Shakhtar in Bolivia - a hell of a profession

Mines of Cerro Rico mountain - one of the main jobs for the residents of the city of Potosi in Bolivia. They employ entire families, including children aged 10 to 17 years, many of them drop out of school to work full time. Due to the constant lack of oxygen, and work in confined spaces with stale air, the average life expectancy of miners - 40-45 years.

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1. Clothes drying on the roof of the settlement Calvario miners in Potosi, which was once the richest city in the South American continent. Today the city, most of whose population (120 000 people) is a Quechua nationality, lives on funds received by old mines.





2. 5-year-old Talia Ёsulin Ortuga at his home in Alto Potosi. Her father and two brothers are working in the mines of Cerro Rico in Candelaria.



3. Shakhtar before work on the local market to buy coca leaves and alcohol.



4. The miners go to work early in the morning in Potosi.



5. The miners work in confined spaces in conditions of constant shortage of oxygen and the presence of asbestos. The average life expectancy of a miner in the region - 40-45 years.



6. Early morning at the cooperative mines Palviri mountain Cerro Rico in Potosi.



7. Children eat free lunch, courtesy of program 'Vine Pacha ", which supports about 150 workers and their families living in the vicinity of the mines El Calvario. This program aims to improve the living and working conditions of children in the mines.



8. The 14-year-old miner Nelson Ortuga travels by bus to the mine to complete their double shift, which ends at six o'clock in the morning.



9. The miners dump rocks and minerals on a cart at the second level Candelaria mine in the mountains of Cerro Rico.



10. 14-year-old Nelson Ortuga operates on two shifts deep in the mine of Candelaria.



11. Nelson - one of the many children aged 10-17 years who have left school to work in a mine full time.



12. Nelson Ortuga also dropped out of school.



13. Nelson Ortuga holds a handful of silver found in the Candelaria mine. For a double shift he would be paid about 30 dollars that he needed to be divided into a family of three.



14. Workers are pushing the cart in front of the ore to the crusher.



15. Workers sort out various metals from ore mine in Potosi.



16. Different metals sorted from ore.



17. Nelson Ortuga sitting in the locker room, exhausted after an eight-hour shift. His break lasts two hours, after which he had to return to work up to 6 hours.



18. Nelson Ortuga took off his shoes to give your feet a rest.



19. Nelson Ortuga goes to the place of work in the mountain Gray Rico in Bolivia.



20. Nelson Ortuga fell asleep while waiting for the bus that will take him to work.



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