Photo Story: Laughing Child

from Facebook....

Gerry Yaum

February · Edited ·  · 

This girl is 9 years old, she followed me around for an hour or so, laughing, wanting her picture taken, then looking at it on the LCD and asking for it again. I had given her brother and her some teddy bears and lollipops earlier. I still owe her father some size 11 boots. This little girls joy was infectious. I will miss the children here when I leave and return to Canada. At one point while I was photographing distant workers (later photo) she held my hand in the dark. Children often do that here, just grab your hand and hold it for a while, happens to me quite often in the dump. Beautiful beautiful children, heartbreaking to think about this too much.

Laughing child in the dump

OCTO-Gerry??

from Facebook....

Back at the dump with the families tonight after a night off. When I arrived there was a charge across the dump grounds of running children. They all were coming for mama noodles and lollipops. The running of 30 or 40 feet through the dump trash, with cries of joy, laughter and cries of "GERRY SOLO!!" (lollipop). Simply beautiful. Now I know what it feels like to be Santa Claus.

Here are some photos from tonight. Will try to run straight through until I leave Mae Sot. It will be 7 or 8 more nights in a row before saying goodbye to everyone here and taking the overnight bus back to Bangkok. Probably will not be able to get back for a year maybe more. Got to save money for my own travel and also need to start a new donation fund. Hopefully the photos taken this trip will help raise awareness, help to tell the families story and help to raise funds for future donations.

Am trying to shoot more video now for possible artist talks, talks in general on the families. The problem is every time I go into video mode I miss still shot opportunities. Hard to do everything by yourself. Tonight while working I was holding multiple things at the same time, my camera, a sound recorder and multiple flash lights to light the scene. Doing all that, then trying to capture both stills and video is rather difficult. I think I need more arms and hands to get this all done, OCTO-Gerry?

Gosh am hungry, anyone out there a good cook? Looking to get me some food in my big belly :))

First Day Back Photos

Took a night off yesterday, was asked  by some, "You did not come yesterday?". Here are photos from the first day back. Might try to push every night now, 7 or 8 more before I leave Mae Sot.

Girl in red

Child laying on her sofa dump bed

Laying child #2

Garbage truck

Working

Woman workers

New young worker

Laughing Child

Workers from a distance

Workers from a distance #2

So Much More Needed

I am leaving soon, soon will be on my way and gone. Yet so many people here need so much more, so much could be done and should be done for them. I feel like I have not done enough.

Clinging Children

Gosh the children were on me today, all over me. They clung to my tripod, followed and laughed and played all round me. It was rather incredible. It seems my handing out Lollipops has made me lots and lots of little friends. I here them call out 'GERRY!!" over and over again through out the night.

More Video Needed

I am shooting more video now but need much more for my artist talks, my general "Families of the Dump" talks. I want to get video footage of garbage trucks coming in at night and also some audio of a woman singing a Burmese song. Maybe I can use the song as a audio track for my still image movie sequence that I will play at the beginning of the talk.

I need to think of and get other types of video footage before I leave at the end of the month. Soon I will have no opportunity to get new video and stills, now is the time to go all in, get things done.

Groom Drunk Most Days Now

It seems like every time I see the groom now he is wasted, completely drunk. This man is only 21 or so, drinking as much as he drinks now cannot be good for his future life. Tonight he was on me 3 or 4 or maybe 5 times asking for things, money, rice, headlamps, using his wife's pregnancy to help his case. I have seen him working the garbage sometimes, but not often.

There is a group of 4 or 5 heavy drinkers here who are always asking me for things. That is not a bad number when you consider their are several hundred people here that I deal with quite often. I worry for the groom and brides future. They have 2 children another on its way (another boy) and their father drinks too much. He has a lot of responsibility, a lot to protect and take care of, drinking will only destroy what he already has. Nothing gets better with drug abuse.

Locals Thais Donate To Help The Families

Got some good news a donation of goods and money from some Thai folks. This has been brewing for quite a while. I have  already taken 2 small loads of kitchen goods donated by Thais to the families, along with multiple children's toys (teddy bears etc). The group of Thais ended up giving about $200 in various goods (including an electric fan which I will donate to Sky Blue School) and 3000 baht ($120.30 CAD) in money. I will add the $120.30 to the money donated column and use it to buy more headlamps or boots for the families.

This new donation should even things out a bit. I thought I would have to throw in $200-$300 of my security guard money before I left Mae Sot. Now it looks like I will need to add  less than I thought, maybe only $100. Thank you kind friends for this most recent and generous donation.

Update* The total money donated this trip for the families is $3518.69. I have spent $3356.65. Meaning I have around $162 CAD to spend in my last 8 or 9 days here.

