A Barranquilla laborer mourns the loss of his faithful sidekick – a donkey – in a freakish yet tragic accident.
Pedro Argumedo left the house early one fateful morning, as he did every day, to comb the streets of Barranquilla for trash that he could sell to be recycled. By his side was the trusty donkey he had bought only a week before to assist him in his labors.
But alas this day was not like every other day, for danger lurked just around the corner, ready to strike down one half of the dynamic trash collecting duo.
Pedro recounts numbly that as he and his devoted donkey reached an intersection, “I hadn’t realized that an electricity cable had fallen in the street and that the donkey stepped on it. The electric shock killed him straight away.”
Pedro rushed to his faithful friend’s aid, hoping to save him, but no avail. The electricity current was too strong and Pedro’s arm was injured during the attempted rescue. But he says it is not his arm that cause him the most pain.
“I don’t know what I am going to do now. My livelihood and that of my family is recycling. The little donkey was my helper,” Pedro mourned.
However Pedro’s neighbors are behind him and are bombarding the electricity company in charge of the fallen cable with phone calls decrying the company’s failure to fix the cable, an act which would have saved an innocent life.