Potosi, Bolivia.
Jose Lucas, 12, works with his mother Alberta Benabides, outside a mine. Lucas, due to his having to work is barely literate despite attending school sporadically. Alberta, a widow of a miner who died 5 years ago of silicosis. Widows of miners and their children scour the tailings outside the mine to look for silver ore. She collects the rocks and breaks them open in the hot sun. The richer pieces she and Lucas carry home to sell.
