The lorry arrives every morning, a little before eight oclock. For a small tip the driver picks up the workers and takes them to the mountain. What once used to be the largest silver mine in the world lies at the height of 4700 metres. Even today, thousands of workers still come here seeking their fortune.
This morning, Jesus and Ramon are making their way on foot to the Cerro Rico, which is the official name of the mountain.
The two friends are fourteen and fifteen years old. They work 700 metres underground as drilling assistants and hauliers. Today they have a special assignment. Together with their foreman these young men are to blast a newly discovered vein.
The pitted giant mountain has already yielded 46 thousand tonnes of silver. However after 500 years, the deposits are nearly exhausted. Nevertheless, workers keep digging further. The least they receive is a fixed wage. Here, only those who find something can survive.
Man:
Our people go 1000 metres inside the mountain and 1000 metres underground. We work at three levels. There are those who earn more money, others less. It all depends on luck, to find a vein, with black or white silver, tin or zinc.
The work in the interior of the mountain is extremely dangerous. On average, miners live only up to 39 years of age. Most succumb to the lung disease, silicosis.
Jesus and Ramon prepare for the blasting operation. Johnny, their foreman, shows them how to insert the dynamite in the mine perforations. This is how 3500 children and young people work in the shafts of the Cerro Rico.
These little helpers are cheap labour for the mine operators. But also a risk. Every week, inexperienced miners get injured or even buried alive in the unsecured tunnels.
Explosion
Youth 1
Our destitution leads us to this business. We are many in the family and therefore I have to work day and night.
Youth 2
I am a day labourer and I always work from Monday to Friday. On Fridays I will have already started work by 3 in the morning and I work until 12 midday.
Before Jesus and Ramon haul off the rocks, they pray to Tio, the god of the underworld. They have brought with them offerings of Schnapps and cocoa leaves to propitiate him and canvass his benevolence. Today each of the 500 mines in the Cerro Rico has a similar prayer room for religious devotions. The Spanish colonial overlords established the belief in Tio, as a means of inducing obedience in the superstitious South American Indians. For a few short moments it gets hot inside the vault as the alcohol starts to blaze. The three miners have poured too much of it in their shrine. Tio will surely pardon them.
Youth
We bring hither alcohol, cigarettes, cocoa and candles.
Foreman
When we worship Tio, he helps us find more minerals, the mountain gives more. When we do not respect him, then he gives us very little raw materials.
The work goes on for Ramon and Jesus. Out of several tonnes of rock they might perhaps glean a couple of kilograms of tin or zinc. Strictly speaking one has to be officially at least sixteen years old to work here, although in any of the poorest regions of Bolivia, children have just got to get on with it.
A bus with thirty tourists arrives. Europeans and North Americans want to experience for themselves how it feels at 1000 metres underground. Meanwhile the miners have become accustomed to the curious glances and clicking cameras. Tourists bring money and, quite a few, also gifts. In the local museum they hear how around 8 million South American Indians died as slave labour in the mountain. A suffocating feeling of unease develops among the tourists. A Swiss group brings its tour to an early end.
Benjamin Karrer, tourist at Cerro Rico
Swiss-German (subtitled)
This is quite the limit for me. On the one hand it is an exciting experience. Then again, it is sensation seeking tourism. This is one boundary too many. The people work for their living, in order to have something to eat, for their families. If then the tourists come, it is a double edged sword, a mixed blessing.
This is the limit for me
An exciting experience
But also sensation seeking tourism
This is one boundary too much
The people work in order to eat
For their families
Tourists are
A double edged sword.
Many miners live directly on the mountain, in small stone huts. Jesus has been drawn here from the country, with his mother and six sisters. Since the death of the father thirteen years previously, the family sought a source of income. They are aware that the life of miners is hard and can be sometimes short. But they have no choice. With the equivalent wage of four Euros a day, Jesus earns enough to make ends meet.
His mother shows us her house. It consists of a single room, for cooking, eating and sleeping. Three of her children are now married and live in town. The rest of the family shares the one bed. She says she is very proud of Jesus, of all he does for the family. And this, although he is still going to school.
Frau Peralta leaves us. She has to do her shift of duty in the Social Centre nearby. Indeed she gets no money there. In return she gets a cooked lunch. At mealtimes her children take care of each other.
The aid organisation for children in need, Kindernothilfe, has built a house for 200 poor child miners in Cerro Rico. At twelve oclock, there is a rush to wash hands, youngest first. What is for most the only meal of the day is waiting. Jesus and Ramon eat here too. When they come out of the mine after their early shift, they have nobody to cook for them. The house is also financially aided by donations from Austria. In the afternoon, here they see to homework, music and drama groups. In time Kindernothilfe is building an even bigger centre in Potosi, the town at the foot of the mountain.
