When entering what appears to be a war-zone, it seems appropriate to enter with the proper armor and protection. Love Light & Melody has learned however, that sometimes the most powerful weapons are also the most surprising! This was most certainly the case for Dia De Luz 2008 (Day of Light). On March 6, 2008, a flood of people, music, and kites invaded the trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua, where nearly 1500 people live and make their homes.
 Love Light & Melody’s second annual Dia De Luz was created to break down emotional, physical, and cultural barriers, while reawakening dreams, imagination, and hope in the people that live there. Over 200 college students, associated with Orphan Network’s alternative spring break, and a team from Love Light & Melody participated in the event.
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Austin Blasingame is an artist based in Los Angeles. He organized the production of a 90-foot mural in the trash dump at Dia De Luz 2008, alongside fellow artists Patrick Maxcy and Kelli Murray.
The group that arrived Monday, about one-third of us, roughly 25 people, gathered in the courtyard to share words. It felt like everyone was frozen for the first few minutes as Brad began greeting us and welcoming us to his home away from home. The tension eased with every word Brad spoke. A short time after, I was called upon to speak about the mural, which I had been invited on the trip to help create.
 I spoke about my passion for the arts, and how Dia De Luz was about connecting with the local people, and not about a perfectly executed piece of work, how it was more important to make the kids feel that they were a part of the production, that their hands and minds would mold the mural, that street art is about being in the moment. Art changes, taking a different shape everyday. I talked about urban decay and the beauty it has in a community, layers that build over time, art getting covered up, new art taking over and leaving traces of old — a metaphor of life itself…
I jumped in the back of a truck with my camera. We flew down the streets of Managua, hitting several speed bumps and dodging huge pot holes, getting confused glances from traffic and commoners. The trash dump was eight or so miles from our hotel. The entrance was scary, five burnt teddy bears dangling from a telephone line like shoes in the US, small fires, middle aged men, faces covered with bandannas, with pitchfork-looking tools in their hands, picking through the garbage.
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