Luz was born in July 26, 1993. She is the second daughter in a family of five kids. She lives with her family in a dangerous neighbourhood of Palmira in the province of Valle del Cauca, in Colombia. Her father works in waste collection and recycling and her mother is now sick at home. Earlier she used to work as a travel saleswoman.
Since she was a child, Luz has spent part of her day recycling garbage off the streets with her father, and taking care of her younger brothers in her free time.
Luz goes to school in the morning. She is now in sixth grade, but she had to drop out for two years because she fell asleep during class, she had low grades, and sometimes she fainted because of hunger.
Luz lived under conditions of extreme poverty. She lived around dirty streets, and sometimes she needed to eat garbage because her family didn’t have enough money to buy food. Then she was taken under the protection of the state for five years.
Luz is now living with her family again because her father received help from some people who gave him a house. He has been hurt twice in front of Luz. The first time he was run over by a garbage car, and the second time he was shot seven times during a fight with some people over garbage.
Luz continues to help her father recycle garbage in the streets in the afternoon and on Saturday, picking up junk pieces, papers, pasteboard, and cans which she sells in order to alleviate her family's poverty.
