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Miguel Angel Almendras is dancing—his little feet are kicking up dust on his family’s patio as he expertly shows off la diablada. Dancing in Bolivia is a common expression of joy, found from formal festivals to impromptu demonstrations of individual happiness. Four-year-old Miguel Angel is dancing because he now has a toilet in his home. Several hours outside of the city of Cochabamba, in the valle alto or “high valley” on the outskirts of the town of Villa Rivero, is the community of Villa Victoria, home to Miguel Angel and 59 other families. In his high-pitched bubbly Spanish, he points a stubby finger out to the fields behind his house, where his mom is attending to the family’s source of income: a few cows and a potato patch. “Before we had this beautiful bathroom, I used to go out in those fields with the cows to go to the bathroom. I didn’t like it, but when I had to or my sister had to go, we would run to the fields and duck down and go. Everybody in my pueblito used to go to the fields, and our caquita is bad for the pueblito.” Now his eyes sparkle as he relates what life was like before he and his mother, father, and sister had one of life’s most basic needs: a place for his family to privately, conveniently, and hygienically do what most of us never think twice about—going to the bathroom. Read the rest of Miguel’s story |
