Child Miners and the Cerro Rico of Bolivia

I recently viewed the film, The Devil's Miner (El Minero del Diablo). It's an achingly somber film but the two brothers who are featured, Basilio and Bernardino Vargas, can't help but spread more hope than you could ever imagine two child miners from Potosi, Bolivia could summon up. We don't follow the money trail nor is it revealed which of our electronic products may contain the ore carried out of the mine by the hundreds of child miners in this town at 16,000 feet. Instead, we follow the brothers deep into the earth where they speak authoritatively about silica poisoning and to the barber shop where they slyly ask for the semi-hongo, or half-mushroom, so as not to be kicked out of school. They possess amazingly clear goals for a life far away from the mines, it's my prayer that they achieve these goals.