La Otra Cara De La Zurza

For several years now, the Capitalan neighborhood of La Zurza has been changing for the better. And if something hurts its inhabitants, it is that the rest of the city has not noticed it and that it continues to be considered a marginalized and dangerous urban area.

An institution participates in this positive change: the La Zurza Environmental Sanitation Foundation (Fundsazurza), made up of 19 neighborhood organizations where around 40,000 people live in 1.6 km2 crossed by 6 ravines, one of them the famous Cañada del Diablo . Another reference of the place is its popular market and its characteristic limits: La Zurza has the Isabela River to the north and is surrounded by the Capotillo, Cristo Rey and Villas Agrícolas neighborhoods.

Germán Herrera, executive director of Fundsazurza, says that the institution is part of a work experience that began more than 20 years ago, before becoming a foundation and as part of a comprehensive development program that sought to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood . The institution has implemented health programs, physical environmental improvement, youth support, income generation and solid waste management.

Waste Management

The foundation's interest is that the benefits of all the projects go to the community. Thus, around 89 technicians who collect garbage in carts participate in the community waste management program, as it is, Herrera points out, one of the few means of transportation that penetrate into the interior of the neighborhood.

The work of collecting household garbage and solid waste both in the market and in urban areas is carried out in partnership with the National District City Council (ADN), which pays them $ 20 for each ton of garbage deposited in the transfer station. .

“We have an average daily circulation of 150 tons. We are negotiating with the city council a new contract because 20 dollars is very little in relation to the 42 dollars that they pay to the big companies. We are negotiating with them so that they pay us 25 ”, indicates Herrera.

With the money they receive for the collection that, according to the Foundation, is late and incomplete, Fundsazurza supports social programs that benefit the community. The City Council's debt, he reports, reaches 16 million and forces them to delay social programs and the passage of local truckers who lend their vehicles to the organization.

"Our mission is to produce a change in the mentality of the population through citizen education in the management of solid waste," explains Herrera.

For Juan Candelario, in charge of cleaning the foundation, the neighborhood would appreciate if the media highlighted the positive work that community members do. If the media collaborate and residents see that work is being done, the community will be more integrated into the projects, says Candelario.

“At 6 in the morning we are already on our feet with the trucks, wheelbarrows, collectors and sweepers. That is not done by any city council, ”he says.

SOCIAL PROGRAMS

Fundsazurza offers health assistance and nutritional support to the elderly and supports a mothers' club; maintains 14 units of initial education for children between three and six years old and promotes culture, sports and ecology. Young entrepreneurs are part of a promotion that works to prevent drugs and violence.

“La Zurza has improved. It was a very difficult area, but people perceive that we have had a change in the quality of life that is shown in the health programs, in the decrease in violence and in social assistance ”, says Germán Herrera. Another great work highlighted by Robinson García, in charge of Environmental Sanitation at Fundsazurza, is the health and fumigation program. “We are one of the few neighborhoods where there has been no incidence of dengue, malaria or leptospirosis. We have our own team of promoters who provide assistance to the population; if a case is detected, this program immediately provides assistance ”, he indicates. Today the brigade works to prevent cholera and fumigates a sector of the neighborhood every week.

Article Source