How They Survive
They survive off of what everyone else discards.
Amongst hundreds of stray dogs, vultures, medical waste, decaying animals, and all of Oaxaca’s trash work more than 125 men, women, and children. Under the intense Mexican sun, these noble individuals tear into bags of trash searching for items they can sell or use to help them survive.
Human beings, especially children, should not have to live like this.
Mexico is the world’s greatest consumer of soft-drinks. With no real recycling program, millions of plastic bottles get thrown into the trash. Our friends in the dump work every day, from dawn to dusk, picking plastic bottles, tin cans, and cardboard out of the trash. Selling these items to be recycled may yield them $1 a day.
Almost invisible in a mountain of trash, Jorge (age 11) picks through the garbage trying to survive.
