Photo:Travel Photography Scholarship 2012 entry-TPA Benowo,Rubbish or hope?

INDONESIA | Saturday, 5 January 2013 | Views [443] | View Smaller Image

Like brick, stone, cement and other building material connected each other to create sole strong house, so do a father, his wife, son and two-year old young daughter have to gather the “fresh” rubbish and carry it to the nearest fence. This photo was taken at 6.30 am in the early morning reflecting the hard work of the rigid solid family supporting each other and working hand in hand agreed to make a living together, in this rare slum area.

One of the scavengers sitting on the rubbish quietly and working diligently to collect old shoe soles said, “The life in this place is pretty difficult indeed, I cannot get definite income every day and it depends on how hard I work collecting this stuffs.” Just using old rusty knife, dirty basket for putting the goods, and poor outfit with traditional hand-made straw hat on his head to prevent hot sun light hitting the face, he does his job patiently without any proper safety equipment like gas mask and rubber boots; the interesting matter is that he realizes living in this such environment shorten his life because the exposure of the gas causes chronic lung diseases, headache, harmful skin diseases and other similar health problems. “The fact is I must work in this way to sustain my family needs,” he said.

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It was very ironic when watching an old man lives in that cramped filthy hut just made from shabby fabric and old tarpaulin with 4 bamboo sticks as the pillar on it. He sleeps and does his routine activity in that tiny hut daily surrounded by rubbish everywhere with the hazardous air which is able to harm his health condition anytime. Gathering the trash to gain money for his own living and staying in that hut without family member accompanying him is not light burden, but he does not have any other options.

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Photo:Travel Photography Scholarship 2012 entry-TPA Benowo,Rubbish or hope?

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