1point5million

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

WORLDWIDE | Sunday, 6 November 2011 | Views [1341]

More than 70,000 families live along the edges of the nearly 30 waterways in Metro Manila. The tin and wood dwellings are tightly packed in, sometimes 3 stories high, with no sanitation and very little natural light. Garbage collects in the waterways and clogs its drainage system, so that any slight downpour or typhoon causes flooding in many communities. Metro Manila also has a combined septic and storm-water system so that when it floods, human waste is expelled onto the streets.

The inhospitable and overcrowded slums around Manila are symbolic of modern
day poverty, where there are illegal squatter camps everywhere, deteriorating government housing projects, as well as many people engaged in illegal jobs and activities. Recent government initiatives on eradicating slums and squatter camps have had very little impact.

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Families send their children out to scavenge, as they don’t have the resources to feed them. Many people do what any parent would think impossible to do, and just abandon their children to the street. Many other children become orphans due to the high mortality rate, mainly due to illness and crime. This has led to the world’s largest population of street children. In Metro Manila alone, there are at least 100000 street children.

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1point5million

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

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