It was in the first months of 2012 that we made our first visits to the area in order to introduce ourselves and to meet the Council of the Native Community of Orosmayo Grande and Orosmayo.

The Punta Jujeña is a “melting pot” of various peoples, who are, in many cases, related to one another, but do not have communication nor participate in the same council or decision making due to historical causes. This is exactly the case we found in Orosmayo, which is divided in two groups, and each have their own legal entity status and their own political organization.

Within this situation framework, we started to attend the Council meetings and initiated socializing tasks so as to consider what things we, the Local Community and the Company, could do together.

That was the moment we came across the idea of beginning the construction of housing in order for them to have space to accommodate the people who participate in the patron saint festivities, as well as the people who would go to work in the area.   

Additionally, it was also considered that the housing construction would allow the Local Community a genuine economic income as well as work for those who live in Orosmayo that could start offering services for the tourists and visitors of the area.

The housing construction is currently in an advanced stage, and we hope that the weather conditions will allow us to finish the work and inaugurate the housing facilities this year in Orosmayo. 

Due to the creation of housing for tourists and visitors from other places, the concern arose that there was a lack of hot water in the community bathrooms. This is why, this year, we continued to install solar water heaters specially designed for the Puna Jujeña. Needless to say that having access to such vital service has been a very significant change for the locals.

The work done by ESPÍRITU DE LOS ANDES in the area of Project Ajedrez can be described as collaborative and not as unilateral or as that of a benefactor. The Company carries out its work with great corporate social responsibility, but with the strong belief that working together, having the Local Community and the Company each bring their resources, makes it possible to come closer and develop projects to their completion, and not halfway. This has allowed us to make the two local Communities of Orosmayo come together and start to write new history for all the inhabitants of the area.

This belief has led us to build a solid relationship with the Local Communities and has allowed us to celebrate together various significant festivities over the course of the year, such as Children’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, among others.

We celebrated the latest Father’s Day, along with some of the birthdays of the current month, together with both communities of the Orosmayo Natives. On that occasion, we gave all the fathers of the area gifts from ESPÍRITU DE LOS ANDES. Likewise, Children’s Day was also celebrated with the locals.