5What Can One Person Do? (Cambodia, 2017): Leaving Hollywood for a dump in Cambodia / The White Savior Industrial Complex
THE GROUND WASN'T EARTH. It was something sinister, gelatinous, a sponge that could compress a few inches or leg-swallowing feet. Black sludge oozed out between my toes and covered my flip-flopped foot as I shifted my weight.
I never forgot the smell or the hopelessness of this place. It's something that can't be washed away with a decade of showers. And as much as the sight and the smell of the Stung Meanchey municipal dump in Phnom Penh were unforgettable assaults to the senses, it's the people who picked through the trash I never forgot.
I wrote about visiting the dump in my book Where Am I Wearing?:
Two thousand farmers turned freelance scavengers live here and earn less than $1 per day collecting recyclables. They live in makeshift shacks at the edge of the dump. They pay rent to live in the shacks. They chose to come here, seeking a better life. I wonder if this is it … what amount of hunger and suffering and desperation did they experience before choosing life here?1
Before I left the dump, I stopped to play Frisbee with kids picking through older trash, including the girl I mentioned in the Introduction.
The disc hangs in the warm, smelly breeze. She alternates between stretching her arms out in anticipation and holding onto her bucket hat. Her eyes are bright and sparkle when she flashes her perfect smile. She doesn't make the catch, but is quick ...
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