Potosi is a city deeply pensive of the pain of colonialism. From the discovery of silver there in 1545 until today, it has been a city of suffering for the indigenous population, while for Europeans, it was a mythical land of riches. While European powers claimed the riches of Potosi's mountain, indigenous laborers died by the thousands.
Potosi is dying a slow death. The impact of this brutal mine on the local people is visible everywhere. Poverty and necessity force widowed or single mothers and sick fathers to send their children to work in the mines to help the family survive. There are more than 6,500 children, some as young as 9, working in unbearable conditions. They perform very hard jobs underground - carrying material, loading tippers or engraving holes for explosives, working up to 10 hours a day fueled by bags of coca leaves.