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In the Amazon Rain forest the animals 

were playing, as they have done for 

thousands of years.

In the forest near the Amazon River lives a boy 

named Pedro. Pedro doesn’t live a life like most 

people in North America do. He is 15 and lives in 

Ouro Prêto. Ouro Prêto is a village near a gold 

mine where his father, Alberto, works.   When his 

father is away working, Abel lives by himself. He 

lives in a simple hut with his father.

 During the week he goes to school, 

but has to leave early to sell flowers 

at the local market. He does this to 

help raise money for his father and 

himself.

One day Pedro asked his dad about what he does in the mine. 

He knew his father worked there, but he didn’t know what 

exactly his job was. Alberto answered Pedro by saying he was 

one of the people that uses mercury at the mine. Alberto 

explained that using mercury is the easiest way to extract the 

gold. He mixes the crushed gold filled rock with mercury and 

together they form an amalgam. The amalgam is heated and 

the mercury is burned off leaving just the gold. When the 

mercury is heated it turns into mercury vapor which is 

poisonous. Pedro was worried for his father because he could 

get very ill from the mercury vapor. Pedro tried to convince 

his father to get a different job that wasn’t as dangerous, like 

a fisherman or a salesperson. Alberto told Pedro that he 

couldn’t because gold prices have tripled this year and they 

need the money.

Everyday Pedro goes to the local 

market to buy food for dinner. He 

doesn't usually buy fish unless his 

father tells him to or he feels like fish 

that night. Pedro also didn’t buy fish 

very often because his father was 

making a good wage at the mine.

Today at the market, he decided to buy some fish, 

nuts, and berries. This would be enough good food 

for dinner. When his father got home from the mine 

he was very hungry and saw the fish. Alberto loves 

fish and he hadn’t had it in a long time. He ate up 

all of the fish and moved onto the berries and nuts. 

Pedro got his fair share of nuts and berries, but no 

fish. Alberto loved the fish so much he told Pedro to 

buy more fish so they could have it for dinner every 

night. Pedro went to the market and bought more 

fish for each dinner. Alberto always ate all of his fish 

and usually wanted more. To make Alberto happy 

Pedro gave him his portion of fish to eat also.

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