(NYTIMES) – Mr Pedro Garcia Hernandez is a carpenter in the south-eastern Mexican state of Tabasco, a rainforest-shrouded region of the country where about half of the residents live below the poverty line.

The 48-year-old ekes out a living making about 2,500 pesos (S$168) a month from a tiny space inside the home he shares with his wife, Patrona, and their daughter, Yareli. The home has dirt floors and, during Tabasco’s long rainy season, it’s prone to flooding. Dust from the construction projects coats nearly everything in the home, clinging to the bedroom walls, the pump toilet and the counters of the makeshift kitchen.

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