Stung Meanchey

, originally uploaded by marcinbab.

Stung Meanchey is an industrial neighborhood on the southwestern outskirts of Phnom Penh. Many tourists pass through it on their way to visit the Killing Fields Memorial at Choeung Ek unaware of the day-in day-out events taking place but a single kilometer off the main road. Every day at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump several hundred people scavenge through Phnom Penh's daily refuse. Most are looking for recyclable materials which they turn in at small local recycling businesses earning themselves an average daily income of about 2000 Cambodian riels (US 50 cents). Most of the people working at Stung Meanchey are teenagers, though I have met children as young as 7 and adults well into their 40s.

Photo by Marcin Babul, Cardiff - UK.