“The Recycled Orchestra,” created by of Favio Chavez, a landfill worker and musician, is a group of inspiring children overcoming poverty in Cateura, Paraguay. The town of Cateura was built on top of a landfill which receives over 1,500 more tons of solid waste each day, along the banks of the Paraguay River. The poor management of the landfill causes critical pollution to the most important water source and threatens the health of the people. In the poverty stricken town, families live in close proximity to each other and to dangerous waste. The poverty causes children to work in landfills, which turns them away from any education that may lead them to a better life.
Chavez wanted to make a change for the children and to make something positive in their lives. Because of the children in poverty, Chavez was inspired to do something to help the situation. He began to recycle some of trash from the landfill to create instruments for the children to use. Chavez explains his reasoning:
“One day it occurred to me to teach music to the children of the recyclers and use my personal instruments,” explains 36 year-old Chávez, who worked as an ecological technician at the landfill. “But it got to the point that there were too many students and not enough supply. So that’s when I decided to experiment and try to actually create a few.”
A film on this subject is being directed by Graham Townsley, who hopes to raise awareness of the fact that children in a poverty stricken town can do meaningful things in a society.
This amazing and moving video features the inspiring Chavez and group of children expressing their love of music:
Carly Speed
Source
McMoments 