Stung Meanchey. Cambodia

The large Phnom Penh municiple Garbage dump is situated in a slum area of Phnom Penh known as Stung Meanchey. Close to 3000 people, men, women and children live and work on this dump . They collect recycleables,bottles,cans,pieces of metal or plastic and food stuffs, to sell for a few Reil in order to survive day to day. Many earn little more than a dollar a day.

Most of the rubbish pickers at Steung Meanchey are either from Phnom Penh or came to Phnom Penh looking for work and ended up in the slums. Many of the approximately 600 children have parents or relatives who also work on the dump and look after them. Some of them go to school, but most do not - at least not on a regular basis -, and it is safe to say that virtually none of them ever completes a primary school education. The school fees are too high and their families need them to collect rubbish to contribute to the family income. Adults earn, on average, 4000 to 5000 riels (US$1.00 to $1.25) a day; children earn on average about half that amount. A whole family working together can actually earn more money than they could in the rural village from which they originally came.