Scavengers proud of trashy work
2005-06-07 13:55
Dakar - The ground is a sea of trash; the stench almost unbearable. Yet Pape Ndiaye, who speaks for the hundreds of scavengers who comb the vast garbage dump at Mbeubeuss, near Dakar, is proud of his work, which, he says, allows him to retain his dignity.
About 1 000 people grind a living from this mountain of rubbish spread over 25km from the centre of the Senegalese capital, where every day another 1 000 tons of waste arrive.
"Mbeubeuss is heavily polluted, it gets household, industrial and biomedical waste in huge quantities," said Ibrahima Sow, in charge of chemical waste and products at the environment ministry.
Proud of their job
Glass and plastic bottles, jerrycans, boxes, even dolls account for most of the rubbish recovered and then resold in the markets of Dakar and to individuals.
"A real social phenomenon has developed here, its a getting-on-with-it economy," according to Amadou Diallo, of the non-governmental organisation Environment and Development Action.
The average income of a scavenger can reach $187 a month, three times the national minimum wage.
Most of the scavengers are from Dakar and western and central Senegal. The majority are children and young men but there are increasing numbers of women.
"This is my place and I make soap, "said Courra Ndiaye, showing her home, a shack of metal strips in the middle of the garbage. "I am very proud of it."
Pape Ndiaye, who belongs to the Bokk Jam association, ("share in dignity" in Wolof, Senegal's chief language) also showed his pride.
"We are not thieves, we work in dignity," he said.
Tremendous health risk
But scavenging presents enormous risks to health.
"The most common illnesses are tetanus, leprosy, scabies and cholera," according to Michel Seck of the environment ministry, who has carried out a study of working conditions at Mbeubeuss.
There is also an ecological dimension since the dump pollutes the Dakar region with its smoke and poisons the water table which irrigates local fruit and vegetable produce.
The site at Mbeubeuss, once a lake, now dried up, has been used as a dump since 1970 and for the past five years the authorities have been trying to move it.
Following tenders in 2001, a piece of land at Diass, 60km east of Dakar meeting European standards is due in principle to be brought into service in September.
Faced with the prospect of closure at Mbeubeuss the scavengers have formed an association with a view to keeping their jobs in the event of a transfer to Diass.
Plans are being considered for "controlled dumps" in several large Senegalese towns but according to the environment ministry none has got beyond early design stages.