How Syria's 'Valley Of Death' Became One Of The Largest Landfills In The Country | Risky Business

Summary

アブドラの最も恐れていることは、この80フィートのゴミの山に生き埋めにされることです。しかし、シリアで13年間続いている戦争の中で、多くの人々はゴミから銅やナイロンなどの貴重な素材を探し出すことで生計を立てています。11歳のアブドラは7歳のときに学校を辞め、毎日12時間ゴミを漁っています。ゴミの中には放射性物質や感染性の医療廃棄物も混ざっており、危険が伴います。彼と家族は、戦争で破壊された村から避難し、難民キャンプで生活しています。シリアの経済は壊滅的な打撃を受け、国全体が困難な状況にあります。

Takeaways

• 😢 アブドゥラの最悪の恐怖は、80フィートの高さのゴミの山に埋もれることです。
• 🔍 銅やナイロンなどの宝物を探すことは、シリアで生き延びるための唯一の手段の一つです。
• 📚 11歳のアブドゥラは、シリア内戦の真っ只中で生まれました。
• 💔 公共サービスが崩壊し、非公式のリサイクル業が戦争下で唯一繁栄する産業となっています。
• 🕊️ アブドゥラは7歳の時に学校を辞め、家族を支えるために毎日12時間働いています。
• ⚠️ ゴミの山は有害なアイテムと混ざり合っており、特に古い医療廃棄物は放射性や感染性の可能性があります。
• 💼 アブドゥラの父親は仕事を失い、家族は避難民キャンプで生活しています。
• 🌍 シリアの経済は著しく悪化し、インフレ率は188%にも達しています。
• 🧨 子供たちは爆発物や軍事装備を扱うことがあり、その危険性は高いです。
• 🌟 アブドゥラとその家族は、より良い未来を夢見ながら日々の苦しみを耐えています。

Q & A

アブドゥラの最も恐れることは何ですか？

アブドゥラの最も恐れることは、80フィートの高さのゴミの山に生き埋めにされることです。

アブドゥラがゴミ捨て場で何を探しているのですか？

アブドゥラは銅やナイロンなどの宝物を探しています。

アブドゥラは何歳で学校をやめましたか？

アブドゥラは7歳で学校をやめました。

イドリブ県でゴミ収集を管理しているのは誰ですか？

イドリブ県でゴミ収集を管理しているのは、シリア救済政府です。

2020年にゴミの雪崩で亡くなった子供たちの数は何人ですか？

2020年にゴミの雪崩で亡くなった子供たちは3人です。

シリアでのインフレ率はどのくらいですか？

シリアでのインフレ率は188%に達しています。

アブドゥラの母親の名前は何ですか？

アブドゥラの母親の名前はハラです。

フセイン・ラマダンが以前していた仕事は何ですか？

フセイン・ラマダンは以前、近くの町で羊飼いをしていました。

シリアのゴミ捨て場で見つかる危険なアイテムは何ですか？

シリアのゴミ捨て場で見つかる危険なアイテムには、古い医療廃棄物や未爆発の武器があります。

イドリブのスクラップヤードで買い取られるアイテムは何ですか？

イドリブのスクラップヤードでは、銅、プラスチック、弾薬などが買い取られます。

Outlines

00:00

🗑️ 危険なゴミ山の中で生きるアブドラ

11歳のアブドラは、シリアの内戦の中で生まれ、廃棄物収集という危険な仕事に従事しています。彼は家族を支えるために毎日12時間働き、主に銅を探しています。この仕事は非常に危険で、医療廃棄物や放射性物質も含まれているため、身体的にも精神的にも過酷です。アブドラは教育を受ける機会を逃し、友達もほとんどいませんが、彼は医者や教師になる夢を持っています。

05:03

📚 教育と生活の苦境に立つシリアの子供たち

内戦によって多くの公共サービスが崩壊し、特に教育の機会が失われています。シリア全土で43％の子供が学校に通っておらず、仕事のない家族が増えています。アブドラの父も仕事を失い、家族は彼の稼ぎに頼っています。経済の崩壊とインフレーションにより、多くの人々が食料不安に直面しており、廃棄物収集は生き延びるための手段となっています。

