On La Chureca: Health, Home, Hope
In our last two posts, (here and here) we got an inside look at La Chureca, Managua’s city dump that serves as residence for more than 115 families. Managua -Nicaragua’s capital- is growing fast. As the city grows, so does its trash production. More than 1,200 tons of garbage is produced and added to the dump daily. As one would imagine, living in such a dump come with grave health consequences. Churequeros breathe in harsh chemicals from waste day in and day out. Trash is constantly being burned, which produces toxic smoke that hangs over the walled city. These fires are started by...
Read MoreBetween Trash Mountains
In our previous post, Freyja took us on an adventure through Nicaragua, opening a window to the walled trash-city of La Chureca. Some may know La Chureca as the pile of trash Anthony Bourdain visited with his show, No Reservations. A single visit to the dumb had Anthony almost to tears. Getting to know the landfill’s school shows that all kids have the same imagination and desire to learn, even those with virtually no opportunities on their horizon. Freyja’s teen travel group saw that compared to La Chureca, many impoverished communities look like “the good life”: “Beyond the...
Read MoreBreaking walls of La Chureca with Friendship
“Nothing could have prepared me for the town of La Chureca. We rode through the tumble of makeshift homes constructed from bits of cardboard boxes, beer cans, barbed wire, and draped with pieces of misshapen metal sheath for roofing. Instead of colored paint, the outsides of the tiny houses were collaged with faded advertisements for Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Sony Electronics and countless others. Our tires rumbled on toward the only building not based in garbage, the school. It’s white cinder blocks glow[ed] in the dusty air. The van came to a stop, and the door slid open. A wave of sour air...
Read More