From Trash to Toys in Bolivia

It was almost two decades ago that Jose Nuñez realized he didn't have enough money to buy a Christmas gift for his son, and so he decided to put together discarded metal parts to make a toy jeep. Little did he know that he had found both his calling...and his very own cottage industry. Nuñez's talent to convert discarded metal products into toys originated while growing up near the mines where his father worked. His success with the first Christmas "Willy" Jeep inspired him to make a batch of eight such automobiles. And after fulfilling his Santa Claus duties to his child, Nunez made his first sales with the remaining eight trucks out of the Kuper workshop where he continues to work along with his wife, Lydia. [Jose Nuñez, Artist]: (male, spanish) "A can of sardines became a car. It moved around well, was rechargeable, and repairs could be made when necessary. If a wire got worn out, it could be replaced with another, and it worked. What's important is that it moved around, charged up, and that's what I wanted. And I couldn't do that with other toys, like American ones that were very beautiful, but very delicate." At that first Christmas market, his eight jeeps sold in just three minutes.  That inspired Nuñez to start making other vehicles and metallic structures. He now gathers his base parts for the toy production at second-hand markets, and even at garbage dumps. [Jose Nuñez, Artist]: (male, spanish) "For the production of these toys, I recycle spare car parts that are no longer being used. We've got parts from valves from Toyotas or Nissans that are being reused, but for other functions." He can now boast of having made some 34,000 toys with his own hands.  They usually range in price from 25 to 230 dollars. Nuñez says he never expected a moment of fatherly love to turn into a life-changing professional revelation. And as for the first toy cars he made 15 years ago, they still work as well today as the day he made them.

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[avezaya]

correction .. in the villages

[americanevil07]

That only happens in the poor Barrios