This Promised Land, El Sal

Ten years ago thousands of men, women, and children from El Salvador fled to Honduras to escape government repression and violence. They gathered together into a refugee camp, Colomoncagua. What began as a disorganized collection of individuals would develop into a near-utopian community of 8,400 people. The refugees arrived as illiterate and frightened peasants with little experience with democratic institutions; within a few years they transformed the camp into an economically active, democratic, and participatory society. Steve and Beth Cagan tell the story of the refugees' harrowing flight, their determination to make a better life for themselves, and their brave decision to return to El Salvador. We learn of the refugees' successful efforts at developing education, occupational training, improved nutrition, health care, gender equality, and participatory democracy despite extreme poverty and confinement and repression from the Honduran government. But even as they were creating a new life for themselves, the refugees were longing for their homeland, El Salvador. After long and complex negotiations with the governments of Honduras and El Salvador, the refugees repatriated, literally picking up their community and crossing over the border. There, in early 1990, they established a new city named for one of the slain Jesuit priests, Dr. Segundo Montes, where they hope to maintain their communitarian style of work and organization. This compelling story is illustrated with over one hundred superb photographs of the refugees and their community. The pictures and text work together, inspiring us to believe that people can sustain hope and can work to improve the conditions of their lives even in the worst circumstances.