waiting our hopes were fading and we were discussing Plan B.

 

To our surprise and delight, he showed up and motioned us into the office.  We had a delightful 30 minute meeting with the mayor-not bad for being unscheduled!  Most importantly, it appears that it was beneficial for the school, the water filter effort, and potentially, the future of water treatment and delivery in the area.  He is very aware of both quality and quantity issues with the water and they are consistently investing their limited resources in improving the infrastructure.

 

Our purpose in meeting was simply to get a meeting with the water purveyors.  I wanted to have our students do a minimal assessment of the delivery system and see if we could predict if the system was likely to improve in the future.  (I should mention that the system is visibly improving, since there is a second water tower being constructed across the street from the school.)  After our brief discussion, not only did the mayor agree to get us a tour of the facilities, but he wants to schedule it for Thursday and he will go on the tour with us!

 

This was a good meeting with a man who wants the best for his City.  I am very impressed and look forward to sharing with him ways that partnerships may be formed for the benefit of the people of Paita.

 Muchas Gracias, Mr. Mayor!