Trash life…!!! (Last post)

The life of many residents of the landfill is not just a story of a day or two, but a long journey, sometimes a lifetime of a person, even two or three generations in a family. It is also a time for garbage collectors to take care of and nurture beautiful dreams for themselves, for their families, or simply hope for a brighter life and future for their children.

1. Ms. Tran Thi Huyen (in village 8, Cu Ebur commune, Buon Ma Thuot city) starts her day at 5 am and ends when it is late afternoon. Following her mother's footsteps and having been a garbage collector for 20 years, her work schedule is almost full: waking up early to arrange everything, cooking rice to bring for lunch right at the dump, rushing home in the afternoon to prepare meals, urging her children to study in the evening...

The distance from village 8 to the landfill in Hoa Phu commune (Buon Ma Thuot city) is nearly 30 km, the round trip is almost 60 km. Almost all the remaining time, Ms. Huyen has to rake, pick up, and collect trash, which makes her feel exhausted. Yet for the past 20 years, she has still endured, overcome difficulties with strong faith and desire to change her life. There were times when she thought she had to turn to another direction, but in the end, she still chose the path of collecting trash to continue nurturing her dream of a brighter future. When asked about her happiness and dreams, she smiled gently: “Sometimes when I find beautiful clothes, I often bring them home to wash and iron them for my children to use. Seeing my two children grow up day by day makes me very happy. Now one of them is studying automotive technology at the Vietnam College of Industry and Trade (Dak Lak campus). My children want to go to the landfill to help their mother, but I don’t let them. I work hard and only hope that in the future they will change their lives and become successful.”

Every time a garbage truck arrives at the dump, garbage pickers wait in the hope of finding things they can sell to make a living.

2. Also from village 8 (Cu Ebur commune, Buon Ma Thuot city), the joy of Ms. Phung Thi Hong Phuong's job is also the common desire of those who work as garbage collectors, which is to collect as much garbage as possible. 10 years of struggling to make a living have trained her to be quick and agile in collecting and sorting. Clothes, bottles, and other usable items will be kept separately and brought home; plastic bags, aluminum, and scrap are collected on a piece of cloth about 4 square meters wide. When there is enough garbage, Ms. Phuong quickly ties the four corners of the cloth, puts the "goods" on her head, and moves towards the waiting scrap collection vehicle.

Garbage is everywhere, the smell is strong, but thanks to the garbage, Ms. Phuong can raise three children of school age, including the eldest daughter who is a third-year student at Van Hien University (Ho Chi Minh City). To help her children realize their dreams of going far, Ms. Phuong has to increase her working hours and intensity more than before. The hardest part is working at night, Ms. Phuong and those in the same profession have to strain their eyes to observe and search for garbage under dim lights. Occupational accidents such as slipping and falling, cutting hands and feet... become everyday occurrences. Looking into the distance, the mother confided: "My life is hard, I can only hope that my children grow up and mature. You are the motivation for your parents to try hard, I just hope that you study hard, can walk on bright paths, not the hard, difficult path of garbage that your parents have been and are walking".

When talking about her children, Ms. Huyen's eyes shine with happiness. She is happy when her children are filial, obedient, understand the hardships of their parents and strive to study, are never shy or embarrassed, and are even proud to tell their friends that their mother works as a garbage collector.

3. Not only Ms. Huyen and Ms. Phuong at Hoa Phu landfill, we also met many ups and downs in life from village 8, Cu Ebur commune (Buon Ma Thuot city). The name of village 8 was mentioned many times, urging us to find it, this used to be the location of the city's garbage dump. The landfill was put into operation in 1999, closed in 2020 and moved to Hoa Phu commune.

Garbage collection is hard work and not without danger.

Village 8 is about 5 km from the city center, the land is quite arid. The March sun of the Central Highlands seems to want to dry up every treetop and bush. Mr. Bui Van Hien, Head of Village 8, knows it by heart when talking about the area he has been attached to for decades. Village 8 has about 900 households with over 3,700 people, most of whom are from Hue, Ha Tinh, and Nghe An. Since the Cu Ebur landfill was established, many families in groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 have chosen this place to make a living and escape poverty. When the Cu Ebur landfill stopped operating, many households in Village 8 continued to go to Hoa Phu to work.

The old and new landfills have created opportunities for many households to earn a living, even though they know that the work is difficult, arduous and even dangerous. For example, the family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huong, who worked hard at many jobs, including the hard work of collecting trash, saved up some capital to buy land, build a house, and send her children to school. Or Mrs. Tran Thi Nhung, who also saved up and collected every penny, has now opened a small grocery store. The family of Mr. Le Thanh Tung used to be one of the poorest households in the village, but has now escaped poverty and bought an old car to make a new living. Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong and his wife used to do all kinds of jobs, the wife worked hard during the off-season to earn extra income, and now she has saved up to build a spacious house as she wished.

The gains and losses of those who have been and are working as garbage collectors today are tied to their hard work, diligence, sweat, tears, and even the sacrifice of a lifetime. In the middle of the messy garbage dump, filled with dust and stench, there are always people who work hard to make a living. They not only collect garbage but also cherish, nurture, and nurture dreams and hopes for a better future, to live a different life with positive changes for themselves, their families, and their loved ones.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/phong-su-ky-su/202504/doi-rac-bai-cuoi-98e0590/