Women like this one, a local Chola Cuencana, have strong backs, bending and bent. Years of collecting what they can, and what they need.
There is no “gift” of poverty. But living in a developing country like Ecuador, even in our beautiful modern city of Cuenca, it’s obvious that materials for building, clothing, and sources of food, are not taken for granted. Recycling is a way of life for most. There’s a sensibility especially among the many hard working poor, that “stuff” isn’t to be taken for granted and that the ebb and flow of earth’s resources is valued. Very little is wasted. This woman in the video is collecting earth-scraps and the shedding bark of the eucalyptus. And right at the end you can see the ever-present blue face mask (off her nose).