Feeling Guilty

Tonight I took a nigh off from the dump. I went out had a great meal, slept a lot and relaxed. While I was enjoying my expensive meal I kept thinking of the children at the dump who were doing without their Mama noodles and lollipops. I felt quite guilty about it. Could see in my mind all those little eyes and hands reaching up to me from the darkness. Let them all down. I am eating steamed fish in a lemon sauce they are living and playing in garbage without eve much a sweet to help them through it. Will be back in the garbage dump with the families tonight, taking a full load of donations along with making more pics.

Photo Story: Father And Daughter Working Together

from Facebook....

Gerry Yaum

5 hrs · Edited · 

A father and young daughter (8 years old?) working the garbage. He is pointing at some food that he found in the waste. His wife went over and picked it up in the area located behind me. I have some video of her finding and carrying out this found food. In my artist talk I hope to combine this photo along with the video that followed. I will then speak to the found food aspect of the dump.. I see vegetables, fruits, nuyd and the like taken out of the garbage all the time. The families eat
the best of what they find, sometimes food is also gathered for animals (pigs etc). Here is a link to found meat. It was separated and shared between several families.

Father and daughter working together

Found Meat In The Dump Picture

Photo Story: Man Waing Me

from Facebook...

Gerry Yaum

5 hrs · Edited · 

Drunk man waing me, after this photo he got up came over to me and asked for a headlamp, I gave him one of the more expensive 300 baht ones.

Waing is a sign of respect it is also a way to of begging and a to say think you after receiving something.as a gift. I get waied all the time here, very common,. people are quite polite in the dump. It is polite to return a wai, which I try to do when possible. Or I tell people it is OK no need to do that.

Man gives me wai from his dump shelter

Photo Story: Brother And Sister Working The Garbage

from Facebook...

Gerry Yaum

28 mins · Edited · 

6 (?) year old brother pointing out garbage to his 8 (?) year old sister where the good garbage is. They are new to the dump and learning the process. I will speak to the parents and try to get the true ages and names of the children. Burmese names are very hard to remember. About 1 minute after this photo was made the little boy found some cardboard and dragged it off the picking site, it was as big as he was.

Brother and Sister working the garbage together

Photo Story: Mother And Her 3 Children

from Facebook...

Gerry Yaum

5 hrs · Edited · 

Mother with 3 of her children. The girls were filled with energy playing and jumping and running about all night. I had a hard time photographing them with the slow shutter speeds I needed in the low light conditions. When I left them around midnight they were sleeping in the open like this with no mosquito netting, only a light sheet covering them. Fucking brutal!

Mother and her 3 children

Photo Story: Heroic Father And Son Portrait

from Facebook...

Gerry Yaum

5 hrs · Edited · 

Father an and son as they were leaving the work area and heading home around 1130pm. I like how heroic he looks here, like a statue or something. I will try to shoot more low angle noble looking portraits like this. I feel the people, the families are heroes, they are noble, I need to accentuate that, to tell that part of the story. Maybe I can do a wall in the exhibitions ahead speaking to that feeling, 4 or 5 portraits in this noble style.

Father and son in the dump going home together

Rejection From Saskatchewan Gallery

I got a very kindly written rejection note for the latest "Families of the Dump" images from the Godfrey Dean Gallery today. Not everything fits everywhere, fair enough, so nice of them to take the time to write me.

Thanks guys
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Godfrey Dean Gallery	10:39 AM (38 minutes ago)

Thank you for your interest in exhibiting at Godfrey Dean Art Gallery in Yorkton. Your personal commitment to helping people living in unimaginably difficult circumstances in Thailand is admirable and impressive.

However, our small community gallery in rural Saskatchewan is not an ideal venue to exhibit your work. Gallery staff are not well informed with the protocols and practices around producing and exhibiting images of people living in poverty in developing countries. It seems extremely unfair to critique your practice in terms of photographic accomplishment and an artist's body of work, which is how photography and visual art proposals are normally assessed at Godfrey Dean Art Gallery.

We’re sorry that we’re not able to offer you an exhibition opportunity at this time, but thank you for bringing your work to our attention. We wish you the best in finding those outlets that are able to help you get the message out and tell the stories you want to tell.

Sincerely,
Godfrey Dean Art Gallery

More Small Buys

A couple of small buys tonight at the 7/11 where I was buying my supper (cheese sandwiches and heated small sausages.

- Tiger Balm 2 x 56 baht = 112 baht
- Lollipops 30 x 5 baht  = 150 baht
- Money handed out 130 baht

Total 262 baht.

7th Night In A Row Photos

Here are some photos from my 7th night in a row. Was tired and had to push myself a bit but did driver the motorcycle slow (almost out of gas). I have 40 baht left in my wallet, need to go to the bank sometime tomorrow. The extensive donation buys sucked up my last 23000  baht withdrawal awful fast.

Young brother helping sister find garbage

Father and daughter working the garbage

Mother and her 3 children

Father and son

Boy in dump

Drunk man

Crying child in dump home

Man Wais Me