From the Heart...
My recent trip to Mexico afforded me the opportunity to meet the volunteers and families of Families at the Dump in Puerto Vallarta. These families literally live at a dump site. They sort through the rummage to salvage and sell anything that may be of value: cans, wire, plastic, etc. These are moms, dads and children working alongside each other to support themselves in any manner possible. Government assistance is not an option. So they do what they can to procure their next meal. They live, literally, one day at a time. The volunteers at Families at the Dump have built a school nearby, and structured an incentive program for students and parents alike where they can earn points to purchase food, clothing or other goods. Some of the families have been able to build homes just outside of the dump on a road that has become known as Hope Road. Their homes are built with anything they can find to create four walls and a ceiling, held together with nails and bottle caps used as washers. Homes built mostly from perseverance. And hope.
They are beginning to discover the outside world through computers donated to the school. They learn English and are provided a lunchtime meal. And with smiling faces they play soccer on the dirt road....with no shoes.
It's so easy to judge and offer so-called solutions to the myriad of challenges these people face. But those judgments come from educated, privileged minds. How can anyone possess knowledge of something they've never been taught or experienced?
I took some pictures of this forgotten place and wanted to share them with you.
Thank you to the amazing volunteers who have dedicated their time, in fact their lives, to helping those less fortunate to become more.
To find out more, please visit: http://www.familiesatthedump.org/
