Post date: Jan 8, 2013 2:51:25 AM
We just returned from a visit to the health clinic that was physically built by Bucknell students and run by JHC. The clinic is very near the dump. Of the two, the dump was more interesting. The clinic is well described on the JHC website
Dump is just an open field were the town dump trucks and open trailers dump the refuse. Street pickers go through some bags on the street even before they are picked up by city workers. Then kids ride on the trucks and pick through the trash as it is being trucked to the dump. Those boys hang onto their bags and the truck body as it is being dumped so they can ride back to town. These young boys probably do not have permission to pick at the dump, which requires some seniority.
When the truck arrives at the dump the driver picks a spot, backs in, and about 15-20 pickers rush to get what they can from the fresh pile of trash. While driving into the dump they even cast out some of the trash as it enters the dump area and the kids pick through the trash.
The piles burn, and pickers sort through the unburned trash. About 70 pickers work in the dump, plus an equal number of black vultures, which pick for edibles. The pickers are not gender prejudiced - there are young and old women and men. Areas are assigned by seniority. The longest at the dump get the best places. New folks get the farthest from the tipping spots.
There are buyers for each material at the dump entrance. These buyers will loan a push cart to some of the pickers so that they can carry more recycleable material. Other buyers are farther and pay better prices to those who pick from the streets, but they don't supply handcarts.
After the picked-over trash burns it gets picked again. I was surprised to see steel cans left after all picking. Plastic bottles are the best pick - getting about 20 cents (US) for a kilogram (2 lbs) or about one large bag full. All the pickers use a two-tine rake.
The dump is very close to the health clinic, and the smoke usually blows into the clinic. Athsma is very common. One study found >50% of 800 kids in Nueva Vida are diagnosed with asthma. The clinic provides a good range of services, as described on the JHC-CDCA web site. They have two good-sized buildings, visible at 12.159641,-86.373211 (via Google Maps).
The streets in Nueva Vida are mostly dirt and serve as sewers for wash water. Latrines seem to serve well for sanitary sewage, as the odor in the streets is not bad. Since there is a ditch in most of the streets, they are not easily navigable by wheeled vehicles. And the ditch of sewage gray water is joined by a tributary from each house.
There is now reasonable bus service to and from Nueva Vida making it possible to work in the city and live here.