Rubbish Mountain is Phnom Penh’s dump. It is the first mountain of complete garbage I have ever climbed. We began at the bottom where many people lived in one-room wooden huts on stilts. The only furniture was a hammock usually under the house. I walked past a man who had a head injuring and was chained to his wooden bed under the house for 10 years. We followed the road up to a huge expanse of garbage. I thought at first as I was walking up, this does not smell too bad, but I was not to the top 
yet. I followed garbage trucks up to the top of the mountain and all I could see was mounds and mounds of garbage. The smell became overwhelming and I had to work not to vomit. Imagine emptying your biggest and fullest trash can on the floor and walking on it. That is just a tiny glimpse of what I was walking on. There were people all around rummaging through the garbage looking for anything of value such as metal that they could resell or reuse. There were people of all ages from young to old up there. There was even a booth where you could buy food and drinks smack dap in the middle of all the garbage.
It was heartbreaking to watch a group of men and women crowding around a dump truck waiting for it to drop its load of garbage. Each person wanted to be the first to dig through the new supply of garbage. I was amazed that no one got run over by the half of dozen garbage trucks up on the mountain dumping their trash. I imagine that it is quite dangerous and many do get hurt. I wish that I could fully describe this in words, but I can’t so I hope that these pictures help give you a glimpse into the 
lives of the dump people.
Water of Life is the ministry that took us up to the mountain. Randy is our contact that we have been working with. This ministry is really trying to serve this neglected group of people. They have a medical clinic and school at the bottom of the dump. The kids from the dump aren’t allowed to go to school because they do not know how to behave properly such as knowing how to sit in a chair. The Water of Life school teaches them these things, provides a daily meal and a daily shower all for free for these kids. They also have a feeding program where families can get food each week.
