| Home by a Garbage Dump | ||||||||||
| By Tzu Chi documenting volunteers in Mozambique Translated by Wu Hsiao-ting Photos by Hsiao Yiu-hwa | ||||||||||
The Hulene garbage dump on the outskirts of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is a 15-meter-high (about 50-foot-high) mountain of trash that stretches across 42 acres. Hundreds of families live nearby, exposed to the stench, insects, and risks of disease. They make a living by salvaging trash to sell. The dump operates way above capacity. David Simango, the mayor of Maputo, promised to shut it down in his campaign for re-election in 2013, but it remains open to this day. Tragedy struck late in the night of February 18, 2018, when heavy rains triggered a partial collapse of the huge dump, burying and killing 17 people.
Just to Survive After cooking their food in used milk formula cans, people dump it out on plastic bags spread on the ground and dig in. The garbage dump sprawls over a large area, with gangs claiming control of different sections. Members of one group are not al-lowed to trespass into another’s area to scavenge.
Co-subsistence Waste of all kinds is trucked each day to the Hulene garbage dump, the largest such facility in Mozambique. People living nearby work together to reclaim reusable stuff to sell. Whether this cooperative mode of subsistence will continue after the avalanche remains to be seen.
A Vicious Cycle Sorted garbage awaits transportation to recycling dealers. Children often help sort and transport the garbage. Due to poverty, a high percentage of children from the families who collect recyclables for a living do not go to school. The youngsters, not knowing the consequences, do not seem to care. A vicious cycle of poverty thus results, and the children often end up living off the garbage dump their entire lives.
Under the Hill A barefoot woman wearing a mask searches for recyclable items amidst the garbage. In the background to the right stand some shabby dwellings. Their proximity to the garbage dump makes it easy to imagine how an avalanche of the dump might seriously impact nearby homes.
It Never Rains But Pours Photos by Jose Carlos Mathambene Torrential rains late in the night of February 18, coupled with poor drainage, led to severe flooding in Maputo. Roads were submerged and traffic seriously impeded. The downpour also caused part of the Hulene garbage dump in Maputo to collapse, burying shacks in the surrounding neighborhood and killing 17 people. Local Tzu Chi volunteers immediately jumped into action. They arrived at the disaster site in the rain on February 19 to assess damage, as residents were waiting anxiously for their family members still buried under the garbage mounds to be rescued. Some residents even tried to find still usable stuff in the heaps of trash during the rescue. The local government evacuated all people living near the garbage dump after the disaster. Two temporary shelters were set up for the displaced. Tzu Chi volunteers visited the shelters to comfort the victims and learn what they could do to help. Standing water after the rains led to an increase in mosquito populations, but there was a shortage of malaria medicine at public hospitals. To prevent an outbreak of the disease, Tzu Chi volunteers distributed mosquito nets at the shelters. They noticed that there wasn’t enough food to go around at the site, so they decided to start providing hot food there. Some kind-hearted people donated vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage to Tzu Chi after the disaster. Along with vegetables harvested from the kitchen garden at the Tzu Chi office in Mahotas, Maputo, volunteers cooked pot after pot of thick soup for victims. The soup was a hit because fresh vegetables were a rarity for the impoverished people. Because the truck owned by the Tzu Chi office had broken down, Chen Xiang-ze (陳祥澤), a businessman of Chinese descent, provided his own truck and driver to transport volunteers, relief supplies, and food to the shelters. Chen also supplied food containers and spoons for residents to use.
Singing of Aid Recipients While serving shelter residents with hot food, volunteers continued to assess their needs. Sanitation at the shelters was worrisome, so volunteer Denise Tsai (蔡岱霖), after a video conference with the Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan, set about purchasing toiletry items for victims. Soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and towels were packed into buckets to be distributed at the shelters. The distribution was held on February 27. Volunteers noticed a change in the attitude of the staff from the National Disasters Management Institute, the disaster relief agency of Mozambique that was managing the emergency shelters. Previously they had been very circumspect when they dealt with the volunteers, but now they were very friendly toward them. They even thanked them for their services at the shelters over the last few days. The volunteers had apparently won their trust through their work. The staffers gave the volunteers complete latitude to conduct the distributions the way they wanted. Over 200 toiletry kits were given out that day. Volunteers told the recipients at the distributions that the buckets contained not only toiletry items but lots of love as well. They hoped that the victims would pay the love forward by giving a hand to other needy people. Doing so would complete the cycle of goodness. Moved by the words, the audience burst first into applause and then a song to express their thanks to the volunteers. Amidst the misfortune of the garbage dump disaster, a piece of cheerful news reached Tzu Chi volunteers. While compiling recipient rosters at one of the shelters, they learned that a resident, Matilde, had just delivered a baby via caesarian section on February 25. They immediately visited her at the hospital to deliver gifts of juice and milk and to see if she needed any other assistance. Matilde was discharged from the hospital on February 27. Volunteers arranged transportation for her so that she and the baby could return to their shelter without having to wait for a bus while her surgical wounds were still hurting. Volunteers also gave the new mother washable diapers and other supplies. Matilde’s fellow shelter residents were happy to see her return with a healthy baby. Volunteers continued to care for shelter residents through March and into April. On April 10, they held a distribution of gift vouchers for 194 families of victims. Families of one to three persons, four to six persons, and seven or more received vouchers worth 6,000, 8,000, and 10,000 Mozambican metical (100, 130, 165 U.S. dollars) respectively. One recipient said, “I’d been praying for a miracle, but I never expected that help would come from thousands of miles away.” She was referring to the Tzu Chi headquarters in Hualien, Taiwan. Volunteers will continue to provide care and support to survivors. Suffering abounds in the world, but if everyone gives what they can, change will happen.
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