10:04

🍞 廃棄物で生計を立てる家族の現実

フセインとその家族は、アレッポのごみ山から廃棄物を収集して生計を立てています。彼は8年間この仕事を続けており、2年前には爆発物で指を失いましたが、それでもなお廃棄物の収集を続けています。ごみの中には有害な物質も多く、健康被害が深刻です。それでも、彼らは食べ物や必要なものを得るためにこの仕事を続けざるを得ません。

Keywords

💡埋められる

このキーワードは、アブドゥッラーの最も恐れていること、すなわちゴミの山に生き埋めにされる恐怖を指します。彼はゴミの山の中で宝物（銅やナイロン）を探すために働いています。

💡シリア内戦

シリア内戦は、このビデオの背景となる重要なコンテキストです。アブドゥッラーを含む多くの人々がこの戦争によって影響を受け、ゴミの収集やリサイクルが彼らの生き残る手段となっています。

💡廃棄物管理

シリアでは、内戦の影響で公的サービスが崩壊し、廃棄物管理が機能していません。ゴミは堆積し、非公式なリサイクルが唯一の産業の一つとなっています。

💡アブドゥッラー

アブドゥッラーはこのビデオの中心人物であり、ゴミの中で宝物を探す11歳の少年です。彼の生活はシリア内戦によって大きく変わり、学校を辞めて家族を支えるために働かなければなりません。

💡銅

銅は、アブドゥッラーがゴミの中で探す最も価値のある材料です。彼は壊れたエンジンや古い電気配線の中から銅を見つけ、生活の糧にしています。

💡健康リスク

ゴミの中で働くことは、放射性や感染性の廃棄物にさらされるなど、健康に重大なリスクを伴います。ビデオでは、アブドゥッラーや他の人々がこのような危険な状況に直面している様子が描かれています。

💡アレッポ

アレッポはシリアの主要都市であり、内戦の影響で巨大な瓦礫の山が積み上げられています。ビデオでは、この都市での廃棄物問題やその影響が取り上げられています。

💡食料不安

シリアでは多くの人々が食料不安に苦しんでおり、90%が貧困線以下の生活を送っています。ビデオでは、廃棄物の中から食べ物を探す人々の様子が描かれています。

💡非公式リサイクル

内戦によって公式の廃棄物管理が機能しなくなったため、非公式なリサイクルが唯一の産業の一つとなっています。アブドゥッラーや他の人々はゴミの中から価値のある材料を見つけ出し、それを生活の糧にしています。

💡家族

アブドゥッラーの家族は彼の生活の重要な部分であり、彼が働く理由でもあります。彼の母親や父親は内戦の影響で仕事を失い、子供たちが家族を支えるために働くことを余儀なくされています。

Highlights

Abdullah's worst fear is being buried alive in the 80-foot-tall mountain of trash.

Hunting for treasures like copper and nylon in trash is a survival method for thousands in Syria.

Syria has been a war zone for 13 years, leading to the collapse of public services like trash collection.

Informal recycling has become one of the few thriving industries in the war-torn country.

Abdullah dropped out of school at 7 to work at the al-Habbat landfill in Idlib.

Abdullah spends 12 hours a day at the landfill to support his family.

The al-Habbat landfill was an old stone quarry until it became a garbage dumping site in 2006.

Abdullah searches for copper, the most valuable material in the landfill, in broken engines or old electrical wires.

The trash is mixed with hazardous items like old medical waste that could be radioactive or infectious.

Abdullah fills up to 10 bags a day, each weighing over 50 pounds, nearly half his own weight.

The early years of the war saw the landfill known as the 'Valley of Death' for disposing of bodies.

The Syrian Salvation Government turned the landfill into a managed site in 2019 after capturing Idlib province.

A video in 2020 captured an avalanche of garbage that killed three children at the landfill.

Abdullah and his family live in the Maryam camp for displaced Syrians, run by a Turkish NGO called Watan.

43% of children across Syria are not in school due to the war and lack of infrastructure.

Syrians are grappling with soaring inflation rates, reportedly as high as 188%.

Military equipment has become one of the most valuable items in junkyards, with at least 100,000 unexploded weapons lying among the debris.

Hussein Ramadan, a former shepherd, has been sorting through trash for eight years, often with his two children.

People sometimes burn the trash, filling the air with smoke and toxic chemicals that could cause cancer.

Excavators dump garbage just inches away from collectors, posing a significant danger.

