Located in a small alley on Phan Van Tri Road in HCM City, So Thung rubbish dump has been the livelihood of many families for over 20 years.

Two women were classifying waste.

Rubbish collectors flock to this alley to establish a poor hamlet named So Thung.

At 11am, fierce sunlight made the fetid smell of garbage very strong along the road to So Thung. The deeper one gets inside the hamlet, the stronger the smell. Anyone that comes to So Thung for the first time is nauseated.

Along the alley are household-scale trash trading firms. Each firm is located on 500sq.m, covered by all kinds of waste piled up like small mountains.

Hue city, 50, an alley resident, put his old bicycle on the wall and turned a big jute bag upside down. Dozens of plastic bottles, plactic bags, etc. felt out. These were her treasures after a hard-working day at So Thung rubbish dump.

“My hometown is Dinh Quan (Dong Nai province). I moved to this alley in 1992. I don’t have a job, so I go to the garbage dump to collect waste,” Hue explained.

Hue gets up very early to wait for the garbage trucks. In the afternoon, she rides along streets to collect roadside waste.

Her husband has performed the same job for nearly 20 years. Her two daughters are hired workers. All members of her family work very hard, but their life is still poor. They live in a tent of less than 5sq.m. They have no savings.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, 46, also earns her living by collecting waste. Her children must work in the dump and attend a charity class at night.

“On lucky days, I can earn 50,000-70,000 dong ($2.5-3.5). Normally, I can earn 20,000-30,000 dong ($1.1.5). We work here even in storms,” Thanh revealed.

Previously Thanh’s family had a three-wheeled taxi to make a living. When her husband got sick, Thanh had to sell the vehicle. She worried that she couldn’t continue sending her 9-year-old son to school.

This tent is the home for four people in Hue’s family.

“This tent is our house. I’ve heard that the Government is about to build a big road through our hamlet. At that time, my family may have to live under a bridge,” Thanh predicted.

Not far from Thanh’s house is the tent of Nguyen Van Tung, 55. “I live on rubbish. My wife couldn’t stand this life so she took my children away. Perhaps I’ve been living with trash all my life so I’ve contracted tuberculosis. I have to live on the kindness of my neighbors. Without them, I couldn’t live up to now,” Tung declared.

Most kids in this hamlet don’t go to school because they have to support their parents by working at So Thung trash dump.

Thanh’s daughter, Mai, 12, has worked for five years at So Thung. “My family is very poor. I have to work to help my parents to earn money to send my brother to school. I study at a charity class at night,” Mai stated.

The youngest “worker” is Ti Sun, 7. The boy gets up at 6am and goes to the dump with his brother. “After taking a bowl of rice, we have to go to the rubbish site immediately to wait for garbage trucks. If I go there late, I will not collect valuable things,” Ti Sun asserted.

Next to Ti Sun, other boys like Cu Den, Cu Bin, etc. were working. Their tools are a jute bag and an iron stick to scratch at the garbage.

The life of So Thung hamlet in photos:

So Thung garbage dump is the source of living for many families for over 20 years.

After being classified, garbage is packed in jute bags and transported to recycling enterprises.

Ti Sun and his elder brother play on 2m high garbage bags after finishing their work.

Many families are living in such tents.

A tent surrounded by garbage.

Young citizens of So Thung hamlet.

Source: VNE