Garbage Dump Life

As we drove around the different barrios, I felt my hope slipping away. These living conditions are horrifying, demeaning and completely devastating. No human being should have to live in such poverty. These little shantys start out with the straw and sticks, sometimes newspaper is used as insulation. The floor, of course, is sand. As they earn a few dollars here and there they are able to buy bricks every now and then. Eventually they will collect enough bricks to put around the outside. These shanty-type houses are often no more than an 8x11 foot space, sometimes small than that. And it is there that whole families must reside.
But what about the bathroom? I always find myself, like most people in the West, wondering where the nearest clean bathroom is. As often happens when living in a place with unclean water, sometimes it becomes necessary (urgent even) to run to the bathroom. But in the barrios the nearest bathroom is simply behind your house. You go outside, do your business and then cover it up with sand. You don't have to be in the medical field to know that that's not sanitary- that that's how diseases are spread.
In some barrios though, there is an actual toilet. usually just one though, for the whole community to share. But even that one toilet is a rare commodity. And what happens when you have bad diarrhea in the middle of the night? These are the living conditions in the barrios. But it gets worse. Would you believe it if I told you that the barrios were a step up from the way that many people live here?
We were leaving one of the barrios where we had put in a type of septic system for the only toilet there. Jaime wanted to show us the garbage dumps. We drove around for awhile looking at various dumps with heaps and heaps of trash. People just dumped wherever, they just threw their trash wherever they saw fit. At first I was really frustrated. Why do people just throw their trash wherever they want to? Why isn't somebody doing something about the massive piles and piles of garbage? These people could live much better lives, with less sickness and disease if they weren't dumping their trash next to their homes.
Those were all the thoughts going through my head at first. But then... I began to realize that without the dumps a lot of people would die. People scrounge for food through all of that trash. And some people will collect different things to hopefully sell for a small amount of money. I even noticed that some people live in the garbage dumps. Can you imagine living in garbage? Having your children born and raised in a dump? Allowing them to romp through it, not just to play, but to survive? This is their way of life. These people are doing just that. When a new load of trash comes in, people fight each other for it.
Now if that doesn't make you want to weep, I do'nt know what would. I don't know what to make of this. I don't know how to wrap my mind around it. I don't want to become desensitized to it all. Yet how do I have compassion without my heard breaking to pieces? But something has to be done. This was never God's intention. And as much as it breaks my heart to see it, I know it hurts God so much more. Those are his children suffering and pilfering through trash in order to survive. Something has to change. What can possibly be done? Who can help them? Compassion is one thing, but compassion with action is only pity. And pity gets us nowhere.

I see them playing among the broken glass
And searching for food in the piles of trash
Their clothes are tattered and they're covered in sand
A baby among them, to young to even stand
Dirt covered faces and lice infested hair
They scour the trash piles with feet that are bare
They wrestle each other for a black piece of bread
The obvious winner decides to share it instead
One by one they grab a tiny piece
Their eyes light up as if it's a giant feast
Some eat it quickly out of excitement or fear
But some save it for later, it needs to be shared
These children are young, no older than five
Born into these dumps with a need to survive
Too poor for education, no hope for success
This cycle of poverty is a never ending process
From generation to generation the same families exist
Is it only to toil and suffer and perish?

Something that blows my mind about all of this is that the majority of the people in the city have never been to the barrios. They are oblivious to the way these people live... and they only live a few miles apart. It makes you wonder, what's right around the corner from where I live that I am completely oblivious to?