The Mayagna community of Awas Tingi has about 2,400 members in the municipality of Waspam in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region.
The Mayagna learn Miskito to communicate with the indigenous people in the surrounding villages, and Spanish is the language of education and government in Nicaragua.
On the outer edge of town, a model farm has been established, in which people learn how to grow beans, pineapple, manioc, and bananas, as well as the livestock of hogs and chickens, among other crops.
It has two sets of solar panels, used to charge batteries in order to power lights in the primary school when meetings are held there at night.
They were in dispute as the government had granted a logging concession to private interests in Mayagna traditional territory without consulting with the people, and despite their complaints and requests to demarcate their land.
Under a 2007 resolution, land which the government illegally granted to veterans of the civil war were to be returned, and the people of Awas Tingni were to receive title to a total of 73,394 hectares (181,360 acres).
In 2004 the first phase of the demarcation and titling process was completed with a diagnostic study and set of maps documenting the community’s demographics and traditional land tenure.