Sleeping Queens

This is a series of portraits resulting from the "Women of the Dump" project, which tells the story of women and their families who survive thanks to the largest landfills in the city of Bujumbura. Most are either widowed or abandoned by their husbands. They earn their living by collecting charcoal, bones, plastic bottles, basins,plastic seals, and scrap metal, which they resell and manage to earn around 2000 Fbu per day, or about $1 per day. On the other hand, they feed directly from the landfill (if they are lucky, of course). They are queens. Strong in their tenacity in the face of adversity, they survive the ups and downs of everyday life on their own and manage, for better or worse, to take care of their children andtheir families. Managing to live on nothing is a miracle, and women in the dump do it every day. These are queens who are asleep at the moment.