The women resold the surplus to pay for other daily needs, and began again. The women then sought help from a local priest, obtaining a loan to help them buy foodstuffs. More families joined and before long a humanitarian aid organization offered to help them. We weren't friends. Now when we meet, we feel like one family of 44 families.
Members staff a cooperative store on the grounds of a church in their neighborhood.
But most importantly, Hernandez said, they have established a trust fund for area children to go to school in other cities. The communes, where armed groups often pressure young people to join their ranks, is a dangerous place for children to grow up. That is no secret. They go to the paramilitary groups or they go to the guerrillas. There are few kids who have the guidance of their parents.