Photo Credit: Refugees International
11/24/2007

This is the community of Brisas de los Angeles (Angel’s Breeze) in Tumaco. Also built in a reclaimed mangrove swamp, Brisas is prone to regular flooding. Bathrooms in the homes here are just holes in the floor, and excrement is left in the mud below. When the tides come in or rains flood the community, garbage is also washed into the streets, as in the photo above. The result is a garbage ridden, fecal stew that permeates everything. Despite the terrible sanitary conditions, there have been no outbreaks of cholera or other similar diseases.