The wall is ten kilometers long; it stretches across a mountain ridge in the Peruvian capital Lima, separating two worlds from one another. On the one hand: the wealthy settlement of Casuarinas with swimming pools in almost every garden; the grass is dark green. On the other: the Pamplona slum, where the dust sticks to the skin and the huts have to make do without running water. Local people call the building “El muro de la verguenza”, the “wall of shame”. A symbol of inequality.

Lima is the second largest city ever built in a desert region, second only to Cairo. Over the years, the metropolis has swelled to around ten million inhabitants. New ones are added every day, by minibuses or on foot. A third of the Peruvian population now lives here.

Too many for a place where water has always been scarce. It is now a contested resource. And the water also shows the difference between rich and poor. While some can waste, the poorest only have expensive water from tankers. It sometimes costs up to 1,000 times more than what comes from the tap. For many Limeños in the marginalized suburbs, water is a luxury.

The engineer Abel Cruz wants to help them. 20 years ago he moved to a settlement on the outskirts of the city. He looked into the clouds and started thinking about how to capture the water from the sky and make it available to people. Although Lima was built on dry ground, there is definitely water here. Every autumn and winter in the southern hemisphere, from April to November, a cold current pushes inland from the coast, often obscuring visibility for weeks. The locals call the weather phenomenon “La Garúa”. It is a kind of river that hangs in the clouds. Cruz has learned how to skim it.

According to his own statements, he and his organization “Movimiento Peruanos Sin Agua” have already installed over 2,000 fog catchers throughout the country, 140 in the hills around the Pamplona slum and the nearby Villa Maria del Triunfo district alone. They are special plastic nets stretched on two poles. Each can generate 200 to 400 liters of condensed water from the clouds every day. Collected in tanks, this is enough to feed several families. Cruz says the water isn't pure and it's better not to drink it. But it's enough to water vegetable gardens or do laundry.

Lack of water, says Cruz, has been with him throughout his life. As a child, he had to walk for an hour every day to get fresh water. Every drop was precious. He grew up in Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, now a tourist destination, popular for trips to Machu Picchu - and at the same time still dirt poor.

The inspiration for his fog catchers was the banana leaf. In the rainy season, it collects water with its large surface and allows it to run down the stem. There have already been similar ideas in other countries, but hardly anyone is pursuing the concept as consistently as Cruz.

His fog nets impressed photographer Alessandro Cinque so much that he dedicated his own project to them. He believes that it is precisely such simple, inexpensive but ingenious inventions that people in water-scarce areas need.

The photographer has been documenting rural exodus and water shortages in Peru for years. He says the city still promises people a better life: access to the health system, education. Maybe even regular, secure work.

Alpaca breeding, something of an informal world cultural heritage for Peruvians to this day, is no longer enough for many people to finance their living.

The photographer believes that Lima will continue to grow and become more dense in the coming years - despite the drastic inequality and even if climate change will make everyday life even more difficult.

Abdel Cruz's networks can at least provide some relief to the poorest in the capital's slums. Mercedes Huamani Mitma is one of the women who benefits from them. There are even a few flowers growing in her garden, which makes her happy. She also provides her family with fruit and vegetables. Her tomatoes and zucchini are watered with water from the mist.

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