Nelson, Peru

I arrived here seven years ago when I cleared a piece of land that was free. In that time, there was no light or electricity, nor roads and steps and so on. It was really difficult to live in these circumstances and when it used to rain it was so much worse because mobility was nearly impossible.

 

My three cousins and I arrived at the same time in this community and we decided to work together as a collective because we realised that we could progress so much faster. We worked really hard for a long time as equals and nobody had more or less responsibility than the others.

 

Clearing the land and building a house took us a month, so within four months we had our four houses built, thanks to the help of our family and the neighbours.

 

When we saw the results from this union of our community, we decided to start an institution called 'Club CEPROMU NUEVA ESPERANZA', and with this new institution we started to work in different areas that benefit our development as a community. These include sport and education.

 

Now, seven years later, you can really see all the things we have changed in our community because now we are united and we stand together and in that way we have managed to get basic services with very little help from the government and NGOs. I think that in the future, things can only get better if we keep working with the same dedication, strength and solidarity as we have done so far.

 

Nelson Rojas Achimanyu

Resident of Virgen de la Candelaria, Peru

 

© Nelson Rojas Achimanyu / Desco / ODI / PhotoVoice

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