The Colombian family went from the horror of being threatened by the FARC guerrillas in Colombia, for land that they demanded, to the peace of slowly discussing gastronomy in Brañuelas (León, 200 neighbors). The couple and their two children left Cali and its three million inhabitants for Spain, where they landed in December 2019, to request asylum. Then they entered a loop of paperwork, bureaucracy and doubts until a project by the León Provincial Council and various associations gave them a solution: to settle in a small town. The conditions pushed them to accept the challenge, since they gave them employment, support with housing and the kids would be enrolled in school. Brañuelas, in return, gained life, a future and the reopening of a classroom.
Tranquility rules on a terrace of an old railway station transformed into a modern bar next to the train sleepers and the mischievous children running around in the garden. The sun bathes the slate roofs and stone walls, as common in León as they are strange in Colombia, while RO and JM, who ask not to reveal their identity, relate their adventures. A ring of chairs welcomes the members of the NGOs that have facilitated their process and the mayor, Carolina López (PSOE), also the promoter of the New Beginning plan, which defends the inclusion of migrants in places at demographic risk. "They are the last trains that pass through the towns, we do not see another future," sighs the energetic councilor, critical of the few railways that stop at the nearby station.Thanks to these minors, they have managed to increase the number of students and have a new classroom at the school.
López insists on demanding more transportation, services and coverage so that "the towns fill up." The people of Brañuelas hardly have communication with Astorga, head of the region and health reference for vaccinations or pediatricians, since a distance that is covered by car in just 40 minutes, round trip, by public transport forces them to dedicate the entire day, given the scarcity of frequencies. Not to mention, he stresses, that "the townspeople can also go to Madrid", an almost chimerical service despite the number of trains that cross these parts of León and connect the center of Spain with the northwest. For the moment, he consoles himself, the arrival of families has allowed the opening of two bars and a store, quite a news. Their new neighbors, who will soon celebrate a year as Leonese, celebrate their welcome:"They have all helped us and thus help us build community." In addition, they have known the authentic cold and snow, unprecedented in their homeland.
One of the keys that has marked their well-being on Leonese soil is through the “community” that they have met, despite having arrived without any link with their new home.
Kids can go out without fear of cars or being alone, as there will always be someone who is walking, spending the afternoon on a bench or working outside and who can take a look at the minors who fill the room with so much fun. Brañuelas center as well as the great swimming pools and soccer fields of the place.
Refugee family living in Brañuelos.Javier Casares
The family anticipates that with the savings they are managing to accumulate thanks to the affordability of living in a town, they are studying to open a Colombian food business.
"We want to have our business, in Cali we ran it and we both liked it a lot," celebrate the future entrepreneurs, who aspire to create a job and give back to the town the love and resources they have been given from day one.
The faces of the South Americans show disgust when speaking of the slowness suffered in their path towards trying to normalize their situation.
It all started with the Police in Madrid, who referred them to the Samur Social and the Red Cross;
later they landed in Salamanca through the Accem association, until they were offered the option of Brañuelas.
Lorena Alonso, representative of the Diaconía solidarity group, highlights the "labor and personal insertion" needed by those whom the institutions take so long to answer. The role of NGOs, which are coordinated with the Department of Migration, gains strength to offer accommodation or training for those who will not always be lucky: only 5% of requests for international protection are accepted in Spain, according to data from the Interior, very far from the European average. The alternative to achieve the "social roots" of three years that allows to regularize their situation is to "look for a life", laments Vicente Guillán, from Cáritas León, getting by with "b contracts" that promote "exploitation and lack of care public ”. Another family has been located in Alcahueces within this repopulation plan and, although they prefer anonymity,their experience is also “satisfactory”, according to the NGOs.
A similar repopulation model was applied last year in La Alcarria (Guadalajara).
There, in the town of Pareja, three Venezuelan families settled whose children allowed another classroom to reopen at the school.
Now these immigrants, who work with the support of the Pueblos con Futuro platform, reside integrated in the place and pay the rent of the houses with the income they obtain from their jobs.
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Colombians living in León, for their part, are grateful that they can finally dedicate themselves to enjoying life beyond the working day.
He works in a local heather harvesting company, which employs both the region and material for the pool umbrellas;
she assists the elderly.
The mayor applauds their involvement while they deny the clichés about foreigners: "We have to show that we come to contribute," they complain about the prejudices that some promote against immigrants. The children, who play in the park, look puzzled when asked if they have been well received, as if it were insultingly obvious that they were.
Antonio Morayo, 73, walks through this historic mining town and combines a classic cachaba (cane) with a modern cap with a panther. He too, like other parishioners who have a coffee in the sun, appreciates the arrival of foreigners: "They keep the towns, there are fewer and fewer people." And he continues on his way, without haste, in a Brañuelas that thanks to the Colombian touch and Senegalese and Gambian workers who dedicate themselves to the heather has managed to haggle the omens that predicted its extinction.