1 December 2011

Working Cambodia's Dumps



'Cambodians work late into the night recycling garbage as fires burn at the local garbage dump November 30, 2011 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Many children work part time in the dump to help support their families while attending school during the day. While Siem Reap's ancient temples boost massive tourism attracting millions of visitors still 28.3% of Cambodians live on less than $1.25 per day according to a 2011 UNDP Human Development Report. An estimated 36 per cent of Cambodia's 14.2 million people live below the poverty line and about 85 per cent of these live in rural areas.'

Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images

3 comments:

  1. Philip, while Stray and I were in Thailand, we meant to visit Cambodia. But, time got away on us...however, I'm happy to say we're visiting in late Feb/March. I was browsing through 'things to do' articles and was surprised to see that a vist to the dumps was listed as one of them.

    What are your thoughts on this?

    Cheers!

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  2. Hi Snap, happy to hear that you have some more travels ahead!

    Well, I don't know for sure but I guess if the tourists come then you'll find the number of kids at the dumps will increase.

    Likely, some kids and babies will be borrowed (any child will do)by adults to help with their begging. Or, a gang will set up a troupe of ragged kids- taken from who knows where- and set them to work on the tourists.

    Can't see any good coming out of it, but then I'm getting more cynical everyday.

    ReplyDelete