@sneezemonkey
Yeah, that's what I was gonna guess. Paying them a wedding dowry for Tita, they get together 'officially' and the village can accept the aid without losing face/pride.
Or, if they were to become 'official', and he's accepted as part of the village (I don't mean staying though) his aid would just be like any other villager working to repair the damage.
I think the dowry way is more likely, but it may be something totally different than either of my guesses.