Here a young boy collects waste at a landfill to sell for recycling in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Picking through garbage is how millions of people around the world make their livelihoods. A friend suggested I read “Trash” by Andy Mulligan, about three “dumpsite boys” who make a living picking through mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a Philippine city. It’s a wonderful little book & one of the protagonists describes that picking through waste for resalable items involves plowing through human & animal excrement. This is no way for a human being, let alone our children, to survive. Many ask why millions of immigrants make the perilous trek from Central America through Mexico to the US border. This photo more than explains why, but of course it doesn’t offer a solution. US economic & military predation in Honduras is the reason children are forced to work & are subjected to such hazardous employment. Part of the solution is to demand the US end all economic & military relationships with Honduras. Those young migrants have a right to work in the US but they don’t want to leave their families & homeland just to find work scrubbing dishes or picking fruits here for chump change. They want work in their own countries. And that is their right & our duty to support. (Photo by Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)
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