Javier Caso - Kindernothilfe, Bolivia
There is a constant flow here of new people from the country, to earn more money from mining. As we are trying to accommodate the families who already work in the mines, at the same time, more are constantly arriving. Therefore it is very difficult. This problem has to be contained one way or another.
After the completion of the new Wawa-Wasi, which is the Quetsche name for the Childrens Home, there will be space for an additional 200 child miners.
Jesus and Ramon start school punctually at one oclock. They are already tired from their early shift. They cannot find the time to do their homework. They have to work. Jesus would like to do geology later on. Ramón would like to become an architect. But their prospects are bleak.
Ramon
I go into the mines and get headaches. At the beginning of the week I still feel quite well, but towards the end I always feel worse, and I am unable to concentrate any further.
Apolinar Zenteno teacher of Jesus and Ramon.
It is not only Jesus and Ramon who are like that. I have still more students in higher classes who lead a similarly tough life. They work by night and study by day. Many a case is genuinely grim. They have to maintain their family, go to work and go to school. They have triple work.
It is the election campaign in Bolivia and the citizens of Potosi are expecting a high level visit. President Evo Morales is coming over for a lightening visit. He is courting the support of the co-conventioneers. For Morales this is a home game, for the miners are his natural supporters, given that he promises them more money from the wealthier oil-rich provinces. The highlands of the Andes should no longer be on the losers side.
Alvaro Garcia Vice President of Bolivia
Here we are talking of 513 years, during which people from humble homes were exploited, during which workers were oppressed and people rode roughshod over them.
The first time since the Inca King Atahualpa, an indigenous leader speaks again to his people.
Evo Morales President
When we mention Potosi, we talk of the history of Bolivia, of the exploitation of our mineral resources. Potosi is a province with a great past. Potosi was first exploited and then left to decline.
Morales disappears in the crowd as suddenly as he arrived. He too knows that for these people, no marvel will happen. The silver mountain has been run down long ago. And apart from the mining industry, there is nothing more here.
It is evening in Potosi. It is the time for families to get together in their houses, to talk about their day, to drink. At the mountain side, Jesus celebrates the arrival of summer with his family and a pair of co-workers. South American Indians sprinkle high-proof alcohol on the ground before drinking it and trust in the mercy of Tio, that he will soon let them discover a vein of silver. He has kept them waiting for some considerable time already.
THE END
This morning, Jesus and Ramon are making their way on foot to the Cerro Rico, which is the official name of the mountain.
The two friends are fourteen and fifteen years old. They work 700 metres underground as drilling assistants and hauliers. Today they have a special assignment. Together with their foreman these young men are to blast a newly discovered vein.
The pitted giant mountain has already yielded 46 thousand tonnes of silver. However after 500 years, the deposits are nearly exhausted. Nevertheless, workers keep digging further. The least they receive is a fixed wage. Here, only those who find something can survive.
Man:
Our people go 1000 metres inside the mountain and 1000 metres underground. We work at three levels. There are those who earn more money, others less. It all depends on luck, to find a vein, with black or white silver, tin or zinc.
The work in the interior of the mountain is extremely dangerous. On average, miners live only up to 39 years of age. Most succumb to the lung disease, silicosis.
Jesus and Ramon prepare for the blasting operation. Johnny, their foreman, shows them how to insert the dynamite in the mine perforations. This is how 3500 children and young people work in the shafts of the Cerro Rico.
These little helpers are cheap labour for the mine operators. But also a risk. Every week, inexperienced miners get injured or even buried alive in the unsecured tunnels.
Explosion
Youth 1
Our destitution leads us to this business. We are many in the family and therefore I have to work day and night.
Youth 2
I am a day labourer and I always work from Monday to Friday. On Fridays I will have already started work by 3 in the morning and I work until 12 midday.
Before Jesus and Ramon haul off the rocks, they pray to Tio, the god of the underworld. They have brought with them offerings of Schnapps and cocoa leaves to propitiate him and canvass his benevolence. Today each of the 500 mines in the Cerro Rico has a similar prayer room for religious devotions. The Spanish colonial overlords established the belief in Tio, as a means of inducing obedience in the superstitious South American Indians. For a few short moments it gets hot inside the vault as the alcohol starts to blaze. The three miners have poured too much of it in their shrine. Tio will surely pardon them.
Youth
We bring hither alcohol, cigarettes, cocoa and candles.
Foreman
When we worship Tio, he helps us find more minerals, the mountain gives more. When we do not respect him, then he gives us very little raw materials.
