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The occupation of Peñalolen
And we saw Santiago.. It looked beautiful
I had never seen Santiago before, not from up here
And then we said: Why cant poor people be up here too?
In this lands, and see Santiago like the rich people do?
The misery of the backyards
Door to door they started recruiting those "allegados" (people who live in other people´s houses because they cant afford to live on their own)
Ready to face the risk of an illegal occupation
They all were part of the misery that hid in the backyards of the slums
The misery of the "allegados", the most poor within the poor
A raw poverty, that made Patricia Calderon take the risk of illegally occuppying a piece of land
For thirty years she lived with his mother, her four sisters in one room, in an exhausting lack of space
We couldn't afford rent, we lived in the house of an uncle and that uncle was an alcoholic
We had several complications, we didn't have a toilet, we didn't have water, we didn't have good family relations
They closed the doors in your face, and in the case of an emergency.. just imagine at night, we had to get up
Cross the street, get out to the streets and get to another house, knock and annoy
that's what hurts the more, not having a bathroom for bodily functions, that stays with you
That lingers in your soul, in your heart, you don't forget that
There were several kids who had to urinate and defecate in the same room where they ate and slept
The kids couldn't cry cause they would've annoyed the owner of the house, the kids couldn't run cause they were noisy
Everyday they got hit, a hair pull, a slap in the face
And I left them locked in the room, all day watching TV, it actually broke because it was on all day long
Any person that lives oppressed like that vents out with his children's and it shouldn't be like that
I recognize, seriously, sometimes when I felt too oppressed, I took it out on the kids
I' ll go back ten years to erase it all
Violence within the family was very common, couples broke apart
Its usual for the "allegada" woman to live alone with their childs and be forced to accept couples without love
Because she has to think about how feeding her children's
Its a subhuman condition, a situation with a lot of cruelty
Its a world were you stop dreaming, its absolute social exclusion
Erica Cortez was one of the women ready to protagonize another occupation
The night before, she moved hiding to Peñalolen with 30 other families
If the police surprised them, all the operation could collapse
It was... everyone on different streets, everyone took different buses
I had to go through Irrarazabal, other had to get down in Jose Arrieta, other through Larrain (streets)
And take different routes, we couldn't just come straight here
I was in a room where there were 36 adults and another where there were 40 children
We were all staying there, without any room to move, you couldn't even breathe I was in a room where there were 36 adults and another where there were 40 children
We were all staying there, without any room to move, you couldn't even breathe
The Occupation: June 19th 1992
800 families hid there that night, in the house surrounding the land they had chosen for the occupation
At dawn the order was given to advance, four thousands souls one at a time
I carried the mattress, I hold on to it. Are we ready? said my husband. Lets go!
And we started running, they gave you 10 minutes to come and put your tents here
No one ever imagined that in such a small space there were so many people, we were like, i don't know..
Like ants, running, running downwards, running.. running...
The kids were falling and you couldn't pick them up, you couldnt go back cause those seconds were crucial
Lets keep the calm neighbours, with ease unloading our stuff
In 15 minutes the "allegados" covered the 14 acres with the firm decision of transforming the wasteland into a settlement
The first thing to do was to create a defense committee and for no reason at all abandon the occupied land
At 8 in the morning, the police surrounded the place and demanded people to leave, quickly the leaders applied a carefully studied deterrence plan
So that nothing happened with the cops, we put all the children in the front
So that they didnt feel provoked, we put the children, then the women and at the back were the men
Of course they couldn't take us out if there were children, what would people think of them if they attacked the kids?
Three hours later the police pressure forced all the "allegados" to abandon the terrain, they went to another one, which supposedly belonged to a neighborhood council
For many it was the final defeat, but technically the occupation was still standing, because the owner of both the territories was the same person, but only the leaders knew
Cleverly, they stayed in the occupation, but the worse was yet to come
It was father's day on sunday and when it dawn there was a looooot of wind and then a strong rain started.
Here we put some tables and on top of the tables we put sawdust and then cardboard
So that we could put a mattress because the water was running down making sounds
The next day it kept on rain, stronger than the day before and we didn't have a floor or anything, the kids were laying down and they played with the water that ran below them
My spirit was breaking.. because I wondered.. My family is not here? What am I doing?
