Life of commoners in Bolivia

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

BOLIVIA | Thursday, 4 July 2013 | Views [488] | View Larger Image

Street Urchin: La Paz is crowded by kids soliciting for money. I saw him at a park. There was something about the expressions on his face that caught my attention: a cocktail of despair, anguish, helplessness and agony all throwing a thin curtain over leftovers of a lost smile. When I asked him why he doesn’t go to school, he said “what would I eat?” Before I could ask his name, he grabbed the coins from my hand and ran off to solicit another foreigner. NB: For continuation of my story, please take this as photo # 2. (I could not change the order of the photos)

Leap of faith:
In between the moments of hardships to keep their families well-fed and cared for, people of Bolivia have learnt to derive pleasures from very small things in life. I saw Juan, Aleron and Cassius (L-R) playing around at the shore of Lake Titicaca. I asked these friendly kids to jump from the boardwalk while I capture their jump from behind and they enthusiastically agreed. I think this picture is an ultimate expression of human joy: the vibrant colors of the sky and the water are a perfect backdrop to the care-free attitude of the kids in spite of having just entered an intimidating world of adversities.
NB: For continuation of my story, please take this as photo # 5. (I could not change the order of the photos)

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Casting the net:
Kato lives in Pampa on the edge of Lake Titicaca. He is 18 and has a 9 months old daughter. During the day he works as a driver transporting goods from La Paz to Copacabana. He starts from Pampa every day at 6 AM to reach La Paz at 8. He tries to make 2 rounds between La Paz and Copacabana that are 3 hours apart and he gets 40-60 Bolivianos (6-9 USD) if he also helps in loading/unloading the goods. This daily income is not enough to take care of his family so he fishes during the night, sometimes until midnight. He does not have a boat, so he mostly does shore fishing. Due to this schedule, he is so highly sleep-deprived that he has fallen asleep while driving a few times risking his life.
NB: For continuation of my story, please take this as photo # 3. (I could not change the order of the photos)

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Life of commoners in Bolivia

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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