Jesus Combat

Photo essays

Jan Sochor Photography

Photo essays, photojournalism series, documentary and travel photography
El Sheriff (the former policeman and the illegal authority “Mano negra”) having a short break right before his usual control round in El Calvario, a ten by ten block wide slum close to the centre of Cali.

A Colombian man called El Sheriff having a short break right before his usual control round in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

The slum El Calvario is mainly inhabitted by garbage recollectors, homeless people, drug addicts and people largely active in the informal economy.

A Colombian garbage recollector pulling his fully loaded cart on the street in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

A young unmarried mother with her babygirl sells rummage and used clothes found in the garbage dumps along the nearby commercial district streets.

A young Colombian mother with her babygirl selling rummage and used clothes from garbage dumps in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Garbage recollectors waiting on the street of El Calvario to sell found items to the metal buyer.

Colombian garbage recollectors, waiting on the street of the Calvario slum, trying to sell found metal items, Cali, Colombia.

A street kid sniffing the shoe glue. The glue is the cheapest trip available in every Southamerican slum.

A Colombian street kid getting high by sniffing the shoe glue in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Drug addicts lying on the street of El Calvario. Their motion ability has already been reduced, some of them keep in unstoppable tremor due to the brain damage caused by sniffing glue.

Colombian drug addicts lying on the street in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Most of the shops around the El Calvario slum is heavily protected against thievery. Slum dwellers always try to steal whatever is left without control.

A Colombian man looking from behind the bars of a heavily protected shop in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Although Colombian Police guard some of the entrances to El Calvario they are not able to stop robberies and reselling the stolen stuff.

A young Colombian policeman guarding the entrance to the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Many slum dwellers are obliged to pay daily for their one room accommodation in El Calvario. House owners do not live inside the slum.

A Colombian slum dweller standing in front of a rented house in the ghetto of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

The garbage recollection is the essential source of incomes for nearly all of about three thousand inhabitants of El Calvario, children included.

A Colombian street kid recollecting garbage in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

There are various missionary organizations helping in El Calvario. This aid is usually accompanied (or conditioned) by religious education.

A Colombian missionary organization distributing food in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

The shoe glue is widely sold to the kids. There is no government control, neither restriction. The police can not intervene because the glue is not legally considered as a drug.

A young Colombian girl getting high by sniffing the shoe glue in front of the Police patrol in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

El Calvario is the final stop, there is usually no way back for those who fell in here. Right here, on the dirty, stinky street lies the social bottom of Cali.

A dirty Colombian drug addict lying on the street in the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

El Sheriff loading his gun before entering El Calvario.

A Colombian man called El Sheriff loading his gun before entering the slum of Calvario, Cali, Colombia.

Jesus Combat

Cali, Colombia – April 2004

El Calvario is a slum in the pure centre of Cali. Right here, on the dirty, stinky street lies the social bottom of the city. Poor dwellers recollect the garbage, children get high by sniffing the shoe glue and all together watch out for not getting shot dead by so called El Sheriff, the former policeman but now the illegal authority “Mano negra”, who fight the criminality in the ghetto. Theft, drug abuse, unemployment never let the slum people jump off the misery and stop being the second category citizen in the rigid catholic society of Colombia. Although missionary organizations fight (in the name of Jesus Crist) to help them, there seems to be no hope for the future.

Photography by Jan Sochor

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