Cartoneros

I was riding the bus home today and realized that I've become accustomed to seeing 'cartoneros' on the street. In shanty towns, during our service visits, in my neighborhood, even in the nicer areas of Buenos Aires. They're starting to blend into the scenery of the city for me, and yet I remember how shocking their presence was to me upon first arriving . I find that really quite and troubling.

Well to start, I'm assuming at least a few of you reading this don't know what a cartonero is. I had no concept of it when I first got to Buenos Aires. Cartoneros are people whose "profession" it is to go through the city's garbage, searching for things to use, sell, or even eat. It's a big problem in the city, especially of late with the repercussions of the economic crisis being felt around the world. Entire families of cartoneros will take city blocks and "own" them, sorting through dumpsters as full-time jobs during the day. A new surge of 'cartoneros jovenes' (children cartoneros) has swept the city. As noted in the major newspaper down here, Clarin, many of these children will go to school during the day and sort trash at night in order to survive on the streets. Their attendance rates are surprisingly okay, until middle school when they seem to fall off the map.

It frustrates me that I am beginning to become accustomed to seeing them every few blocks. I've only been here 6weeks or so. Imagine what it's like for residents of the city who grew up with such a reality. How, as a society do we address these problems if we, as humans, have this incredible and scary capacity to ignore that which is "everyday" for us?

It's amazing and yet so sad at the same time the things a person can get use to seeing.