"Nasty world": as 3000 families with children live on a huge dump
19 kilometers from the Indonesian city of Jakarta, Bantar Gebang is the largest in Southeast Asia outdoor trash ground where dumped industrial waste and drained waste water. Every day on the range imported 9000 tonnes of rubbish.
This huge dump of a house a few thousand people, and some children were born there and do not know another life. French photographer Alexander Sattler visited Bantar Gebang and made a series of shocking images.
Residents of the landfill using it as a method of earning: among the debris they are looking for items that can be resold. The Sattler called it a "world of mud" or "a vile peace".
Living conditions there are terrible: odors, bacteria, harmful to health... Families with children have settled there in makeshift houses without drinking water and without access to medical care. Children live in the middle of the debris and garbage play. Some people walk barefoot, so children frequent injuries: the earth strewn with sharp objects. One family showed me the foot of his son with an open wound — then I felt helpless."
Alexander Sattler
The children taught me that joy is there even in the worst situations. I saw children happily playing as they are happy to spend time with me: they showed me their homes with toys, with his parents introduced. Because they can't compare themselves to children who live outside these mountains of waste, they seem to be happy."
Reza Bonard, who lived in the past in this dump, doing everything possible to improve living conditions of former neighbors. She was lucky: she went to high school outside of the landfill and got out of there. But the woman returned to teach Indonesians from the ground how to get out of poverty.
Bonnard, along with his friend from Britain John Devlin has created an organization BGBJ, which stands for "seeds Bantar Gebang". The organization opened the dustbin hostel and community center focused on education. The founders of BGBJ believe that local children (this is metaphorically called "seeds") you can educate and teach successful life in the outside world.
The Sattler says that helping the poor can each