What 's going on Agbogbloshie; Οι άνθρωποι αγαπούν τα gadgets, και ιδιαίτερα τα νέα που κυκλοφορούν. Μεγαλύτερες οθόνες. Ταχύτεροι επεξεργαστές. Πιο ευέλικτα προφίλ. Όμως τι συμβαίνει με τα παλιά cell phones phones, our old computers, our TVs, and our refrigerators?
Some of them end up in a place like this Agbogbloshie, a huge, poisonous dump in Ghana. The former wetland has been transformed into a slum, and a large part of the earth has become a toxic cemetery for computers, refrigerators and other rubbish.
The German photographer Kevin McElvaney he captures with his lens, young people at risk of their lives, and in return for meager sums they collect copper from the old devices.
The town of Agbogbloshie is located in Accra and is known to the locals as Sodom and Gomorrah, like a hell of blackened ground that looks like an open wound. The "street cleaners", usually from 7 to 25 years old, sift the waste, first setting fire to the piles of rubbish to remove the rubber and plastic that hide the precious materials (copper).
Many of them are from northern Ghana or neighboring countries countries such as the Ivory Coast. They are poor, and often see Agbogbloshie as a way to make a quick buck.
They work with bare hands, with slippers, breathe toxic fumes to earn an average of 2,50 dollars a day.
Although most give up after a few weeks, many soon suffer from respiratory problems problems, insomnia, nausea and headaches.
Cancer and other diseases are rumored to kill many e-waste workers in their 20s. Some people alleviate their pain with drugs, but of course they have to work to buy them. "It's a vicious circle," McElvaney said.
"On the northwest side of Agbogbloshie, children have built a bridge with old screens. There are so many screens in Agbogbloshie that have been turned into raw material for construction. Towers built of keyboards and refrigerators used as house walls… ”
Look at the pictures: Kevin McElvaney@Wired
