Out of the dump

20 years ago, a group of kids aged 5 to 12 from Guatamala’s worst slums were given a camera to take pictures showing how they scavenged for a living in a garbage dump. The unusual experiment was the brainchild of an American Catholic photographer named Nancy McGirr. That temporary experiment became a long-term project and has now evolved into a vocation that has helped hundreds of kids from the country’s slums to break out of the cycle of poverty. Susy Hodges spoke to Nancy McGirr to find out how it all began:

McGirr says the first photos taken by that group of kids were so shocking and moved her to tears: "One showed his father drunk... one boy took pictures of his aunt and her lover sniffing glue ... the photos showed joy, pathos .. and were so tremendously moving we all just cried."

McGirr says they soon had a "great response" to the pictures and their first exhbition was in Japan. Asked about her greatest rewards, McGirr said it was seeing the kids "grow and blossom... become excited about learning." These kids, she said, "are my family and so of course you want the best for them."

Listen to the report by Susy Hodges: