History of the Community Hacienda Vieja
As the elders tell, the people that founded the community arrived at the site in 1934. They were 5 families who didn't have a place to live or a land to crop. As the site of the community had no legal owner, they settled down. Four of the families settled on pieces of land just big enough to build their homes and raise a small crop to live. The fifth family took most of the land because they were economically better off than the rest. The first name of the community was named after this family. They were a hard working family, dedicated to farming the land, growing sugar cane, maize, beans and rice, and to raising cattle and mining limestone on their land. The families living in the community used to have permanent jobs within the farm.
In 1945, new families settled in the Hacienda, working as "colonos" (farm workers that were given pieces of land to crop as well as a salary, in exchange for their work).
In 1967, for unknown reasons, the family gave the Hacienda to other relatives and reestablished themselves somewhere else. The new owners dedicated themselves almost exclusively to raising cattle and considerably reduced the needed labor. In 1970, without knowing that the farm was no longer an employment source, new families established themselves in land near the Hacienda. Resenting the lack of labor due to the new owners, the population of the community held a big meeting in which they decided to change the name of the community to "Hacienda Vieja" (Old Farm), as a way of showing their feelings about the changes.
In the 1980s, during the Civil War that affected most of the country, 7 more families settled in the community. These families were running away from the abuses they experienced from the army and the injustice of the war. The department of Cabañas was one of the most involved in the war; highly affected in every way and almost isolated from the entire country. The towns within the department were places most people never wanted to visit, and the people in these communities didn't have any contact with the rest of the country. The Hacienda had stopped working by now, and people survived cropping their own land and living in extreme, undeveloped, poverty conditions. The community was not organized in any way, for the fear raised by the war (an organized community was usually associated with communism and therefore targeted by the army). They didn't have any basic supply services, no piped drinking water, no electricity, and no telephones. The community was non-responsive, static, and arid about their development.
In 1992, after the peace agreements were signed, a local nongovernmental organization arrived in the community looking for leaders and outstanding persons that could work as health promoters. In that time, although it was after the war, it was kind of daring and very difficult to be talking about community leaders; but after several meetings, the community opened their arms and doors to development, starting the PROSAMI Health program, sponsored by USAID and executed by OEF. This first approach resulted not only in health care for the people, but included the training and education of community leaders, and the global organization of the community.
The community organized so well they chose a Community Board, which immediately identified bigger necessities; the nearest health clinic was 6 km away, they did proposals to get piped water, electricity, etc. One of the biggest problems was that children below 7 years old didn't have a place to socialize, play and develop their skills. In 1993, a volunteer started taking care of the children below 7, within a stimulation and early education program. The first 20 kids inscribed in the education program called CEDI (Children Development and Stimulation Centers-Pre School). In the beginning mothers doubted in sending their children, but right now dozens of children have graduated from the CEDI and are now studying in a school 1 km away.
