1960s - United Nations: International Zone - The People And The Machine

1960s - United Nations: International Zone - The People And The Machine Alistair Cooke at desk smoking cigarette, pours glass of water & talks of shortage of water in most parts of world & drudgery of collecting it for many due to lack of pumps. Introduces re-enactment of water supply project in small village of San Nicholas in Mexico province of Guanajuato. 08:03:00 Young Mexican boys play football in village of San Pedro - narrated by “Pepito”. The boys stop at sound of strange noise & run over to find engineer operating machine drilling for water. Talk to man. 09:05:17 Pepito arrives home for supper, tells father what he saw; father takes over narration, mother pours water from large glass container. Women washing clothes in stream. Father fills jugs w/ water from well, loads them on mule for trek home. Pepito’s father visits priest to ask about getting fresh water for homes in San Nicholas; both go to San Pedro & engineer who explains how to proceed to apply for funding from government & UN. 09:10:34 Village council meeting addressed by engineer & mayor & they vote in favor of water project. Papers sent to state government for approval. Government engineer arrives in jeep marked OPS-OMS & looks at plans w/ consultant from World Health Organization (WHO). Pepito’s father shops for new hat. 09:13:43 INT Pepito in school classroom, teacher points to diagram of water table & well on blackboard w/ date 1960; Pepito answers question. Villagers gather for blessing or Benediction of new machinery - hats off - priest & altar boys in robes thru crowd as villagers cross themselves; priest blesses w/ holy water & drill is started. 08:15:36 Work under way, drill starts hammering up & down in hole, watched by villagers, men in cowboy hats. Harvesting in fields, Pepito helps. Men take turns operating the drill. Drill finally raised out of hole, pipeline lowered & attached to pump, water pours out but runs out. More money needed to drill deeper. 08:20:11 Pepito’s mother into church, lights candle & kneels in prayer next to young woman. VO “We had been hoping so hard, & now the hope was gone with the money”. Village women discuss problem & go to see priest, joined by men “They always have to have someone to lead them”. Priest agrees to use church funds if villagers pay it back; CU money onto silver dish as people enter church. “I didn’t know there was so much money in San Nicholas”. Drill started up again; villagers catching up on work: plowing, milking cow. Pepito watches drill brought back up & water pours out. Pepito rings church bell to alert villagers. Pipes laid & water tanks installed around village, materials provided by UN Children’s Fund. Water tested in laboratory for purity. 09:25:32 Pepito washes from tap. 09:26:31 Cooke in office - says 1000 similar projects were carried out in Mexican villages; most money given by villagers, equipment rented by government, technical assistance from UN. UNICEF provided San Nicholas’ pump. “The results though impressive do not constitute a victory”. Cooke gives statistics - 100 million people in Latin America without decent water supply. Sanitation; Third World Public Health; Travelogues; Religion - Roman Catholicism; Clean Water; Well Drilling; Poverty; NOTE: One continuous minute sold at per reel rate.