Payatas Manila is best known for its open air dump. Every day approximately 200 garbage trucks deliver waste to the site where many locals live and support themselves by scavenging the garbage and selling it for recycling.
Payatas, located in the north east of the Philippines, is recognised as a very poor area by many foundations who operate in the region to help improve the opportunities for the local community. Payatas dumpsite is the largest open dumpsite in the Philippines and is home to over 60,000 people that live on the mountain of waste. In 2000, a landslide at the dumpsite killed at least 218 people with many more never found. Nevertheless, it was reopened only months after the 2000 disaster at the request of scavengers and other residents of the area who depend on it for their livelihood. Tragedies such as these are all to common occurrences around the world as seen last month when a dump landslide killed over 100 people in Ethiopia, while on Easter Friday a landslide at a dump site in Sri Lanka has killed 30 with 30 more missing.
The FCJ Sisters in partnership with AMS operate the Payatas Housing project which renovates houses of people who live and work in Payatas. These families and their children scavenge the dump for items to make a living and often live in houses with leaky roofs, mud floors and no sanitation facilities. The project repairs these people’s houses to make their living conditions safer, more hygienic and comfortable. Specifically, the works aim to improve the safety and security of the family and their belongings and improve the dignity of the family in a region where the average family size 6. In 2016 this project undertook repairs on 17 family houses, directly impacting 101 individuals, over 65 of which are children.
The FCJ Sisters also run the FCJ Center which offers a program of integrated community development to approximately 5,000 people who live adjacent to one of Manila’s main dumpsites. The programs provide support and education in a range of areas including health, family support, income generation and school tutoring services. Moreover, they offer separate support programs specifically for women in the region as to help with their physical and spiritual wellbeing and enhance their livelihood.
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