For many years the garbage ot the mega-city of Manila was heaped up here in Bayatas. Up to 40 meter the Smokey Mountains had piled up... Often after a heavy monsoom rain the mountain begins to slip off and will burry hundreds of children and adults, who were just collecting garbage.



Like crows, people rush in need upon the arriving rubbish, which is dumped by bulldozers. Perhaps some still usable pieces of rubbish, corks, bottles, metal pieces or other reusable materials can be found.

Inge, Flor and me visited the Bayatas Area and the so called "garbage people" on thursday and it was really a shocking picture seeing even small children and mothers and fathers working barefooted in the huge mountains of garbage, because for them it's all they have, their source of income. There are also many accidents happening when the garbage turns to landslides or many many people just get very sick of all the illnesses spread through the dirt and garbage.

We were not allowed to take any pictures, for it's forbidden by the government, they say because people migth use the pictures to get donations which then they use for themselves, in my opinion the main reason is to hide this pictures from the world, because it's a great "shame" for them. But still the government is not doing anything about this huge problem and people keep asking: "Where do all our taxes go?" For sure not to the poor people of the Philippines... That's the sad truth.

Hope I can give you some inspiration with the pictures (I took them out of google, but this were really the impressions we saw), for there are people in the world who are really in need of our help and solidarity.... For me this topic is very touching because I can still remember when we watched a documentation in school about the "Smokey Mountain" of Manila many years ago and I was really upset and shocked by then. Still, at this time I never expected that I ever would go to the Philippines to see it myself. But here I am meeting this people on my very own...
Thanks for reading, sending my love to you all Stephanie