Master and his younger brother Siya have been living at the Grahamstown dump since 2001. Before that, the teenagers lived at the dump in Port Elizabeth, where Master says his father abandoned them.
Master and his younger brother Siya have been living at the Grahamstown dump since 2001. Before that, the teenagers lived at the dump in Port Elizabeth, where Master says his father abandoned them.
In 2001, they managed to walk and hitch-hike, sleeping on the side of the road all the way to Grahamstown, Master, who like his brother does not know his surname, says.
The two boys stay alive by foraging for food and recyclable material, for which they get a small amount of money.
As soon a new truck comes in they are quick to check for anything that can be traded for cash. There are several other people rummaging at the dump.
“I make about R25 a day if I work all day, but most days we usually make between R8 and R15,” says Master.
Payment is based on weight; plastic and metal are worth the most: “R1 a kilogram for ‘heavy’ materials and 50c a kilogram for ‘light’ materials,” explains George – another person making a living by collecting recyclables.
They take their day’s pickings to Metal Masters or Grahamstown Recycling for cash.
According to Stan Kriel, site manager of Metal Masters, there is a group of regulars who live at the dump and bring daily loads of recyclable material.
Master and Siya stay in an abandoned metal shipping container, which was burned in a fire at the previous dump site.
Although the container is owned by the municipality they no longer lock it and this protects the youngsters from the elements.
There are no toilet facilities at the dump.
“There is only one pipe with running water for all of us here at the dump,” says George.
Fires often spontaneously start from the various chemical compounds being compressed at the site. Kriel estimates that the fire department is called at least once a week to put out the fires.
“There is fire underneath us. The rubbish keeps on burning: there is always smoke in the air,” says George.
Dead animals are also often disposed of at the dump by the SPCA.
Chairman of the SPCA Professor Martin Villet explains that this is in line with public health specifications.
"The animal must be buried, like all of the other organic material that arrives at the dump, by the municipal staff and not simply left exposed,” Villet said.
But this protocol is not always observed, according to those living at the dump. There is no incinerator in Grahamstown.
Villet says risks associated with the SPCA's activities are minimal. "The animals do not carry pathogens that would pose serious health risks to humans and the protocols are identical with those used to contain the significantly greater volume of much higher-risk material that arrives in truckloads at the dump every day".
George says, “It is unhealthy for us to live here, when it gets hot the smell becomes terrible.”
With no home, family and only the belongings they find in the dump, Master and Siya make do as well as they can.
