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• 1 media/Casa de Zacate en Guarjila 1992.jpg 2018-05-12T21:01:22-07:00 The Arrival and Settlement 21 plain 715097 published 2022-05-17T21:20:51-07:00

  Approximately 200 families left Mesa Grande to repopulate Guarjila. On arrival they found a place that was abandoned during the war, which was once the home of a just a few families.
  They only found a few adobe houses, missing roofs or walls, due to the bombings in the region. The new arrivals began to build champitas and houses made of bahareque. These had no electricity or running water, and many families had to sleep under the same roof. That was the beginning of the rebuilding of Guarjila, which carried on despite the continuous incursions and threats from the armed forces, which were in constant confrontation with the guerilla, up until 1992. Throughout this situation, the people of Guarjila continued to remain in their place.
  
  The new inhabitants of Guarjila began organizing committees and work teams, achieving the construction of a communal eatery, and they developed popular education and healthcare systems that came to be modeled by self-management. Similarly, they initiated a range of cooperatives for productive activities, such as communal gardening and harvesting, and by forming and establishing carpentry, tailoring and shoe workshops. These activities were founded based on the communal and collective systems that had been developed in Mesa Grande, Honduras.
  
  Initially, those who were teachers in Mesa Grande, upon arrival to Guarjila, had to offer classes under the trees. Later, they constructed a school and the teachers worked on developing a popular education model. In the same way, those who were nurses in Mesa Grande, alongside doctors who worked in solidarity with the communities affected by the armed conflict, established a community healthcare system.
  
  After the resettlement, the community’s directive council was integrated into the Coordinator of Repopulated Communities (CCR), an association that works with repopulated communities in the region. International support was also very important because it allowed for the development of social areas in the community. Resources and materials were also obtained for projects thanks to the support of Lutheran and Catholic churches, as well as other international organizations that acted in solidarity with the people of Guarjila and other resettled communities.
  
  Two international figures that had a profound influence and importance in Guarjila were. Sister Ana, from the United States and the Catholic Church, came to live with the people of Guarjila. She recognized the need to provide medical services to guerilla combatants in the warzone as well as to those who were inhabitants of the communities. She was key to the construction of the community clinic and the formation of the popular medical movement in Chalatenango.
  
  Father Jon Cortina, from Basque Country, was affiliated with the Central American University Simeón Cañas and maintained a residency in Guarjila. He was an engineer who contributed to the organization and reconstruction of Guarjila. Besides being a spiritual guide for the community, Father Jon introduced resources for various projects and helped organize them. Among those were the communities of houses, a drinking water system, the bridge over the Sumpul River, and the clinic, among other initiatives.