Trash life…!!! (Part 2)

1. Quickly collecting each plastic bag in the mountain of trash, Ms. Dang Thi Nhi (Krong Bong district) was overjoyed when she picked up a bag of clothes that could still be used to wear.

At this landfill, Ms. Nhi is known as the youngest and most hardworking person.

Taking a break, quickly wiping away the sweat on her face, she confided: “While I still have the strength, I will try to work, in case I get sick. Being both a mother and a father is very difficult, I only know how to work hard.” At just over thirty, Nhi became a widow, and before enduring that pain, her life had other bitter turns.

She had two children, when the second child was only 3 months old, her husband had an affair, left for another woman without the slightest concern for the children. When she gave birth, father and child had never met. Then he died in a traffic accident, out of love and duty, she still took care of the funeral. So the second child will never know the face of his father.

Since then, Nhi has officially struggled to earn money to raise her children alone. She has two children, one at her paternal home, one at her maternal home, and she has moved to the city to rent a room to find a job. Then a neighbor showed her how to collect trash. She said that the distance from the rented room to the dump is quite far.

She worked from early morning until late afternoon. In the early days, she did not have enough money to buy a rice cooker or a gas stove, so she could not cook anything to bring with her. Therefore, her lunch consisted mainly of noodles and soy sauce. The neighbors in the landfill took pity on her and helped her buy a stove and pots; thanks to that, she had a full lunch and had the energy to search through the trash.

Many days I was busy from early morning, but only came home at 8-9 pm, my whole body smelling of garbage. It has been 5 years now, the work here is hard, but I still have enough money to raise my children and make ends meet.

She smiled gently: "My favorite thing is iced tea. Before, I craved it so much but didn't dare buy it. Now I can buy iced tea because I have money to pick up trash."

Garbage collection truck right on the landfill.

2. In the middle of a dry, sunny noon with gusts of wind and dust, the residents of the landfill were all busy digging. Suddenly, a loud scream: "Save me!" Everyone was startled. In the middle of the mountain of trash, a tiny arm was raised. It was little H'Ngân Hlong. Engrossed in picking up trash, she did not notice the bulldozer pushing trash right behind her. She was rescued in time when the trash had already covered half of her body.

H'Ngan was trembling with fear, while her aunt, H'Mai Hlong, hugged her and rubbed her small, trash-stained feet to reassure her. H'Mai Hlong said in tears: "H'Ngan Hlong is 14 years old this year. H'Ngan's biological mother is my younger sister, but she died early due to illness and her father went to prison, so H'Ngan was taken in by her family to take care of her." H'Mai's family also had many children, poor and struggling, and life was difficult. H'Ngan was very agile and understanding. Seeing her aunt's hard work as a trash collector, whenever she had free time, she also asked to work with her to help the family.

Looking at H'Ngan, no one can hold back their tears. Her childhood was unhappy and lacking both material things and the love of her parents. Looking at the trash-filled streets, I hope it will be a "fire test of gold" that helps her become more mature and have brighter turns in her life in the future.

3. This dump is also the only source of income for Ms. H'Toi Nie's family. For the past 20 years, both her husband and wife have stuck to the trash-picking profession to support their three children's education.

Being illiterate and having no capital, her motto in life is simply to choose a place where there is work to do as her home. That is why since the old landfill was moved, her whole family followed her to the new landfill. Her family moved from village 8, Cu Ebur commune to rent a room in Tuor village, Hoa Phu commune to continue making a living.

People gathered to save baby H'Ngan Hlong when he had an accident at the landfill.

Every day, at 3am, the couple would get on their rickety motorbike and go to the dump, bringing rice balls for lunch, and only returning late at night. Rain or shine, the couple would regularly show up at the dump. On days when they were too tired, they would arrive a little later. On good days, they would pick up a lot of scrap, and on bad days, they would find something usable from the trash at the dump.

 

I have never been able to go to school, I am illiterate and have no capital, so finding a legitimate source of food and clothing from trash is already a blessing.

 

Ms. H'Toi

She said that she was illiterate and had to rely on garbage all her life to survive. “All day, from the moment I opened my eyes until the sun went down, and at night, I only saw garbage, came into contact with garbage, dirt and the stench, but I got used to it. I had no education, was illiterate and had no capital, so finding a legitimate way to make a living from garbage was a blessing,” Ms. H’Toi confided.

Pursuing trash to make a living, but in recent years, the search for scrap sources is not as abundant as before. Partly because the dump is the final destination, the trash has been sorted, plastic bottles and nylon bags have been collected before, and partly because there are many people who come here to make a living.

After years of hardship and many dangers in the job of making a living from garbage, Ms. H'Toi is still optimistic, because thanks to garbage collection, she has raised three children to grow up, go to school, and learn to read and write. In any case, the children's life is better than their mother's, that is the effort that she and her husband put into their children.

Talking about her dreams, Ms. H'Toi sadly said: "I have many dreams. In the past, I only wished to go to school and learn to read and write, but my family was poor and I could not go to school. Later, I got married and had three children. I only wished that my children would learn to read and write, have a stable job, and have a brighter future, and not have to follow a difficult job with unpredictable health like their parents."

The lives of those who make a living at the dump, each with their own circumstances. Listening to them, I feel more compassion and respect for their perseverance and hard work, and I feel happy to be lucky enough to have more food and clothes than so many others.

(To be continued)

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/xa-hoi/202504/doi-rac-bai-2-ce1027e/