The Middle Ground Journal

The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Thirty-Six, Boundaries and Poverty, Peru and the World by Pamela Hartley Pinto

I am fortunate enough to live in one of the wealthiest parts of Lima, Peru. I live in a gated community with guards in every entrance, where pretty much every house has a pool, at least two cars, a huge backyard, maids, gardeners etc. This bubble is paradise for many and they/we forget that less than 15 minutes away on the other side of “paradise” is one of the poorest communities in Lima where people live in extreme poverty.

Their homes consist of dirt floors, no running water, no private electricity and no sewer system. This is the true definition of extreme poverty where people do live with less than a dollar a day.

The sad thing is that the only thing separating both places is a massive wall built by…