Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, is home to one of the largest dumpsites of the African continent, operative since the ‘60s . The dumpsite, which now covers over 45 acres and is still expanding, receives between 350 and 550 tons of new waste each day. Fire burns endlessly in the midst of the hills of garbage, which can reach up to 15 meters in height, and the unnatural landscape is constantly imbued with a toxic fog.
Around 3000 people currently live and work here, collecting plastic (sold for 0,05 $/ Kg) and metals (0,50 $/Kg). Many of them came to Antananarivo hoping to find better living conditions and fortune, now they live in one of the place on Earth with more unreported cases of pneumonic plague, the most infective type of the so called Black Death.
The core of the dumpsite is scattered with small tombs, marking the bodies of fetuses and unwanted newborns. The ones who managed to survive, live permanently in the dumpsite as a community of orphaned children.
Residents of the capital commonly refer to this place as “Ralalitra”: the City of Flies.
People from the capital commonly refer to this place as "Ralalitra": the city of flies, where the whirr from the bugs is the most distinctive sound.
Those who moved to Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, from the countryside or from other cities looking futilely for a job, found the dumpsite to be their only possibility to earn a living and then settled here. More than 3000 people currently live and work here. The strong presence of rats and the perpetual toxic fog are the main causes for many desease, including several cases of pneumonic plague.
The toxic air and the close cohabitation between human beings and rats made the Ralalitra dumpsite one of the hot spots in the country for what concerns the pague epidemic. Most of the cases here are pneumonic, the most infective typology.
From the "City of Flies" series: children collect metals from the rubbish in the smoky core of the dumpsite. The strong presence of rats and the perpetual toxic fog are the main causes for many diseases, including several cases of pneumonic plague.
The wall that keeps the dumpsite apart from the everyday life of the capital.
Mothers who can't afford to rise their children leave them in the dumpsite, expecially in the night time. The ones who managed to survive live permanently in the dumpsite as a community of orphaned children: the older look after the younger, referring each other as "brothers and sisters".
Children burn an old book to keep themselves warm during the winter.
The core of the dumpsite is scattered with small tombs, marking the bodies of fetuses and unwanted newborns. The strong presence of rats and the perpetual toxic fog are the main causes for many desease, including several cases of pneumonic plague.
The dumpsite dwellers cook and eat their meal in the core of the site, and they sleep in makeshift shelters.
Fire burns endlessly in the midst of the hills of garbage, which can reach up to 15 meters in height, and the unnatural landscape is constantly imbued with a toxic fog. Children can't stay for long in that area or they would get their shoes melted by the heat.
The dumpsite is officially controlled by a private company operating on behalf of the government. Their official position about the children living there is that they not know anything about what happens inside the dumpsite, since their offices are only placed in the main entrance of the site.
Abandoned and orphan children are the most affected by the diseases, expecially by pneumonic plague.
Many of the adults were once orphaned or abandoned child, whose mothers left here many years ago. Since then, they adapted to live in the dumpsite, and now see the younger generation following the same path.
Around 3000 people currently live and work here, collecting plastic (sold for 0,05 $/ Kg) and metals (0,50 $/Kg). Many of them came to Antananarivo hoping to find better living conditions and fortune, now they live in one of the place on Earth with more unreported cases of pneumonic plague, the most infective type of the so called Black Death.
Not being officially even born, the children living in the dumpsite have not been vacinated.
At the end of the day trucks from the capital come here to buy what people collected during the day: plastic is paid 200 ariary per kg [0,05 $] , while aluminum is worth 2000 ariary per kg [0,50 $]
An old buldozeer is now used as a blackboard by the children living in the dumpsite.
A little girl looking after a newborn recently abandoned in the dumpsite.
At the end of the day trucks from the capital come here to buy what people collected during the day: plastic is paid 200 ariary per kg [0,05 $] , while aluminum is worth 2000 ariary per kg [0,50 $]
The search for still valuable materials continues day in day out, even after the sun has long set.
Since the dumpsite is really close to Antananarivo's city centre, its toxic fumes represent a threat for over 1.500.000 inabitants.
The hills made of garbage are constantly burning just under the surface, so that toxic smoke gets out from the gound at every digging. The strong presence of rats and the perpetual toxic fog are the main causes for many desease, including several cases of pneumonic plague.
The road leading to main entrance of the dumpsite. The strong presence of rats and the perpetual toxic fog are the main causes for many desease, including several cases of pneumonic plague.
