They make about $100 a month. But they only get paid for what they can find out of the trash to recycle. One family said they pay $60 a month in rent for 2 concrete shacks that are both about 12x12 ft for the living area and another 8x4 foot bedroom. There were no doors at all. A sheet was the front door and a sheet hung in the middle of the main room to give some "privacy" to the single bed. They had a make shift outhouse outside.
They rarely have enough money for food so they look through the trash for meat that has been thrown out. This is often the only food they bring home to their families for the next day's meal. One family we visited had only one member that was able to work. The grandmother, Maria, worked nights at the dump for the last 30 years. Her husband has also worked for that long but is incapacitated now either by a stroke of the result of all the sickness and chemicals he has been exposed to there. They cannot afford medicine so he sits alone on the bed without being able to see or hear. Maria's daughter, Carmen, has a 1 month old baby girl, Shirley, so she is unable to work. The baby's father isn't in the picture any more.
Their life is just a picture of how many of the workers live. They are in desperate need. They need food, clothing, shelter, education, and most of all the hope that only be found in a living God who cares for each one of them more than they know.
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