Mercedes

Mercedes lives in a very simple house that is not hers. It has been lent to her, and she lives there with her daughters. She supports them by selling fruit and seeds in the street, and she sometimes washes other people’s clothes in the river.

She is 57 and has no drinking water or electricity. She lost all her teeth as a teenager, and by the time she reached the clinic she had lost a great deal of jawbone and could barely chew.

Getting her smile back was something Mercedes had thought impossible. She can smile now without shame.