Child Labor on Garbage Sites

Children working for families isn't such a bad thing, children who grow up on farms work, milking cows, plowing fields, working in gardens etc. It isn't the work that's the issue, it's the conditions they live and work under that those of us who are 'better off' take exception to. When farm labor moves to the city, often they are unskilled and unprepared for city life. Often such moves are made in the hope of a better life and once they find themselves away from their homes they are without means to return or even anything to return to if they could. While I pity anyone living and working in such conditions, I find I can not judge them or their love for their children. I wonder what any of us would do if we found that our lives had changed, no house to live in, no land to till, no job to go to and no money to be had.

I don't think I would have liked to see that. I know those kinds of things happen, but I don't know that there is anything that I can do to change it. Just knowing about it makes me want to take some kind of action to change it, but I feel helpless to do so. Did they make any mention of possible solutions for this situation?

hi can a fellow mylotter who is not a Filipino chime in too? I am so sad reading about those families and those poor little kids. Cannot the Philippine government do something for their own people? I mean this is barbaric. those people deserve the same good kind of life as a ny other resident of your country.those parents bore those children and they must care for them. Surely the Philippino government must know about this situation. Is there any way we who are not from your country can help? I am elderly and only have a small social security and ssi check which is mostly taken u p for monthly rent and board here atGold Crest.But this sounds so sad to hear people living in a garbage dump. it sure does not say much for your government to let this go on. they need to help all their citizens not just some.

They symbolize the failure of the government to alleviate poverty in the country. There are factors that we have to consider. 1st: Corruption 2nd: Scarcity of resources For me, the government should institute efficient mechanism so as to invade and eliminate corruption in the government. But this, sad to say is very hard to happen. The easiest way for me is that I wish I had all the supernatural powers so I can spy on all government documents and transactions and hang all the corrupt officials in front of their offices 1 by 1. the scarity of resources is another thing. we are rich in natural resources so why the hell is the government extract its own natural resources for the benefit of the country. why let the multinational companies sap our wealth and be left with all the toxic wastes and defiled forests.

Most of them are coming from provinces who's taking chances or risk in the city because they believe they can give good future for their children but because of lack of education, poverty that;s what happen to them. They dont have any choice but to let their children to help them in order to survive. Pity children are the one who affected in this situation at early stage they already know how to provide foods for the family. I hope government must have programs or project on how to solve this big problem and I hope someday those children in the garbage today we will see them all in the school tomorrow.

Child labor is big problem in many developing countries.This problem have to responsibility by government.Give the employment opportunities to people of working age is best solution.

that sounds awful surely they could find the kids god food . DO thy get paid for doingthis?

Yup that is a very sad reality for us living on a third world country. I guess you can also see that in many countries that are like us. I really am helpless as well since I could not do anything to help them out of it. I wish I could do something for them so their lives could be a little comfortable but I am like them have to attend to my families needs first.

It's a very sad situation. I am deeply moved to hear your story. I also often find, small children who must work. They even eat food that has been discarded by others. I really want to help them. But my my abilities are limited. If I could, I wanted to give their parents jobs. I often bring food to them, not much help,but at least they can eat.

I haven't seen the documentary, but it sounds heartbreaking. Unfortunately, that kind of hunger, starvation, lack of work, lack of safety, etc. goes on all over the world. I wish we could change it, but it's too overwhelming. I guess we do what we can for those we can...

Oh my this is so horrid and sadly it is happening in many countries due to poverty and no employment. My biggest concern is that it is not hygienic and so unhealthy to say the least, the poor children living in this form of environment. I do hope some type of assistance can be implored to such families in this type of situation.

It's really a pity seeing those children looking for used bottles and cans in every garbage they can see. We also have some here like that in our province. But at least, they are a bit decent looking and they have their own trolleys with them. They said they just would like to help their parents. But those that you see in the documentary, they are adamant that they could earn better in the heaps of garbage, rather than in the province. They just don't like to till lands and plants so they chose those jobs.

Staria,how about putting an urban resettlement site for these slum dwellers with a little help from the government to start a living? and not to make their living from that rubbish place! my god your story has me eeewwwing....really! this is also a big stroke to my fate seeing those many uneducated parents who had many childrens and they just don't care! anyway staria, let us not look at this situation more negatively and face it as a challenge to your country and to your people. you all know that this is a national phenomena because of what your leaders are doing to your country.. we all know what i mean.. if not because of graph and corruption, philippines could be more than progressive now. i hope and pray that all of you are learning from those bad impact to your people because of having corrupt leaders and do not rely on grants and aid anymore. families should strive more to make a living and i'd rather do farming in the province than dwelling in suburban or urban places like manila and earn and see nothing but pollution. i'd rather eat bananas.

A lot of this here in country (Philippines).. A lot are so tolerated by the situation.. Its really not easy! But what I can only say to the parents of these children is they should work for their family especially for their kids.. They made them so its their responsibility. The kids should not work for them! I hope in the near future, it will be changed.

Indeed there are a lot of street out there not just in the Philippines, anywhere else there are street children, and it is so sad seeing this children being deprive of decent living. What can we do for them? Probably in just a little way we can help once when we pass by them, give alms or food, whatever we can. But what i wish more is that the government will have a more comprehensive and effective way to give them even a decent shelter and send them to school, so that they will have a better future.

I am glad I didn't see that! I know things like that go on in many countries, and it is SOO sad. Why would anyone think eating garbage was better than eating bananas? I just hope there is something that can be done, but I don't know what it could be. Here in the States there are a lot of government programs for poor people. There are still homeless people eating out of garbage cans. Poverty is too rampant for donations to help much and I don't know what else could be done. It is hard to imagine living like that, but it could happen to anyone.

We used to live somewhere in Manila where my parents' home was just about a kilometer or two from a mountain of garbage or what they call Smokey Mountain in the capital city here in our country. All the garbage collected in the city were dumped in that place, the people who lived near the place waited for the dump trucks to arrive early morning and they are found hunting for anything that can be sold for some amount like a piece of metal or steel, aluminum, bottles or anything that can be of their use like some old stuffs or foods, I hope you know what I mean. Anyway, after they are done looking for some stuffs in that pile of garbage they are going to put that side of the mountain to flame. The stuffs that they found were brought to nearby junk shop and exchange for money. These are done mostly by children aged 15 years old and below. Their parents just let them do that because they say that there is money in the garbage thrown by others. This practice as we all know is hazardous to health specially of the children and the government seems to be blindfolded about this matter.

With such a situation happening there, it's for the government to take actions and make some changes to improve the life of people there. I would have to agree with that the parents say, it's better to eat those leftover food than bananas in provinces because at least there's proper food, than just fruits. I pity the kids too, but they have no choice. They have to work to survive, just that they are in the wrong environment.

Well we need a solution for this problem. I say they should be adopted by the DSWD give a little education and then put them to work in sectors we need man power in, Like farming and military. Its better than letting them roam the streets of garbage sites.

see what i mean.... its all about the 3rd world poor country no other than the Philippines..... here also in our province in the Philippines, most of the child labor here are working in the rice plantations, most of the time they were absent in school just to help their parents work in the rice field for the small income to help their parents.... child labor here in our province are very rampant, there are plenty of child labor too besides the sea shore....