With the official change of government from current President Bolanos to recently elected Daniel Ortega just over a day away, there is lots of evaluating going on in the press of how (in)effective Bolanos was, and what (if anything) Ortega will be able to do to improve the economic situation of the country. In keeping with their responsibility as journalists, photographers from one Nicaragua's principal dailies, El Nuevo Diario set out to capture the human face of poverty here in Managua.
What is in these photos is nothing new for me. I see the faces of children, women, and men like the ones portrayed almost every day as I travel by bus from home to office, walk to the supermarket, or visit communities where we work. What is striking to me in this moment is how normal it all becomes.
How the sound of women's voices wandering the streets of my neighborhood with tortillas, fruit, or plants begins to blend in with the dull roar from the main street a block away.
How the children who board the bus with a plastic container filled with beans (a makeshift musical instrument) intending to sing to passengers for a couple of coins becomes something from which I simply avert my eyes.
How unremarkable it becomes to see men with nothing but a horse and cart share the highway with SUVs and 18-wheelers, looking for something they can transport to earn a living.
How one's sense of powerlessness dulls one's senses to ugly realities too painful to contemplate...
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