The Smokey Mountain in Tondo is home to the poorest of the poor of Manila. At present, it is home to some 25,000 inhabitants, whose main livelihood is to scavenge through the tons of Metro Manila's household garbage.
The Smokey Mountain has been so-called because it is literally a mountain--of smoking garbage. Every hour of the day, garbage trucks carrying the household wastes of Manila arrive to dump garbage in Smokey Mountain. The arrivals of these trucks are a blessing to the people of Smokey Mountain. The garbage means that they will have something to eat for the day, and they will survive the hard-reality that they will not die with an empty stomach. As soon as the trucks start to dump their garbage loads in the dumpsite, the Smokey Mountain people swarm like flies to scavenge through the dirt. Whatever that can still be useful are picked-up and placed in their sacks--bottles, scrap metal, wires, water cups, straws.
On a good day, a hardworking scavenger earns about 150 pesos a day (US$3) if he scavenged from dawn to dusk. The trash that had been accumulated in the sacks are later separated into kinds because they have different prices: plastic (P5/kilo), scrap iron(P9/kilo), bottles (P0.50-1.0/piece), cups (3/kilo). These are then sold to the junk shops located near the Smokey Mountain. There are times when the scavengers pick up something that can be used at their shanties and so they will not sell these to the junk shops. These are things like a used bed (it becomes their own bed), a piece of unbroken plate or spoon (it becomes their own plate and spoon).
Most of the scavengers in Smokey Mountain are children. In fact, no one really grows old in Smokey Mountain--because they die young. On the average, the life-span of a Smokey Mountain scavenger is 36 years*. Many die of diseases such as tuberculosis, lead poisoning, hepatitis, malnutrition, dengue, and typhoid. Countless have died without receiving proper medical care.
If there is one really forbidden place on Earth, it should be the Smokey Mountain. No one should be living in these inhuman conditions. I have visited Smokey Mountain several times in a period of several weeks, trying to know the life conditions of the Smokey Mountain people. I wanted to expose through my photography our basic complacence and negligence about these unfortunate people. We refuse to look at these kinds of problems because it disgusts us. More importantly, it puts questions into our already weary mind--Is this for real? What can we do?
The problem is very real and there is something we can do.This is my first post on what will be a series about the plight of the Smokey Mountain people.
The Smokey Mountain has been so-called because it is literally a mountain--of smoking garbage. Every hour of the day, garbage trucks carrying the household wastes of Manila arrive to dump garbage in Smokey Mountain. The arrivals of these trucks are a blessing to the people of Smokey Mountain. The garbage means that they will have something to eat for the day, and they will survive the hard-reality that they will not die with an empty stomach. As soon as the trucks start to dump their garbage loads in the dumpsite, the Smokey Mountain people swarm like flies to scavenge through the dirt. Whatever that can still be useful are picked-up and placed in their sacks--bottles, scrap metal, wires, water cups, straws.
On a good day, a hardworking scavenger earns about 150 pesos a day (US$3) if he scavenged from dawn to dusk. The trash that had been accumulated in the sacks are later separated into kinds because they have different prices: plastic (P5/kilo), scrap iron(P9/kilo), bottles (P0.50-1.0/piece), cups (3/kilo). These are then sold to the junk shops located near the Smokey Mountain. There are times when the scavengers pick up something that can be used at their shanties and so they will not sell these to the junk shops. These are things like a used bed (it becomes their own bed), a piece of unbroken plate or spoon (it becomes their own plate and spoon).
Most of the scavengers in Smokey Mountain are children. In fact, no one really grows old in Smokey Mountain--because they die young. On the average, the life-span of a Smokey Mountain scavenger is 36 years*. Many die of diseases such as tuberculosis, lead poisoning, hepatitis, malnutrition, dengue, and typhoid. Countless have died without receiving proper medical care.
If there is one really forbidden place on Earth, it should be the Smokey Mountain. No one should be living in these inhuman conditions. I have visited Smokey Mountain several times in a period of several weeks, trying to know the life conditions of the Smokey Mountain people. I wanted to expose through my photography our basic complacence and negligence about these unfortunate people. We refuse to look at these kinds of problems because it disgusts us. More importantly, it puts questions into our already weary mind--Is this for real? What can we do?
The problem is very real and there is something we can do.This is my first post on what will be a series about the plight of the Smokey Mountain people.
No comments:
Post a Comment