Maung Maung Tinn - Water Colour Paintings - 15

Each morning we wake up to the foul smell of garbage

We wake up to a foul smell, every morning. The morning garbage truck brings more valuable items than the one at noon. We collect plastic, glass and aluminium, whatever we can sell at the market. We also collect fish, meat, fruit and vegetables that don’t look too perished, to feed our families. We buy our drinking water because then we know it is safe to drink, but use the water from the well near the dump to cook and to wash. We know that no person should live in these conditions, breathing toxic fumes, walking and living on polluted soil, eating in the company of flies. But living at the local dump, far from the nearest town, has its benefits. We don’t need to worry about being arrested by the police. Living at this city’s dump is easier than living in our native land ... Burma. By MMT