In that 1992 winter several children and adults got sick with pneumonia, at night the cold was rampant and it was impossible to keep on in those conditions
that's why, without revealing their true intentions, the settlement compromised with the Intendant to remove all the tents
The promise was fulfilled to the dot, in 24 hours the 800 tents were replaced by 800 emergency wood houses that each family had kept stored
The attitude infuriated the authorities who couldn't accept an illegal land occupation
The homeland is for all of us, and on this homeland we all have to live, and on this land we are all going to live, we are going to sleep outside we'll make potlucks
we are gonna try to organize the land, but to the place where we came from, the backyard, we are never going back. There we sealed a pact of honor, either we succeed or we succeed but we won't fail
that's how Esperanza Andina was born, with that conviction
The defense
After the occupation the slogan of the settlement was to survive no matter the cost, with the risk of getting thrown out and with 800 families in misery the only way to save the occupation was with discipline and a strong organization.
They voted for a board and each person assumed different task and had strict deadlines to meet
They implemented forced regular savings and with that money they rented machinery and bought all that was needed to urbanize
The land was protected with work and a huge effort, each row of houses was in charge if the instalation of the water, electricity and sewers with shifts in the morning, afternoon and night
In the beginning I started working without gloves, got blisters, my kidneys and my back hurt, my hair was stiff and my hands were broken
There were shifts, the work lasted till 1 in the morning, when I arrived to my house at 2 or 3 my child was asleep and at 7 I had to get up again for work and couldn't see her
I spent several days without seeing my daughter
Watching the settlement Esperanza Andina in action was impressive it seemed like a giant collective faith moved all the pieces with an amazing precision
80% of these men are construction workers and because of that they organized in specialized groups
The plumbers were in charge of all the water connections and hooked the settlement with the main matrix , the carpenters specialized in the dismantling and rebuilding of a house in 20 minutes
But the electricians surpassed all the expectations
All by themselves they bought and installed all the light posts, they installed the high and low voltage network and they indulge themselves by putting the transformers that provided energy to the 800 houses
The work groups were lead by Juan Vera, to whom was fundamental that the settlement wasn't perceived as a shanty town
Why do you guys do it instead of asking someone else to do it?
Because we are used to doing things by ourselves, internally without asking favors to no one
I mean, whatever we can try to do and achieve, we'll do it
Men and women?
Men and women. If the woman has to grab a shovel, make a hole, she does. But she doesn't ask anyone to do it for her
that's the law of the settlement. If you don't work, your husband works, if your husband is gone, the woman works... or you pay someone to work for you
Because no one's going to come to do your part of your sewers or your house, ,no one
The people that didn't work, left
¿In how many days?
It depends, some in weeks other in days
Ah, rough.. -Yes
Yes because.... if its an organization and it benefits the organization its only fair for everyone that we all work
Olga Leiva the vice president of the settlement till these days checks that all the work is done
Each family has an obligation to go to the meetings, send their kids to school, go to all the manifestation and properly clean their kids, house and street
To improve the quality of life in the settlement they created a health brigade, potlucks, a system to buy in wholesales to save money and classes of ecology, computation and radio for the children
But by far, the biggest achievement of the organization was their kindergarten "Little star" Built by the own mothers so that they could go out and work to save more money
All of this was run by a board of 26 members lead by the electrician Jose Luis Flores. They ran an exhaustive accounting of the money
Not long ago they detected an embezzlement and they voted to expel everyone involved and remove them from their right to a house
This board also jump started the solidarity between the neighbors, and the autonomy in the decisions
In fact, no political party was allowed within the settlement
Crime, drug dealing, violence within the families and alcoholism were fought by the creation of a special brigade. Ran by the same people from the settlement
They closed the perimeter and restricted the access of strangers and for a year they ran a curfew at 10 pm
The leader of the guards was the taxi driver Mario Venegas. He remembers that one night he had to take drastic measures against a person who beat his wife for the third time
Well then the brigade acted... and they hit him... they hit him hard
A beating? A beating, the guy lost several teeth
He lost his teeth? Yes. How many were involved in the beating?
