Scrappers: 15 Photos of Life on a Landfill

A boy sits on an old sofa in a garbage dump.

Many Compassion-assisted families make their living on the garbage dumps. They don’t have much, but they do have determination, grit and enormous courage to do anything in order to provide for their families.

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Blessed Are Those Who Thirst

litle girl in a blue shirt sitting next to a woman wearing a red baseball cap

This trash dump in Nicaragua is where mothers, grandmothers, men and children come to make a living. It’s where they find their lunch. For children it’s where they play and take their midday nap.

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people at garbage dump

Going to “The Mall” aka The Garbage Dump

In the dump, hills of garbage are the landscape. People hidden behind these hills share this landfill with vultures and fight them for the food.

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A happy family

Serving the Barrio of La Cruz Nicaragua

The smells in the barrio of La Cruz, Nicaragua were overwhelming, the people were distant, and there was a strong feeling of emptiness and darkness. Yet Mike and Tina Gannon knew that La Cruz was exactly where God wanted them to be.

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two women standing in garbage dump

Missions in Action: Episode Four

In episode four we find ourselves on the outskirts of Iloilo City, Philippines in the dumps of Calajonan. Sisters Florence and Hannah forage through garbage to earn (at most) $2.50 a day.

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Tegucigalpa neighborhood of houses built into mountainside

Who Are the Diamonds in Your Community?

The House of Diamonds Student Center in El Guanabano, Honduras, serves people whose livelihood is found in garbage. But that doesn’t mean they’re garbage themselves.

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two people walking in garbage dump

My Mountaintop Experience

I’ve been to the crummiest, smelliest and most depressing communities around the Philippines, so I thought that climbing up a pile of trash wouldn’t be any different.

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There Is Power in Sponsor Letters … in Your Letters

At some point, everyone feels like God has left them. Yunita, one of the youngest translators for Compassion Indonesia, felt as though she had been abandoned by God until she read the words of a sponsor.

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two children standing in garbage dump

Living Off of Garbage

Garbage is everywhere. Two children and their mothers used to trudge over the piles, holding a hook to dig in garbage. They were here at the dump at 5 or 6 in the morning every day.

Nearly 150 children used to work at this dump in León, Nicaragua, looking for food and other necessities, helping their families’ financial situations by collecting recyclable material like plastic, glass and metal that could be sold later.

Juan Carlos and Fatima are two children from two different families who were part of that number.

two children standing in garbage dump

Almost every day Juan Carlos’ and Fatima’s mothers collected cans, copper and plastic bottles to sell at the end of each week. On a good week they’d get $5 to $10. The children went with them when there were no classes or activities at their child development center.

At the dump they were exposed to the hot Central American sun and an unsafe and unhealthy environment, punctuated with bad smells, flies, dirt and rotten food.

“I ask the Lord to take care of me because anything can happen at the dump. This year someone was killed in a fight for trash,” says Yolanda, Fatima’s mom. (more…)

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Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable

We must ignite passion for children in poverty, to the glory of God. Nobody is garbage.

Watch Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable and subscribe to Compassion YouTube for more stories.

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Your Thoughts?

Several children stand happily on a large pile of trash at the city dump.
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