The Children of Stung Meanchey Garbage Dump
By Matthew Williams
9 April 2007
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.