I think at least.... ten
And why did you beat him so hard? Because we had to
Here you don't have an appeal
Here if your son is a drug addict or whatever he is. A thief whatever, and he gets found out there's a disciplinary commission . They take him to an assembly and in two - three days hes out
And we... we take the job of dismantling his house and kicking him out
No thief gets in here
And there's no marijuana, no drugs, we have never allowed it
What happens when a thief gets in?
I think he then never wants to come back. Because we hit him hard
The alcohol prohibition sparked a strong controversy. It was both rejected and welcomed
that's why they decided to cast a vote
In a general assembly we proposed the prohibition because alcoholism could generate us some serious damages
So who wants prohibition? And a 100% of the women raised their hand. And since there were more women than men, the motion passed
The men accepted it. Because it was necessary
And we all thought that prohibition was invented in New York. But now you see how a bunch of people
who don't have a home and because of that are usually only associated with poverty and sometimes crime were able to impose that strong discipline
Nevertheless, there were still problems. The main one was that the land in which they were wasn't theirs, it was an illegal occupation
So they decided to get organized, again, to buy the land from the owner
There were, nevertheless, several problems and problems that grew and stretched over the years
And there was then, another event, that we dare to call epic, at least on that scale
They decided to march to Valparaiso, to the national congress, in search of a solution
And that's what we'll see in the next section
After the occupation, the settlement Esperanza Andina decided to buy without a loan the land they were using
We negotiated with the owner and she put a price of 800 millions (16000 USD)
With a lot of sacrifice they managed to get that amount, but then, at the last minute, the owner changed her mind
The times she changed her mind we arrived here and it was like "You know what, the lady said that now we need more money"
So again we saved money for a year, some persons sold stuff from their houses, we did a gazillion things to save the money she asked us and then we went there and she said "No, now I want more"
By the third negotiation the pacted an agreement with the owner, when they fulfilled the required amount the celebration was done in the county's main square
The happiness wouldn't last long, by the sunset bad news arrived
So then they say, we need to have a meeting
And we all went down to see whats was going and the lady was like "nope"
The paper she had signed, supposedly wasn't legal
And again she didn't want to sell
So it was like, the biggest embarrassment we had ever done
It was an incredible humiliating situation
There was a lot of evil in that, and we suffered a lot of evilness
I thought the battle was lost
In a extreme measure, Jose Luis Flores started a dry hunger strike so that the owner of the land respected the agreement
He stopped eating and drinking, after three days he was down by 5 kg and by the fifth he suffered he went into cardiac arrest
It was a terrible time, terrible, we all thought Jose Luis was going to die
I thought he wasn't going to be able to withstand it
But it was his decision and we had to respect it
Jose Luis Flores managed to resist one week
On the eight day, he ended his hunger strike, after the housing minister intervened
This time even Edmundo Hermosilla (housing minister) signed the agreement with the owner
Which, after a while, again refused to sell
The settlement realized several demonstrations to put pressure on the owner and the authorities
But nothing worked
In three years of struggle, each family had saved 1 million (2000 USD)
and the price kept on rising
the last time, it nearly doubled
Maritza Villagra, vice president of the settlement came up with a formula to end the conflict from the roots
She proposed to travel to the congress and ask that by law they ordered a compulsory purchase of the land
At first the idea sounded crazy cause we had to go by foot
Why did you think it was a good option to walk to Valparaiso?
Because who could turn a blind eye to a thousand families
walking to Valparaiso, it was a walk of several hours, children, women and the elderly
Sandra Quiroz and Santiago Tapia live in the settlement
They are waste pickers and the idea to go walking to Valparaiso seemed like a useless sacrifice
Not by lack of trying or physical shape because from Monday to Friday they spend the nights on their tricycles going through the streets of Santiago
On those long journers their 4 year old son goes with them
the little Santiago, who by the time the march happened was a newborn
that's why his father decided to travel alone to Valparaiso
Carrying a backpack and the kid on my arms, "You won't even get to the corner" he used to say
So I told him "But Santiago why are you like that I want to know the sea I don't care about the march I care about the sea"
So the I told him: What if I get a stroller?
