a repost of an old photo. Got this message on my Facebook page this afternoon from Lillian Hall, the director of ProNica, a non-for-profit organization based in Nicaragua whose many projects include feeding the children of La Chureca, a landfill in Managua, Nicaragua. We take so much for granted until we become witnesses to other's sufferings then we realize how blessed we are.
I remembered the frenzy of the residents of the landfill whenever a garbage truck with fresh garbage would come in. Men, women and children would rush to claim the garbage. The more abled ones would race to catch the truck as it moves through the landfill. It's such a tragedy that humans should fight over garbage like carrions over dead flesh, but that's what it was like there. Here's her message to me:
Sam, it is with a heavy heart that I write that one of the people you photographed at La Chureca died today, run over by a garbage truck. His name was Sergio Silva Arias and you took an amazing portrait of him looking sideways at you against a white background. It's one of the photos you blew up and framed. He was such a funny character and one of my favorite young men there.
www.pronica.org