“I lost my job in 2001. Because I don’t know how to read and write, and because of my age, I couldn’t find another job. I started to rent a waste picking trolley and worked with other waste pickers in the streets of Buenos Aires. It was very hard, I used to sleep beside the railway tracks, in the cold. This stopped when I started working at the El Alamo Cooperative 10 years ago. With this job, I can keep my children safe, I can pay for their education and medicine. I’m a dad and a mom at the same time. Thanks to the cooperative, I was able to build my own house. After many years of struggle and hard work, I have never given up, I moved forward, I fought, and I continue fighting.”