“Alright guys it’s time to get up and go”.
As we head up the hill we see swarms of head lamps of people who have already been awake and working! While we park the moto taxi we are greeted by a pack of dogs who live in the dump. chi chi tells us that we need to wait about 20 minutes for the next dump truck to arrive. Sure enough the dump truck arrives and we walk towards the dump truck, with 20 or so other people. chi chi and the other locals use these long poles that have 2 prongs at the end of it to pull the garbage bags off of the truck. After the bags are off the truck we begin our hunt for treasures. One by one we grab a bag, tear it open and search for food, paper, plastics bags, plastic bottles, glass bottles, electronics, and anything that could be recyclables. As we find food items we place them in a large potato sack while all the other items are piled on to a tarp. After we have finished picking thru a section of the garbage we tie the bags up and bring them back to the moto taxi.
While searching for our treasures we found a lot of trash: diapers, bags of used toilet paper, dirt, syringes, dead guinea pigs, used condoms, clothes and shoes. All of us were super stoked for our gloves. From 12:30am – 6am we picked and sorted through trash bags in search of treasures; we were rather successful. Between the 6 of us working we were able to fill 4 large potato sacks of food and 6 tarps of recyclables.
Covered in mud and the stench of garbage we headed back to chi chi’s 10ft X20ft two story house to sleep for two hours before the taxi came to pick us up and bring us home. However, the hole in the roof, the flies, the dogs and the stench of our clothes greatly inhibited the sleeping process. Though we were excited to go home and shower, we were struck with the realization that many of the people who work at the dump are not able to go home and shower after a long days work. The house that we stayed at, was one of the nicest houses in the area because it was made of mud bricks and had two stories; yet there was no visible kitchen, no appliances, no electricity and the bathroom was a toilet surrounded by tarps that were only 2 feet tall.
Despite digging thru other people’s garbage every day these men were cheerful and never once complained about how they earned their money. In fact, while we were with them, they were more concerned about our comfortability, safety and conversations than they were anything else.
It was amazing to be able to help them hunt for their treasures. To see two men who work diligently every day sit down and take a break; even if it was only for a few minutes. It’s astounding to think that their bodies are used to digging in trash to the point where half of them don’t wear gloves or face coverings. I can’t even imagine getting to a place where the fumes of burning trash and the stench of garbage don’t even bother you anymore. For many of us even the thought of doing such work is disgusting and degrading, but for many of the people here it is simply life; their life, in which they take pride in. This is their meal ticket and their way of life.
Though these pictures were taken during the day, here is what the dump kind of looks like:
