Smokey Mountain is a rubbish dump. A place where tens of thousands of people scavenge for their livelihood, it has been adopted by many of the world's poor who live below the poverty line. Here in the Philippines, it is almost half the population.
Smokey Mountain is a mass of decomposed rubbish; almost twenty metres high, from a distance it looks like an enormous mound of earth, but at a closer view you can see all the layers of plastic bags, bottles and tires all squashed together, fifty years worth of Manila’s rubbish. There is a filthy rope dangling from the top and a well trodden path people use to scramble up this steep mountain.
There are people who walk around covered in dirt, office people whose clothes are ripped and ratty old plastic sandals that are way too big!!! Homes are very old and run down, a piece of iron is used as a roof and plastic and sheets are used as walls. A timber palette is used as the floor with a mat on top to keep people and inch above earth.
Men and women are seen scavenging around looking for rubbish, they move around depending on where work is and they have to pull their children out of school because they can’t afford to pay the school fees.
There seems to be money and wealth everywhere, but on top of Smokey Mountain people will never know what that means.
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