Making By

Photo credit: Sebastiao Salgado

On the eastern edge of Mexico City, Mexico lies a poor district known as Chimalhuacan. In recent years, as families move from the countryside into the city, dense areas of impoverished families have risen up quickly. As a result, the rapid influx of residents has created a strain in providing basic services to these new families. Experts say that many poor cities such as Chimalhuacan often have to make more or less illegal improvisations (such as selling goods out of a residential building) in order to provide basic needs (such as electricity, water, and food) for residents. I neither endorse, nor condemn these actions as it is not my place to pass judgment on the issue.

Having lived in a relatively poor country, I experienced first hand the sacrifices and struggles of good people trying to just make it to the next day. Most aren't given a choice as to how they would like to live. Nevertheless, they do their best to deal with the present circumstances as best as they can to make it by.


Works Cited:

Funiss Charlie. "Keeping It Informal." Geographical. Geographical, April 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Pamphlet. "Exodus to the Cities (Mexico City, Mexico, and Sao Paulo, Brazil)." Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture: New York, 2000. 24. Print.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture: New York, 2000. 321.