La Chureca landfill gets a makeover

The Spanish government recently completed a $53 million dollar project to help close one of Latin America's largest open-air dumps at La Chureca in Managua, Nicaragua. The investment included not only the sealing of the dump, but the construction of a recycling plant and homes and schools for approximately 250 families who live and work in close proximity to the dump.

La Chureca is now a sanitary landfill, which means that while it continues to receive solid refuse, it no longer remains exposed to the air, and no longer do poor people seek their sustenance among the garbage.

Now the Churequeros, as the garbage collectors are known in Nicaragua, work in the modern plant for treating solid waste.

Here is a July 2010 BBC video clip that focuses on the project's beginning and another link to Brad Corrigan's work with the children of La Chureca. Brad is a U.S. musician who was very moved following a trip to the dump in 2005. Following the trip, he established Love Light & Melody to help children living and working in poverty. Brad gave a very moving talk at a conference I attended last year sponsored by the Seattle International Foundation.

Day of Light from Braddigan on Vimeo.