Tag: Daisy

I am walking down the streets of Soacha, a town of 500,000 that surrounds Bogotá. The neighborhood is called “San Nicolas,” a poor sector with two-story houses made from brick. Above the rooftops hang electric cables.

Shoes are draped over the cables, hanging from their laces. They seem to me to be part of the decoration. But later someone explains to me that gangs put them there to mark their territory.

This is a typical day in October, with sun in the morning and rain in the afternoon.

I keep walking under the sun through the streets searching for the student center, and I find all kinds of small businesses along the way, such as small stores where women can buy food to make their daily meals and a few Internet cafes with video games.

Children are visiting the stores. A few minutes later, I cross by a street seller of fresh fish, as a couple of street dogs search around him for food.

Behind the moving people and buses, I spot the student center. I arrive at the same time that Michael and Jeferson do. (more…)

I know poverty. I have lived with it. So I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary on my way to Shan’s house. I was carrying two bags of groceries as I negotiated my way through the crowded neighborhood. Then I stopped. I literally felt a thud on my heart and tears began to roll.