Ester Julia Álzate is a working class, 60-year-old mother and grandmother from Yumbo, a small, industrial city and municipality in western Colombia. She has a 28-year-old daughter, a 21-year-old son, and a five-year-old granddaughter. For the past 25 years, Ester has been steadily employed, working in the accounting and portfolio division of a nationwide network of funeral homes in Colombia.