"The march of pain"
With a borrowed stroller and the dream of the sea, Sandra and Santiago started walking early to Valparaiso on a November Sunday
next to 1200 men, women and children
The goal was to arrive by Tuesday at 11 o'clock
It was a 116 km route in 48 hours , only stopping to eat and sleep
The march showed the real Chile
And it also showed the Chile that was possible to have
For the popular sectors, for the poor part of the country
It showed the biggest settlement in the country
belonging to the most extreme poverty
Raising a dignity flag they all knew what they were showing
They were absolutely sure they were setting an example for a different country
And they were also setting an example for all the poor people in the country
So then they said, we cant give up, not with this example we are setting
We can't be weak in this, they are looking at us
The women were a pillar
They took charge of the cooking
and provided water and healed those who got hurt
Like in all the history of the settlement, the women acted with bravery and determination
"The woman made the occupation"
To the occupation a lot of women arrived alone
while theirs husbands stayed doubtful
It wasnt long since they were in charge of the board working right next to the men
when they lacked opportunities, they made them
All the Fridays in the settlements there's a sewing workshop
on Saturdays there's cooking and acting classes
and on Sundays afternoon the classic women football match
The rest of the week with a lot of effort the finished their basic education in the night school
Today 60% of the settlement women works and provides for the home budget
Olga Leiva set the example and all the women in the organization followed her
Why does the woman always has to stay at home?
Sweeping, being enslaved to cleaning and cooking, here if the woman has to do something that day, then bad luck, and the man has to cook for himself
Here we truly enforced women's rights
If your husband yelled at you you yelled twice back
So then the women got more courageous
We reveled ourselves
Before it was the typical stuff, "my husband hits me, my husband hits me"
But then it was the opposite
"My wife hits me my wife hits me"
There was a bit of a revolution and it was good
the war against sexism was without quarter
with a special mystique and places to hang out
It's 12 o'clock in the settlement and a restricted women only party is just starting
the housewife and organizer
is Marcela Villaman
He respects my space so if I tell him I have a meeting at 9 and leave he won't question me
For how long? When are you coming back? Here both the man and the woman got liberated
And they became totally liberated
We've been doing these parties for four years
It's nice to have them
Because... when you go to a party or you get invited to a wedding you have to go with your three or four children
You have to go to that wedding with all your kids
So you don't relax in the party
So with this is like
It's like you are single, you are free, the world doesn't exist
During the march none of these women agreed to stay at home
Even more, after 50 kms of walking
The spirits started to flag
And it was them who lifted them
The human column was hurt, was suffering but kept on going in an heroic fashion
Despite people fainting, getting sunstroke and with severe foot damage
The march starting eating the road, eating the road and the road didn't eat them
It was dramatic
and...
the journalist called it the march of pain
People refused to get inside the ambulances, they were forced to do it and then by force they got down and said "I'm going to march so I march"
and the column didn't quit
There were minutes were the the people couldn't keep on going and you had to give them strength and encourage them because they were staying behind
I was in charge of staying in the back
Were you regretting proposing the idea?
For a while, yes, I thought it was too much what we had asked them to do
too much, because I felt awful and I thought about the elderly, the pregnant women the children, how they were feeling
how they were doing
During the second day of the march the most critical moment happened
The worsening of their condition was evident
And they realized that at that rhythm they wouldn't be able to arrive at the congress the next day
We were almost 200 injured
With ulcers on our feet.. and the people started walking faster and faster and faster
and then in one rhythm
a frantic rhythm, almost jogging
in silence
and the 1200 people started doing that
It was something I had never seen before
It's been years since then and I still remember what happened
and I cant quite explain it
it was a collective madness
And then we arrived at Peñuelas, destroyed
The next day the column entered the port of Valparaiso early
We advanced with pain, with pride and more than a thousand people exhausted
The city was in shock, they thought the march was an heroic thing
a feat rarely seen
How was that entrance to Valparaiso?
It was amazing, it was amazing seeing the amount of people that was there and how they received us, we never imagined it was going to be like that
I mean.. we were waiting a reception but no that the people was going to be there waiting for us with juices and everything else
as we passed by
My children.... my dad, my mom and my sister
were waiting for us in Valparaiso's main square
My mom she.. she got inside the line and ... hugged me and started crying
and so did my children
You know what I... what I feel then and wanted to scream was "I'm doing this for you"
To leave them... to get them a house
to leave them someplace where they...
where they can live... where they never
never again have to stay as "allegados" (people who live in other people houses because they cant afford to live on their own)
Our march was not for illusions
We have to tell the truth, with clarity and now
Filomena Narvaez had it coming (the owner of the land)
so now proceeds the compulsory purchase
That day the leaders of the settlement were heard by congressmen and ministers in the congress
They explained why they demanded a compulsory purchase
Outside, the rest of the people, exhausted, went to the main square to rest
except for Sandra Quiroz
Who insisted in going to the beach so she could see the sea and swim
Ya Ok, I said, lets go to the beach, yes everyone to the beach, how are we not going to the beach?