In 2021, 93,000 outbreaks of 'Aleppo boil', a skin disease, were reported in northern Syria.

Hussein and his family live in a camp, sharing a single tent with 12 people.

Hussein earns up to $15 a day, enough to buy bread for a week for a small family.

Old air conditioners and washing machines are disposed of at local scrapyards, where children sell their treasures.

Discarded weapons and bullets are bought and recycled, some shipped to Turkey, others recycled in Syria.

Plastics are recycled into products like floor mats and even turned into fuel, while old rubble is used to construct new homes.

Abdullah dreams of a day when God will resolve all, allowing him to return to the village, work, and go back to school.

Hala, Abdullah's mother, hopes for a better future for her family and her country, where her children can study, eat, and drink like others their age.

Transcripts

Narrator: Being buried alive

in this 80-foot-tall mountain of trash

is Abdullah's worst fear.

Abdullah: Watch out for the stones!

Narrator: But hunting here for treasures

like copper and nylon

is one of the only ways thousands of people

can survive in Syria,

a country that's been a war zone for 13 years.

Abdullah: You hold on to your heart, hoping [the trash] won't fall on you.

Narrator: The 11-year-old was born

in the midst of the Syrian civil war.

Since then, public services like trash collection

have collapsed.

Garbage, rubble, and weapons have piled up in landfills.

And informal recycling

has become one of the few industries thriving

in a war-torn country.

Reporter: What things do you consider rubbish?

Our life. Our life.

Our life is rubbish.

Narrator: So how deadly is Syria's trash problem?

And who are the people risking their lives

in this business?

Narrator: Singing is one of the few things

that helps Abdullah keep his mind off his job.

Abdullah: I am imagining death. This world is not all right.

Everyone's selfish. How is it their fault?

Narrator: He dropped out of school when he was 7

to work at the al-Habbat landfill in Idlib.

Abdullah: To endure the suffering — what a time.

No one cares for one another.

Narrator: He spends 12 hours here every day

just to support his family.

Abdullah: I don't have many friends.

One or two that I play football with occasionally.

We're broke if we don't work every day.

That's life.

Narrator: This used to be an old stone quarry until 2006.

Now, garbage trucks dump trash

at least 50 times a day without any warning.

Abdullah: You're safe, then suddenly, you hear something.

Narrator: Abdullah mostly searches for copper,

the most valuable material around here.

He finds it in broken engines or old electrical wires.

But he can also make some money

from recycling nylon and aluminum.

The trash is mixed up with hazardous items,

like old medical waste

that could be radioactive or infectious.

Abdullah fills up as many as 10 bags a day.

Each can weigh over 50 pounds, depending on the day's haul.

That's nearly half of his own weight.

Abdullah: This work is very tiring. Even men find it exhausting.

I want to become a doctor or teacher. Anything.

That would be better than wasting your life like this.

Narrator: During the early years of the war,

this pit was known as the "Valley of Death,"

because it was an easy place to dispose of bodies.

Reports suggest over 150 people affiliated

with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, ISIS,

and even civilians were executed or dumped here.

In 2015, some rebel groups captured Idlib province.

One faction rose to power

and went on to form the Syrian Salvation Government.

They turned this into a landfill in 2019.

And they now manage trash collection in Idlib,

as Assad's government stopped providing public services

in rebel-held areas.

Today, there's little infrastructure,

and collectors are frequently injured.

In 2020, a video captured an avalanche of garbage

that killed three children.

Abdullah's mom, Hala, vividly remembers that day.

Hala: I met the mothers of the dead boys.

According to reports, they were the same age as my children.

I fear I will one day get the same news, God forbid.

I feel what their mothers must have felt.

Narrator: Abdullah and his family have lived

in the nearby Maryam camp for displaced Syrians

for the last four years.

A Turkish NGO called Watan runs it,

and about 1,000 families live here.

Hala: We came here fleeing airstrikes and the destruction of our village and its surroundings.

Narrator: During the war,

Idlib province became one of the few safe areas

for people who opposed Assad.

The population multiplied to nearly 4.5 million.

Now, there are more than 1,500 displacement camps

in northwestern Syria

but not enough jobs or education.

In fact, 43% of children across the country

are not in school.

Hala: The boys feel humiliated.

They get called "garbage boys."

