http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/contact_sheet/34036 Treasure Island Imagine a place, where you could collect things that were yours for the taking. All you needed to do was walk a few kilometres and rummage through the various collectibles. You would not have to work long hours in a city far away, so you could buy these things. All you needed to do was come to this Treasure Island. Would you feel blessed? Would you feel the desire to walk those few kilometres? Treasure Island does exist. Except it is no island, and it likely does not have the treasures you have in mind. This Island is a yard – a large dump yard full of forgotten waste. Garbage from the city that is, for some people, too far to travel to. This place is relatively close to a village. A village of poverty-stricken individuals, whom have no means of buying things, leave alone wasting them. This yard is their Treasure Island. Entire families gather together and collect pieces of metal, paper and plastic, for shelter and to trade. Three to four hours of a family’s gathering saleable material, lead to an income of approximately USD3-USD4 a day for all of their needs. When thinking of India, what most often comes to mind are ideas of mystics, spices, colour, religion, and prevalently, poverty. We are conditioned to believe that those who suffer from poverty are forced to go to these dump yards, and so suffer from physiological and psychological problems because of it. These concerns that you would think accompany scrimmaging through a dump yard are not completely true of the people that make their living here. They are primarily happy with all their Treasure Island has to offer. Speaking to these people, you realize that they would rather work hard all day at finding things to sell, and use, than work at a low-paying, low-quality job. Not only are these people aware of the health problems they face, but they are also aware of the stigmatization of working in particular jobs in the city. With what they do, these people have a deep sense of pride and independence, rather than the feeling of inequity that comes from working for a "superior" employer to give them a few rupees a month. The idea of finding a treasure trove of worthy stuff in what most would call waste, is sometimes mind boggling to the privileged. What is one man's garbage… is another man's treasure. http://www.lightstalkers.org en-us http://images.lightstalkers.org/avatars/30792/peevee_mug_small.jpg http://www.lightstalkers.org/peevee <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1352590/11_everyday_attire_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352590'>view full-size image</a> http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352590 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:22:46 +0000 http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352590 <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1352590/11_everyday_attire_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352590'>view full-size image</a> peevee <img src='http://images.lightstalkers.org/images/1352557/1_dust_is_gold_here_small.jpg' /><br /><br /><a href='http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352557'>view full-size image</a> http://www.lightstalkers.org/images/show/1352557 Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:59:33 +0000 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