"This garbage dump is so much
more than a place that holds trash. It is a place where the people who come
start to believe that they are the very garbage they are there to collect.”
Destination;
Korah Dump, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Korah
is a community that sits on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia next to the
city garbage dump. The population of this once small community of lepers, has swelled to approximately 100,000
people. Many lepers, HIV/AIDS patients, orphans and widows struggle to survive
in this community. People in Korah are forced to scavenge from the garbage dump
for scraps of food to eat or plastics to sell for small amounts of money. The
dump is a dangerous place – children have even been run over by the garbage
trucks in their hurry to get to the “freshest” garbage first. Often, children
are kept out of school so they can help dig in the dump or because there is no
money for education. Sickness and infection run rampant in this community,
deepening the problems the children face every day. The name Korah literally
means “cursed”.
“Imagine arriving in
a place where the smell of garbage lingers in the air, but the smiles of
children running to greet you make you forget about the smell. You see what
seems like a disproportionate amount of handicapped people and the sheer number
of women selling overripe bananas on the street jumps out at you. You notice
that the asphalt ends and it is bumpy dirt roads in all directions. You also
see a number of young men just hanging out with nothing to do, because there is
no work in the area. You have arrived in Korah.”
QUICK
FACTS: ETHIOPIA
Size: 1,127,127 square kilometers - almost twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas
Size: 1,127,127 square kilometers - almost twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas
Population:
76,511,887
Religions:
Muslim, 45-50 percent; Ethiopian Orthodox, 35-40 percent; animist, 12 percent;
other, 3-8 percent
Life expectancy: 49 years
Average annual income: $180 USD
Population below poverty line: 39 percent
Ethnic groups: Oromo, 40 percent; Amhara and Tigre; Sidamo; Shankella; Somali;
Afar; and Gurage
People living with HIV/AIDS: 4.4 percent, adult prevalence rate
(Source: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook 2008; The World Bank 2006)
(Source: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook 2008; The World Bank 2006)
The Need
“We had just come from a woman's house down the hill in
Korah. She was house bound because she had lost her leg. She had stepped on
something sharp in the dump while she was scavenging and didn't have the money
to get her foot treated for the wound. That foot wound infected her leg and
eventually turned into gangrene. She became very ill and had to have her leg
amputated as a result. It is maddening that such a simple thing like a cut foot
ends up taking someone's leg and ultimately, their livelihood. That would never
happen here in America, yet it happens every day in Ethiopia. My friend Abbey,
who is a nurse, was with me on this trip and EVERY wound she cared for was a
foot wound. Every single one. You can't imagine the types of plastic shoes that
people walk through the dump in - they are completely unprotected. People
contract HIV by stepping on needles that have been used to treat an infected
person. People wear bloody clothes that they find in the dump from hospitals.
They walk through all sorts of feces and bacteria. This garbage dump is so much
more than a place that holds trash. It is a place where the people who come
start to believe that they are the very garbage they are there to collect.”
(Source: Children’s’ Hope Chest, The
Garbage Dump…aka Hell on Earth)
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