So we went to the beach
And I was with a short and a shirt and sneakers and I start running to the sea and I get inside and my mouth gets filled with water
Shago!!! (Santiago) - ¿What?
Everyone was looking at me
Why didn't you tell me that seawater was salty!
And all of this was burning
No Sandra he told me, the water of the sea has salt, so I ran away
I thought it was the same as the water from the rivers, sweet
The same day they arrived the congress approved the compulsory purchase of the land
And thanks to housing subsidies they could soon start building their new houses
But another obstacle appeared
unexpected
Who likes to have...
next to his house...
a settlement? a temporary settlement
While they were building the houses
that was the obstacle, the rejection of the neighbors
And that's what we'll see in our next segment
To build the new houses, the Esperanza Andina settlement
had to abandon the original land where the occupation started
We had to dismantle and rebuild 800 houses
in a similar settlement
on a hill
But in that place they lacked space
and there wasn't room for 200 families
To those persons the municipality
send them to a temporary place
right in front of
the beautiful condominiums of Peñalolen
That land didn't have water nor electricity
so that's why the 200 families
had to work day and night urbanizing it
For Yolanda Henriquez
who has 2 kids and is separated
saving the required money had a high emotional cost
We arrived exhausted at home, without energies.... to do nothing
and the next morning I woke up tired, I couldn't keep going
I knew that at night I had to work again
I left my children alone
when I arrived they were already sleeping
sometimes they didn't even get to eat at night because... they fell asleep
Just when the land destined to the 200 families
was ready to be used
a court order forbid his use
40 neighbors of the Valle Oriente condominium in Peñalolen
put an constitutional injunction so that the settlement didn't stay there
It was like a bucket of cold water
They were born and raised in Peñalolen
here they build up the dream of owning a house
but ironically, they got rejected
Peñalolen its expensive
it's expensive here
a house won't cost less than 10 million (20.000 USD)
a house it's 50 millions or 40 millions (100.000 USD - 80.000 USD)
So for them this is poverty
this destroy
all the beautiful things that Peñalolen has
so if you go through Tobalaba or Grecia up there (streets)
up till there everything is super nice
there Peñalolen ends
People from the outside came and bought nice houses and they made them inside here
inside the county
but they... they think the buy the right to live alone
that poor people have to corner themselves to give room for them
and that cannot be
The are
very nice and very expensives houses up there
and there we are stuck in the middle
the penniless of the county mixed within the rich guys
so that
they won't forgive us
For Felipe Plaza, the separation that has happened in Peñalolen
can also be observed at a bigger scale in all of Santiago
a city that according this member of the settlement, has condemned him to live on the outskirts of the city
this construction worker
is certain that there are two completely different Chile
one where he sleeps at night
and the other where he goes in the mornings
to earn his livelihood
Today he's s in "La Dehesa" where his cutter skills are well paid
Going out of the house... with your feet dirty... without a sidewalk
streets unpaved
You take the bus, then get down and you get there and everything is green
the houses have drainpipes like they are supposed to
the streets are well built, the water flows where it has to
the sewers don't get blocked
so...
you are like.... shocked you... you..
you disagree with god
at the beginning sometimes I even cried inside of me
So there I... if they ask me.. are you resentful?
