orphanage and the dump

yesterday i went on a trip to an orphanage on the edge of phnom penh. the kids there were so excited to see us. i dont know if its just a learned response, or they know that western people will be nice and play with them, but they jump on you as soon as you get there. "whats your name!!!" all of them fighting each other to hold your hand, be picked up, talk to you, dance for you... anything for some attention. we stayed for a while doing dances and playing games, swinging them around in circles. the place itself was small and cramped, and clearly overcrowded. the kids seemed happy enough, but anywhere is better than the dump, which is where a lot of them came from.

in the dump on the outskirts of phnom penh small villages of families live and spend their lives scavenging for garbage. the small children trudge through mountains of trash all day, with no shoes, walking right over broken glass, used needles, and burning garbage. they burn all the plastic and whatever else will burn, so the stench is absolutely unbelievable. i guess you can never really imagine what it would be like - people talk about the families living on the dump, but it is impossible to envision.

after the orphanage we took a trip out there. it was not that far away. maybe a 10 minute walk. all of a sudden you are surrounded by endless rolling hills of garbage. there is one sludge road that garbage trucks roll constantly in and out of. when they reach the heart of the dump they unload the trash and people fight each other to get to it and scavenge through it for anything valuable. they sell the garbage to make money to eat. their homes are huts built right on the garbage. the family, including the children, spend their entire days and nights in the garbage.

the smell and the horrific reality of it was really shocking. it is impossible to empathize, i have no idea how awful that would really be. to make it worse, apparently in rainy season the rain creates sinkholes in the garbage, and people have actually sunk in and drowned in the garbage. the place is so bleak and helpless that i was fighting the urge to just turn and run out of there. it is also strangely silent. people are everywhere picking through trash, but no one speaks. i guess there isnt much to say.

some of the children do get rescued, and go to places like the orphanage, or the center for children's happiness. but there are always more living there, and the adults have no way out.