It was the day that once again, they wove together their lives and their skills by lighting the bonfire in Old Mampuján.

Together, they built a living museum of memory, and spoke out again to tell the world that they are alive and willing to revive their daily life, to gather around the fire to the rhythm of bullerengue songs and old-time sones on the accordion, and to eat turtle stew and sweet pastries.

They came in pilgrimage from New Mampuján to Old Mampuján, bringing their belongings, their furniture, their dressers, their sewing machines, their stories full of feeling and vivid memories, stories that are retold, but never forgotten.

It was the day they told the world that their dignity was intact. And despite the impunity and the enormous effort of seeking reparation, they would continue to defend their life, their dreams, and the memory of those they had lost.

That new loom, woven by the skillful hands of their craftswomen, will tell the story of that long day and night of return to the land of their birth, the land where they grew up, the land in which one day, hopefully, they will be happy again.

Rosángela Roncallo Bayuelo
Education coordinator for the Montes de María Línea 21 Public Relations Collective

Second prize