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Life along the river
Colombian children from the rural black communities on the Pacific coast, living in a tropical rain forest environment.

Colombian girls playing along the river banks.
Afrocolombian communities living along the river.

Rural black communities who have traditionally inhabited the lands along the river banks in the region.
The black communities are seen as a threat by those who maintain an interest in capitalizing on the enormous natural wealth of the area.

The ancestral rights of the black and indian communities, reflected in the constitution, are seen as an obstacle to exploitation and development.
Children caught up in this conflict between guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Education, amidst the threats, intimidation and grinding poverty.
Massacres, intimidation and spreading terror among rural populations become the principle strategies of paramilitary groups.

Poverty makes Colombia one of the most unequal societies in the world today.
Families caught up in a climate of violence and terror, baking bread.

The countryside is slowly being evacuated by unprecedented levels of peasant displacements to the cities.
Joining the ranks of the displaced in the cities, and looking out-of-place in an urban context.

War on Want works with Palenque el Congal, a grassroots organisation run by and supporting marginalised Afro-Colombian communities.
Thousands of families move to poverty stricken slums on the periphery of Colombia's major cities.

Palenque el Congal helps these people defend their rights and try to limit further displacement of the families in the river delta.
Not one day passes where the national media do not report on massacres and human pain of indescribable extent.

Forced to flee their ancestral lands and fearing for their lives.
There are some three million displaced people in Colombia living in poverty.

Vulnerable minorities like the Afro-Colombian river communities suffer the most.
Boat arriving with displaced people from the community of San JoséBoat arriving with displaced people from the community of San José

Poverty of the displaced Afro-Colombians, caught in the crossfire between para-militaries and drug trafficers, campaign for War on Want.
In the face of grinding poverty, the spirit of ordinary people shines through.

Law 70 is a Colombian statute legally recognizing the Afro-Colombian minority as a distinct ethnic group with territorial and cultural rights to their land.
Military, armed to the teeth, and kidding around.

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