This very poor community is built upon a trash landfill, so the vast majority of work involves trash collecting and recycling.
The instruments are made out of recycled trash.
Many have already heard about this via youtube, video below. A documentary is being made about this remarkable community.
It made me weep.
I felt both inspired and horrified to see how much trash all of us humans are disposing of these days (and likely shipping from God-knows where to Paraguay), and because it made me think about all the small insignificant things I complain or get worked up about that are absolutely and totally unimportant.
I imagine the vast majority of us can relate to this phenomenon.
Louis C.K. talked about it a few years back, and I'm paraphrasing here, Everything's amazing. We have star-trek phones that go to space and we can connect with people all over the world... Look up information on a global information source. Everything's so great and nobody's happy!
These kids are showing up every day to music class to play instruments made of recycled trash.
Yet in this country, we are continually cutting music programs in schools. Meanwhile, this community atop a landfill cared so deeply about bringing music into their young people's lives, they found a way to make instruments out of their most readily available commodity. TRASH.
A regular, professionally made violin would cost more than the value of a home.
What, pray tell, do we really have to complain about?
