Being born in Cienga de Zapata in Cuba means not having many choices, the only job of the place is that of carboneros, that is to produce by hand the coal for a few pesos.
Carboneros is an ungrateful, exhausting, tiring job that requires the care of the pile of wood burning day and night. In this land of fires I met young boys: Luis Manuel, 17 and Maria Ester, 14. She was pregnant.
They live totally free, they have no education, they eat what nature offers them, they help their grandfather who is a "carbonero" (which makes coal). This condition, which every time I tell someone who has not seen it seems terrible, is very far from the concept of survival that Europe has taught me. But they are free, oblivious, in a state poised between the dream and a pristine mind.
3 years ago I met their son, little Miguel, smiling, reckless and dirty with mud.