HOLMES: Well, 23 minutes past the hour now. Children as young as 3 years old spending the day sorting through rotting garbage, and that would be all they had to do if it wasn't for this CNN Hero.</s>ELENA DURON MIRANDA, CNN HERO (through translator): Currently in Argentina there are a lot of children working. In Bariloche, most children work recovering waste from the garbage dump to sell for a small profit. They can be very small children, 3, 4, 5 years old. All parents want a better life for their children than what they had, but there are times when the whole family has to work and try to make ends meet. My name is Elena Duron Miranda. I founded an organization to help the boys and girls of the Bariloche trash dump to get out so they no longer have to work there to survive. When I arrived in Argentina, it was hard to see so many small children picking through the garbage. Many of these boys and girls have grown (ph) tired of school. I decided that I had to do something for them. We tried to be as fully integrated as possible. There's a school tracking group, outside colleges and a social worker. We work with the family and the value of putting them in school. Any time we get a child close to school, it's a seed we are planting. We hope not to see the child on the street again. If he returns, we go after him. Education is how we start to break vicious cycles, to give children a better future. I learned something from the children every day. To be happy, even under very complex circumstances.</s>HOLMES: Her organization provides customized educational programs to about 200 children and their families free of charge and again, every single CNN hero chosen from people you tell us about. And you can continue to nominate somebody you think is changing the world. Go to CNNHeroes.com.
Saving Kids from the Trash Heap