Facebook, Photo Story, Family Living On Top Of The Garbage, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2018

This part of a Facebook post. Thought I would share it here:

Family Living On Top Of The Garbage, THE FAMILIES OF THE DUMP, Mae Sot, Thailand 2018

When I spent 6 months in Thailand in 2018, I lived for about 4 months in Mae Sot. I had a nice apartment with a/c a kitchen, a hot shower and a soft bed. I would go out to the garbage dump every night till I got burned out, could not take it anymore. I would then run back to my apartment and sleep in my a/c room for most of 2 days, before going back again. I have no idea how the families, the people of the dump survived in the garbage, all the time. To be in that heat, smell, slime, filth, flies, cockroaches, rats without having somewhere to run and hide, like I had. I still cannot believe it.

The family in the photo was new to the dump that year. They had a hut directly on top of the garbage (many other families had their homes to the edge of the dump or several hundred meters away from it). There was no light at night when I arrived, the family would just be sitting in their hut, on the garbage, in the darkness. The only illumination came from the occasional headlight. I am lighting this scene with 2 or 3 headlamps as I was making the photograph. It is the only way the photo could be made. When I left so did most of the light.

MS..Maybe if you tell them that they are not garbage that they will remove themselves from these dumps and seek a better life in someone’s clean field. It’s quite sad seeing people living like this and their government allows it to happen to their people.

Gerry Yaum ....... In 2022, I found out the dump was closed to the families (Burmese refugees). They now have security on 3 sides with a tall fence, fines and threat of arrest, preventing access. This is actually a worse situation for the families as there is very limited work now. Some of the younger Burmese men can get work in construction at lower rates than Thais get but none of the older people have jobs, and few woman work unless they can find work in Mae Sot town. So many of the people can no longer work. Still being in Thailand is better for them as there is greater poverty inside Burma (Myanmar) along with, war, ethnic genocide, rape and other forms of violence. The people in this picture lived on the dump in 2018, I do not know what happened to them. When I returned in 2022 to hand out some donations and make new photos, I had 2 separate women come up to me and thank me for returning. They complained to me of the lack of work and told me the donations helped. Difficult times for them. Their country of Burma is a mess, and in Thailand they live as an unwelcome and barely tolerated people. A video made in 2022 (we are both speaking broken Thai in it, communication can be difficult)...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZMLoEqn6M

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    YOUTUBE.COM

    Talk in the Mae Sot Dump
• JWB..It's difficult to believe that in the 21st century, people live like that.
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      • Gerry Yaum

        It was shocking for me even thou I had 5 years experience photographing in the dump at that time. What was most disturbing was they sat in the dark all night with only the occasional headlight to light what they were doing. When I took the photo above I had to light the scene myself using headlamps while also shooting the photos on a tripod mounted camera (as I mention in the above story). The other three things I remember was the older mother breast fed her baby while smoking and sitting on the garbage. The second, one time I was photographing the home in the darkness using available moon light, the family members were out working, I thought I was alone. Suddenly, I heard a cough, then another. When I turned on my headlamp, I saw a single small child sitting alone in the darkness. A child of maybe 3 or 4, all alone in that miserable hut, sick and coughing on a garbage dump. Had a hard time dealing with that. The third thing was a good thing. A woman friend I worked with in Canada donated $300 CAD and asked me to give the money in cash to those I thought needed it the most. I usually did not hand out cash to the families (it was always donated goods) but I followed her wishes. So, I divided that money up in 100-baht bills, then placed the bills in pink envelops. On my last day at the dump, I handed out the money envelopes to all the families I thought needed it the most. The family pictured above got 2 envelopes. https://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/.../handed-out-family-fund...

        

        GERRYYAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM

        Handed out The Family Fund Money To I Hope Those Most In Need

        Handed out The Family Fund Money To I Hope Those Most In Need
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