On point 2 the change was that the community members didn't have much funds and we relied more on each other to make things happen then these government grants (actually forgivable loans - you were loaned the money to build your house and as long as that remained your permanent residence for 5 years after that time the loan was forgiven) came out and people just seemed to start doing their own thing and we seemed to drift apart more. During this time the community hall burnt down too so that might have contributed to the drifting apart.