I raise my hand and say - Yes, I'm resentful
because... I insist its...
it's too.. too unfair.. too unfair
Felipe Plaza was part of those 200 families from the settlement
that spent last year with their back against the wall
If they don't abandon the land where the occupation started
the construction of their houses was going to be paralyzed
1000 persons didn't have where live
that's why the settlement made threats
of occupying the Grecia avenue in Santiago
and move to that same street
their houses/mediaguas
The only think I asked god
is that I didn't want to end up in the streets
I don't care that he gave us this sacrifice, this test, but I didn't want to end up living in the streets
I don't want to humiliate myself more than what they have made me
The deadline to leave the land
was met last year on October 13th at midnight
that day the construction of the houses had to start no matter the cost
and the 200 families remained inside the land
all the places they asked for to live while the houses where built
were denied
On the morning of the 14th of October
the settlement gave the order
they rented 60 trucks
and loaded 200 mediaguas (small prefabricated wood houses)
At 7 in the morning
the board gave the order to occupy the street
"The occupation of the street"
It didnt take us long to rebuild my mom's house
It was a 3 x 6 meters "room"
The boys took charge of nailing it
I had never seen such a good organization
Because everything happened in order
It wasn't chaos, everything was done in the right way, no house collided with the other and the street ended up right in the middle.
I arrived..
with anger, with sadness
crying.. that's how arrived
You didn't have a way to enter
all the rooms were together
all dropped in the ground
there were some that were just getting build
it was like a maze
A lot of persons lost their "rooms" (houses)
I lost the majority of my rooms
I wanted to forget i was there back then
in the floor
All soiled filled with dust
I really think people couldn't handle more then, they were tired
They didnt want to continue
They were tired of keeping on going
In four hours of work the settlement rebuild the 200 mediaguas (prefabricated wood houses)
in the street
Peñalolen's municipality ended up surrounded the houses
Not even settlement inhabitants could believe what they were seeing
their houses in the highway
because they didn't have where to live
This act of defiance forced the municipality
to use their parking lot to provide housing for the families
On October 13th at 5 pm
a new exodus started
now from the streets to the municipality parking lots
Ironically their houses/mediaguas ended 10 meters away from the land they had urbanized but didn't get
Each family got a space of 3 x 4 meters
They hate poor people
Which is totally different to what I feel
I feel that I hate poverty
I hate it.. I hate it because...
because it forces us to humiliate ourselves
because we need to stay in dirty street with bad food and bad clothing
so I hate poverty
and I hate it a lot, but I don't hate poor people
because it's not their fault that they are poor
They are not to blame for having a life without opportunities
as do others who have money
and who feel they own the county
There are fences
that divide you
they are building fences even in the settlements
You need to go all the way around if you want to go some place
And what does that mean?
it means people want to isolate themselves more
Instead of being a group of human beings who look for a solution for their problems
It's the opposite
it's the individualism of the human being
he's an omnipotent being inside his four walls and the fence that separates him from the street
Maids have an ID card so that they can get in
I cleaned houses so I had to go all the way around same as the construction workers
It's ridiculous.. you enter another world and there's grass everywhere
I take my shoes off and it's a disaster for them it's in extremely bad taste and they know that you belong somewhere else
But if for something is worth at least I step on their grass
that's something that I least I can get some pleasure from
Well... you were born poor... and as they say "If you were born a cricket you are going to die singing" (chilean saying)
So well.. you are used to do it, I am at least
but I'm happy, I'm happy in my poverty
Because I don't owe a cent to anyone
nor I bother anyone
The first hours in the parking lot were hard
900 people were without water, electricity, bathrooms or sewers
The biggest families were allowed to build 2 floors houses to alleviate the obvious lack of space
Despite living close to other condominiums they didn't have issues
the installation of several scaffolding nets helped in that regard
they also built a concrete wall that blocked the view of the wood houses
If they had installed that wall before we had arrive it would have been different
because the wall would have been here before us
But no, they waited 2 weeks since we had arrived to build it
It pissed me off because... they hide the poverty
they cover it
To agree to put that wall there was to corner us
exclude us so one sees us
And I thought that was...
super degrading, extremely humiliating
The feeling of social segregation was too hard to overcome
for the people of Esperanza Andina
but they did something typical of them
and sadly, too atypical
for how we face conflicts in our country
They decided on October 12 of last year
to visit those same neighbors
who rejected them
to pay them a friendly visit and even gave them flowers
And that's it what we'll see in the next section
5 meters high walls and several scaffolding nets
separated for several weeks the 200 families of Esperanza Andina
from the rest of Peñalolen
they felt captive like in a ghetto
that's why on a saturday morning
they decided to end the conflict
and entered without permission to the Valle Oriente Condominium
the same one where the legal actions originated
they went door to door gifting clove pinks
It was something we prepared to make them see
to the people of Valle Oriente
that the people that live in settlements have a heart
so they could see that poor people are good
Hello, good afternoon, we are the neighbors from the settlement Esperanza Andina and we are here to give you this flower
It wasn't a provocation
It was showing them that what the settlement doest have in money
it has in human richness
Of course the women and children from the settlement
entered the condominium with a bit of fear
at least with wariness
and in fact in some houses there was only silence for an answer
in others there wasn't anyone home but...
