Essays: The Children of Stung Meanchey

Near the Cambodian Killing Fields, outside the city of Phnom Penh lies Stung Meanchey, a municipal waste dump many people call home. It is estimated that the dump employs nearly 2000 workers including 600 children. Many cannot afford basic footwear to protect their feet while scavenging through the smoldering mountain of garbage and with such low wages and lack of any education most are unlikely to ever escape their current situation. Attending schools has become a secondary priority to earning money for the family; perpetuating the substandard lifestyles local residents continue to live. Visiting tourists may find it hard to comprehend the daily adversity local adults and children alike are forced to endure, only to earn a meager dollar or two a day.

Stung Meanchey has earned the nickname “Smokey Mountain” from its constant rising plumes of black smoke, which contain high levels of dioxin. Besides toxic air there are many other dangers offered by the dump that threatens the health of local workers. Ill equipped habitants must be on constant alert for the hazards of broken glass, metal, used hypodermic needles, and smoldering waste lurking amongst the rotting piles of garbage. A few lucky individuals are able to afford rubber boots for protection, but most scramble around the trash in flip-flops or even worse, barefoot.

Residents of Stung Meanchey face grave circumstances day in and day out, with little chance of ever breaking free of the cycle of poverty. Microcosms like this are unfortunately not that uncommon in Cambodia. Demographically, Cambodia may be accurately considered a macrocosm of poverty and poor education, made up of many communities similar to that found at Stung Meanchey.

Houses in the dump at Stung Meanchey on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
A young boy scavenges a pile of garbage for anything recyclable at Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
  
A worker takes a break at Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Thursday, February 9, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
     
  
Three young girls climb up one of the mountains of burning trash to forage for bits of recyclable material at Stung Meanchey on Monday, February 6, 2006. Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump is located in Southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Many of the children who work there have parents who also work at the dump, but some don't. It is estimated that over 600 children work at Stung Meanchey for an average of 6000 reel a day, or $1.50.
  
A young boy takes a break from his work at the Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump located in Southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
A young boy who works at the Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump plays with a red marble on Monday, February 6, 2006. Stung Meanchey Garbage is located in Southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
     
  
Children wade through the smoke on top of Stung Meanchey searching for bits of valuable trash on Monday, February 6, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Many of the children can't afford rubber boots, and some don't even have sandals to protect their feet from the piles of burning trash.
   
A boy grimaces as he picks through bits of smoldering garbage on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
  
People crowd around the grabage truck as it arrives at Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
     
  
A young boy gets the first pick of garbage from the truck as it is dumped out at Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Wednesday, February 8, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
  
A group of men load bags of recyclable materials onto a truck at the end of the day on Monday, February 6, 2006 at Stung Meanchey outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
A boy sharpens his hook that he uses to pick up bits of plastic on Thursday, February 9, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
     
  
Houses in the dump at Stung Meanchey on Thursday, February 9, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
A mother and baby stand outside of their wooden shack at the Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Wednesday, February 8, 2006. Many people live and work at Stung Meanchey for less than two dollars a day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
A young boy peeks out of his small shack at Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Thursday, February 9, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
     
  
A group of workers crowd around a scale at the end of the day to weigh the plastic bottles they have salvaged from the mountains of garbage at Stung Meanchey.
  
A man receives 600 reel for his work at the Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Monday, February 6, 2006. Most people who work at the garbage dump make between one and two dollars a day.
   
Although many of the workers at Stung Meanchy can't go to school because it is too expensive, some are able to attend school like this boy who walked through the junk yard on his way home on Monday, February 6, 2006. Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump is located in Southern Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Many of the children who work there have parents who also work at the dump, but some don't. It is estimated that over 600 children work at Stung Meanchey for an average of 6000 reel a day, or $1.50.
     
  
A young boy looks through trash on Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump on Thursday, February 9, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   
Three boys sit on the top of a mountain of garbage as the sun sets behind them at Stung Meanchey on Monday, February 6, 2006.