DESPERATION IN THE DUMP

I saw something that impacted me the last time I visited the dump, with the Willamette Community Church group.  The teenagers wanted to hand out some extra food to some men who did not come to the meeting.  I told them it would be a lot of walking, and they said that was OK, that is why they came.  We headed to a huge black, smoldering mountain of garbage and rounded it to the south side.  There, in a wall of smoke, were men scraping through the garbage looking for metal.  They had no masks, and no way to escape breathing the noxious fumes directly.  They were so desperate for a little money, they were risking their health and even their lives for a few pesos they might glean from the garbage.  I have been working with garbage pickers all 22 years of my time in Mexico, but I had never seen anything so awful and dangerous.  They had a non-chalant attitude about it, but when we drew close, the smoke was choking us, and I just couldn't believe how desperate they must be.  Pray for them.