The work goes on for Ramon and Jesus. Out of several tonnes of rock they might perhaps glean a couple of kilograms of tin or zinc. Strictly speaking one has to be officially at least sixteen years old to work here, although in any of the poorest regions of Bolivia, children have just got to get on with it.
A bus with thirty tourists arrives. Europeans and North Americans want to experience for themselves how it feels at 1000 metres underground. Meanwhile the miners have become accustomed to the curious glances and clicking cameras. Tourists bring money and, quite a few, also gifts. In the local museum they hear how around 8 million South American Indians died as slave labour in the mountain. A suffocating feeling of unease develops among the tourists. A Swiss group brings its tour to an early end.
Benjamin Karrer, tourist at Cerro Rico
Swiss-German (subtitled)
This is quite the limit for me. On the one hand it is an exciting experience. Then again, it is sensation seeking tourism. This is one boundary too many. The people work for their living, in order to have something to eat, for their families. If then the tourists come, it is a double edged sword, a mixed blessing.
This is the limit for me
An exciting experience
But also sensation seeking tourism
This is one boundary too much
The people work in order to eat
For their families
Tourists are
A double edged sword.
Many miners live directly on the mountain, in small stone huts. Jesus has been drawn here from the country, with his mother and six sisters. Since the death of the father thirteen years previously, the family sought a source of income. They are aware that the life of miners is hard and can be sometimes short. But they have no choice. With the equivalent wage of four Euros a day, Jesus earns enough to make ends meet.
His mother shows us her house. It consists of a single room, for cooking, eating and sleeping. Three of her children are now married and live in town. The rest of the family shares the one bed. She says she is very proud of Jesus, of all he does for the family. And this, although he is still going to school.
Frau Peralta leaves us. She has to do her shift of duty in the Social Centre nearby. Indeed she gets no money there. In return she gets a cooked lunch. At mealtimes her children take care of each other.
The aid organisation for children in need, Kindernothilfe, has built a house for 200 poor child miners in Cerro Rico. At twelve oclock, there is a rush to wash hands, youngest first. What is for most the only meal of the day is waiting. Jesus and Ramon eat here too. When they come out of the mine after their early shift, they have nobody to cook for them. The house is also financially aided by donations from Austria. In the afternoon, here they see to homework, music and drama groups. In time Kindernothilfe is building an even bigger centre in Potosi, the town at the foot of the mountain.
Javier Caso - Kindernothilfe, Bolivia
There is a constant flow here of new people from the country, to earn more money from mining. As we are trying to accommodate the families who already work in the mines, at the same time, more are constantly arriving. Therefore it is very difficult. This problem has to be contained one way or another.
After the completion of the new Wawa-Wasi, which is the Quetsche name for the Childrens Home, there will be space for an additional 200 child miners.
Jesus and Ramon start school punctually at one oclock. They are already tired from their early shift. They cannot find the time to do their homework. They have to work. Jesus would like to do geology later on. Ramón would like to become an architect. But their prospects are bleak.
Ramon
I go into the mines and get headaches. At the beginning of the week I still feel quite well, but towards the end I always feel worse, and I am unable to concentrate any further.
Apolinar Zenteno teacher of Jesus and Ramon.
It is not only Jesus and Ramon who are like that. I have still more students in higher classes who lead a similarly tough life. They work by night and study by day. Many a case is genuinely grim. They have to maintain their family, go to work and go to school. They have triple work.
It is the election campaign in Bolivia and the citizens of Potosi are expecting a high level visit. President Evo Morales is coming over for a lightening visit. He is courting the support of the co-conventioneers. For Morales this is a home game, for the miners are his natural supporters, given that he promises them more money from the wealthier oil-rich provinces. The highlands of the Andes should no longer be on the losers side.
Alvaro Garcia Vice President of Bolivia
Here we are talking of 513 years, during which people from humble homes were exploited, during which workers were oppressed and people rode roughshod over them.
The first time since the Inca King Atahualpa, an indigenous leader speaks again to his people.
Evo Morales President
When we mention Potosi, we talk of the history of Bolivia, of the exploitation of our mineral resources. Potosi is a province with a great past. Potosi was first exploited and then left to decline.
Morales disappears in the crowd as suddenly as he arrived. He too knows that for these people, no marvel will happen. The silver mountain has been run down long ago. And apart from the mining industry, there is nothing more here.
It is evening in Potosi. It is the time for families to get together in their houses, to talk about their day, to drink. At the mountain side, Jesus celebrates the arrival of summer with his family and a pair of co-workers. South American Indians sprinkle high-proof alcohol on the ground before drinking it and trust in the mercy of Tio, that he will soon let them discover a vein of silver. He has kept them waiting for some considerable time already.
THE END