WE LIVE NEXT TO A GARBAGE DUMP

When we moved to Dakar and to this neighborhood over two years ago, this is what you saw from our roof top. There was no garbage, no burnings, no squatter houses from this view.

Since then, slowly but surely, garbage trucks and garbage horse drawn carts make their way down our narrow, dirt road to dump their garbage right by our house. At first they used to make their way to this spot after dusk or early in the morning when no one would stop them. Now it is fair game for everyone to dump garbage here. If you look at the picture below, in front of the cement wall in the distance, it is all garbage. Folks have set up shacks right in the middle of the garbage, to collect cans, bottles and even have set up a charcoal making "business". If the wind is moving in a certain direction, we get full black and deadly smelling smoke that fills our house.

You may wonder why we stay in this house? We love it here! It is the only house in this entire neighborhood that is the right price for us - a fraction of what everything else costs here. We also love our roof top and the layout of the house. For now we will continue to live next to this garbage dump.