Sok Anh, a thirty
three year old mother of two, has been working at Stung Meanchey for
2 years; her two sons Sopat and Kosal work beside her, collecting recyclable
scraps which they sell to earn about $3 per day. Sok and her sons are
the lucky ones, they are a family. Many of the children here are orphans
who have lost parents to AIDS, landmines, drugs, prostitution or to
the killing fields of the Pol Pot regime. With nowhere to turn and no
social safety net they end up here. Even on the hottest days of the
year, when temperatures climb above 100 degrees and the stifling air
becomes nearly unbreathable, children as young as five can be seen sifting
through the smoldering trash. They race after the garbage trucks that
arrive with fresh loads of refuse and walk behind bulldozers that churn
through the refuse. .