Life of scavengers: Hazards versus survival
By AMADOU MANJANG
The scrapped ferrous and non-ferrous metals, aluminums, bottles, sacks among other used materials that are disposed of as waste and thrown at the Bakoteh dumpsite find their ways back in town again through scavengers who works at the hazardous environment.
The collected waste materials are put into use after collection by selling it out to those in need of them, mostly for resell to importer firms or individuals middle business persons dealing in scrap materials, especially metal.
Good numerable dalasis for a school dropout
Omar Barrow, a 19-year-old scavenger at the Bakoteh dumpsite said he earns a considerable good sum of money from scavenging.
A job that’s not picked by choice or been passion-driven but all just to fend for oneself and family to keep heads above water becomes an income generating activity where some earn more than a thousand dalasis in a week.
The boy told The Monitor: I dropped out of school at the seventh grade and drifted from Jarra, Lower River Region to the Greater Banjul area in search of work only to end up being a scavenger at a dump site scratching beneath the surface heaps of garbage to hook out any used valuable material that can earn me money for survival.
They sell the materials they pick from the dumpsite to earn income, especially scrapped metal to exporters that take these materials to Asia, Europe and US for recycling.
Companies like Gemsag Metal Ltd, Sandeep Garg and Co., Dominion Ventre, Universal Export & Import, Ponyx Ltd, African Metals and DYG and Co. are among the many buyers from scavengers and get them to outside markets for recycling.
Omar said he did the job because he could not find any other work as an unskilled youth to earn a decent living so he had to scavenge to make ends meet.
Being in the picking field since 2017, he said he is taking care of himself, explaining that he collects irons and aluminums and ruck them for a whole week then sell it to the buyers.
However, middle persons between the scavengers and companies buy scrap metals including aluminum, steel, iron with prices ranging from D3.00, D5.00 to D20.00 per kilogram, according to them.
He disclosed that if he collects enough he earns from up to D2000 which he said is good money.
“It is the only way for me to earn income because I am not working at any other place,” he said.
Are the scavengers protected?
They lack of adequate safety precautions, protection techniques and gears.
They only improvise gears for themselves to minimise injuries from sharp materials like broken bottles, sharp metals and the sickening odor of decayed trashes.
“I only wear boots, trousers, gloves and cap to protect myself from the sun and cutting materials that can cause me harm,” Saikou Trawally said.
He said he is fully aware of the risk of being hurt or come in contact with contaminated materials that cause diseases and affect his life but has no choice to stop scavenging.
“We have no other choice, no other place to earn a living than here,” he added.
As in other trades, women are also engaged in gathering from the dumpsite like their male counterparts as a way of defying abject poverty in the non-competitive and hazardous industry.
Fatou Touray said she gets injuries from sharp metals and pieces of broken bottles during search at the dumpsite.
The woman said incidents can’t prevent her from doing the only job she has as a source of income to help her children.
“I don’t have anything to protect myself that is why cuts, bruises are endured here and there,” she said.
The scavengers use unsophisticated long curved irons bars to manually excavate in a somewhat painstaking fashion to get beneath the different layers of garbage heaps mostly targeting fresher disposed material to get usable used items fit for the market of their business.
Many of them could be seen rushing toward the cleansing services’ waste truck of the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) to grab some new arrivals.
Peter’s hustling field
Peter Chuks, a Nigerian national said since he came to the country in search of a better life he could not have any job so he took scavenging as a venture.
“I come here to work in order to avoid stealing or earn ill-gotten money. Because even if you don’t work you will need money, which can tempt you to commit crimes just to have money,” he said.
He said that it is not hygienic to work at a dumpsite but they know how to collect things that people would still need.
“Because of this some people don’t consider us as decent human being, which makes it very hard and disheartening to work here,” he added.
Peter said they don’t care much about their health even though they know the repercussions, saying that all they care is to earn something for their families.
9:00am is their latest morning zero hour of engagement and would begin the forager work till 6:00pm when darkness engulfs the site and makes safe search tricky.
Eating dumped food
Balla Musa, another long time dependent on scavenging for survival said: “Some people even eat foot thrown here for lack of money to buy food from the shop or restaurant and knowing this can cause illness but they do not want to be dependent on begging.”
He added that he is working in an environment where health is not a priority but to sustain his small family.
A vendor’s newfound market
Encountered at the dumpsite, Fatou Ceesay, water vendor who sells drinkable water to the toiling men and women at the dumpsite described the place as an industry where she also makes an income by selling water to scavengers.
The mother of two said those in the hard vulture work under the hot sun always need water in that tedious situation.
Fatou who got his newfound ready market for her water at the site said she sells a bottle of water for D3.00 and D2.00 for those in small plastic bag, lamenting the bad conditions under which they work but quick to add that they must earn something to put food on the table for their families.
These unskilled workers who find themselves self-employed at Gambia’s most talked about dumpsite said they have no ultimate objective than to earn Gambian dalasis from the sweat of their brow under the burning sun.
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