Luz Elena Galeano intently watches as the earth is sifted for clothing, documents and bone fragments, hoping for a sign of her husband, who disappeared two decades ago during the urban conflict that tore apart the Colombian city of Medellin.
It has been a daily ritual for Galeano and 40 other women who take turns monitoring the soil excavated from La Escombrera, a debris landfill on Medellin’s outskirts, where the remains of six people were found in the last eight months.
