The new communities of Nebaj:
Turanza, Salquil, Vicalama, Ixtupil, Cotzal, Sumalito
 "In
just five days we laid 3 kilometres of pipes so that we could have
water in our houses," says cheerily Miguel Velasco Bernal,
a community leader from Salquil , now re-named "La Libertad",
one of the new settlements established an hour's drive up the mountains
from the town of Nebaj. Just securing the purchase of the land took
more than two years of intense negotiations with the government
- but once the legalities were signed and sealed in late 1999, the
37 families did not have to be asked twice to pack up and move in.
"We really were very desperate to come here," says Miguel. Many
families had already moved down from the mountains when talks began in 1997, and
began living with relatives or friends, often in crowded conditions. Nicolas
Pérez and his eight children had been staying with relatives close-by for a
year before eventually moving into the new community. "When we arrived we
came with practically nothing, just our clothing," he recalls. "We'd
have been done for if we hadn't received help from outside," he adds
simply.
As well as housing, running water, latrines, and medicines, each family
received basic farming and cooking implements, sugar and firewood under the
ECHO-Oxfam GB project. "We've really benefited from the medical supplies
and training...you can see that in the better health of the people," says
health promoter Mateo Maton Chel of the Turanza community.
 Things
have not been easy for the residents of the six communities around
Nebaj, which were almost the last to be purchased and repopulated
by the CPR communities. The community of Vicalama - "El Mirador"
is situated 3000 metres above sea level, and is only accessible
by driving almost 3 hours up through the winding unmade mountain
roads. In the rainy season the routes are practically impassable.
The local bus cannot make it that far up the hillsides. "We
arrived on foot, carrying our few things, carrying the children.
We immediately thought, well, we've got nothing here, but sooner
or later we're going to have to plant something," recalls one
resident, Juana Brito Velasco, 30. She is now part of a women's
committee in Vicalama -"El Mirador", which meets regularly
to plan collective projects, such as sowing vegetable patches, or
weaving. As in the other communities, the women have brought with
them their long experience of organising from the days when they
lived rough in the mountains. "It's not that we've got everything
settled yet," Juana says. "We're still planning, right,
planning how to improve conditions here, to meet our necessities."
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