gradually the reception started to change
and...
there was a bit of crying
there were some smiles
there was a connection
I want you to know that what you are about to see
was recorded by the people from the settlement, they are not recreations
and Jimena Nin
was one of the people that got a flower in Valle Oriente
The fact that she had came to give me a flower embarrassed me
I thought.... they...
who are being rejected by us
come to my place and give me a flower, I was ashamed
I would have liked to give her the flower myself and tell her: You know what?
I was afraid that you were going to do something to us
How has been the experience after two months?
well... nothing has happened
and maybe its ugly for me to say it but..
you know that there's poverty in Chile and there's lots of it but...
it's different when you have it at 200 meters
or to see it everyday
The clove pinks marked the milestone that helped to ease the relations between the Peñalolen neighbors
even more, after a few weeks
started the construction of the Esperanza Andina community
at last the dream that had been growing for more than seven years
started to take shape
for the first time in several years, an illegal occupation changed the fate of the poverty stigma
that's how the next September 18th they'll receive the key to their houses
It's going to be an unforgettable day
for lots of them, the most important day in their lives
"The house is finally ours"
My mom is going to get her home and she´s old
she has worked a lot to finally get her home
and I pray to god all the nights
I say the only think I ask you
is that my mom...
gets to see her house, gets to enjoy it
not only that she sees it you know?
if my mom dies before that
I'm going to pass through the door
I'm going to hug my child
I'm gonna get on my knees and say: At last my child, this is your house
because its going to be a release a rest because at last. . .
it'll be like water running through your face you are going to rest
you'll be at your home and
and you'll be able to sleep all the time you want, there won't be a neighbor knocking on your door early telling you that you have to work
I imagine myself opening the door, I picture everyone opening the doors at the same time
I don't know I figure its going to be an emotion. . .
I think that day in the night.. I've always thought this
that day in the night there's gonna be music everywhere
and we are gonna drink a lot
I'll be enormously happy
and that's what I want the most
to leave something to my children
and what I want is to get rid of all these sticks
of everything
to abandon this place here
and go to my new house
You are going to throw away these planks? -Yes
I want to burn them
And why are you going to burn the old house?
because...
it's the end of all the bad memories
I'm going to start a new life
After seven years of struggle
It's time to celebrate the "tijerales" (the end of the construction process )
and for that nothing better than a giant barbecue
in the same land where the occupation started
they went all out on the celebration
with joy, with the triumphs and the failures
with the memory of all those who are already gone
without getting a taste of the long waited dream
but there are no grudges
the pain of the struggle and the days without sleeping is now forgotten
all that is left is to inaugurate the houses
that day a new life is going to start
but also the spirit and bravery of the settlement will start to die
the hope from the andes (Esperanza Andina)
will transform into a village
one of the others that get mixed in the outskirts of Santiago
this afternoon all the settlement is dancing
they are tasting victory without being able to hide the sadness
because an important part of their lives
will be gone forever
we are gonna to miss because now you won't be walking through roads of dirt but asphalt
there won't be more of those Christmas parties we used to do
and that was beautiful and I think once we get our houses a lot of those things are going to disappear
because now everyone.... everyone is going to take care of their own business
it won't be the same
The settlement is never going to die
because I'm gonna tell my daughters, and they will their their daughters and so forth
and this will always, always be a settlement
because hope dies last
and you never run out of hope
that's why Esperanza Andina, Andina because of the Andes
and Esperanza (Hope) for all the hope we had
that someday
that not tomorrow or the day after, we are going to have a home, and now we have it
Hope dies last
that's why Esperanza Andina
and it's going to be Esperanza Andina always
Subtitles by PL
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mad thanks to Probe1, SirJolt, grnp and TL ;)