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bouvet photography portfolio
The new "Smoky Mountain" of Manila is Payatas in Queson City. Enormous amounts of garbage is dumped here every day, now forming a second garbage "mountain" on the site. Around 6,000 people, practically living on the dump site, support themselves garbage recycling here, plowing through the newly dumped garbage. Living conditions are rough close to the dump site. Very limited access to clean water, sewage floating around the houses, garbage everywhere and smoke and dirt in the air. Back in 1999, an avalanche of garbage killed around 300 people, when parts of the first mountain collapsed. The long term damage, especially to the children growing up here, one only can guess.
Payatas C Elementary School has many challenges. The school lack everything from books to space. A rich family has claimed the land the school is situated on. 25 per cent of the children attending her school work at the dump site nighttime, affecting their performance at school. The highly damaging drug Shabu is popular in the neighbourhood, which also has its share of gambling and prostitution. In spite of this, the school has managed to lift its ranking from number 96 to 21 among elementary schools in Queson City! They have been helped by the project "Sectoral Support for Public Elementary Education", an initiative by the elite, Jesuit university Ateneo de Manila. Thanks to staff Adelfo and Rommel for helping me!
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