My boys' heads look like a patchwork

of cuts from glass, medication bottles, and bricks.

Narrator: Abdullah's dad lost his job

as a sanitation worker when they fled the war in Damascus.

He says he's always looking for work,

but meanwhile, he depends on his children.

Hala: He thinks it's unfair to them, but we don't have a choice. We have to live.

It is better than begging.

Narrator: Many in this country

are still trying to recover from the war.

Syrians are grappling with soaring inflation rates

reportedly as high as 188%.

The country's economy suffered an estimated loss

of $442 billion from 2011 to 2018.

Major sectors like agriculture, mining,

and manufacturing came to a standstill.

And cities have crumbled.

In Aleppo alone, nearly 50 million cubic meters

of what experts call "conflict rubble,"

a mixture of cement, heavy metals, and asbestos,

has piled up.

That's enough to fill a cube taller than the Eiffel Tower.

And it would likely take billions of dollars to clean up.

With trash piling up, military equipment

has become one of the most valuable items in junkyards.

Experts estimate at least 100,000 unexploded weapons

are lying among the debris.

Children as young as 10 handle discarded mortar shells,

machine gun bullets, and cluster bombs.

They're from Syria, Russia, the US,

and other countries that fought here.

Old weapons also end up in landfills,

like this one, called al-Noaman, in Aleppo,

Syria's largest city.

If we worry [weapons] might burn or blow up, we tell the guys at the security checkpoint.

They come and take it.

Narrator: Hussein Ramadan has been sorting through trash

here for the past eight years,

often with his two children.

He used to be a shepherd in a nearby town,

but fled to Aleppo when war broke out.

Hussein: I wanted to farm a piece of land, but that's over.

Narrator: Two years ago, a rocket blew up in his hand

and cut off part of his left thumb.

Hussein: I reached home, and there was so much blood.

Narrator: But that hasn't stopped him

from looking for more rockets,

because they can be good money.

He can sell one for about $3 to local scrapyards,

but he has to collect a lot more plastic or nylon

to make the same amount.

Every day. We do it every day.

If we miss a day, we don't eat that day.

Narrator: People sometimes burn the trash

to get rid of it,

and it fills the air with smoke and toxic chemicals

that could cause cancer.

Hussein's lungs are so damaged

that he now needs to use an inhaler.

You shake it like this and inhale.

It soothes the chest irritation [we have] from all the smells.

Narrator: Excavators dump garbage

just inches away from the collectors.

Hussein: Children can be run over. The driver can't see them when he's reversing.

It is dangerous.

Really dangerous.

Narrator: In 2021, 93,000 outbreaks of "Aleppo boil"

were reported in northern Syria,

a skin disease which spreads through sand flies.

Rabies is also common here,

as dogs scavenge through the same dumps.

Waste comes from hospitals. Like human livers, for example.

The dogs eat that.

Narrator: Still, these landfills

have become a major source of food for Hussein,

his children, and many others.

Sixty percent of Syrians suffer from food insecurity,

and 90% live below the poverty line.

Hussein: Some people are blessed with so much.

They may throw away half a kilogram of kebabs or meat pastries.

We take it out of the bags and eat.

It's contaminated with bacteria, but that's fine.

Narrator: Hussein can see this landfill

from where he lives

in a camp just a few minutes away.

His family of 12 people share a single tent.

Hussein: Come on, come on Rashodi!

My sweetheart. How are you?

We don't dream of buying a house or anything.

We are living in this tent. I only need sheep to make a living.

That would be a great blessing.

Narrator: On a good day, he can earn up to $15,

which is enough to buy bread for a week for a small family.

Now, we are separating the iron.

We separate all the iron from the "bagha."

Bagha is what you call plastic.

Narrator: Hussein also buys and sells from kids

who see him as a father figure.

Hussein: Ten for you, right?

Hussein: Here's your 10.

And 5 for you, Ayman.

Who's next?

Narrator: About an hour's drive away in Idlib,

children bring their treasures

to local scrapyards like this one.

There are many children who sell to us.

Some lost their parents during the war. They are left alone.

They go out to the streets, collect, and we buy from them.

Narrator: Old air conditioners

and washing machines are disposed of here, too.

Amer: Red copper costs around $8.

Narrator: They also buy discarded weapons and bullets.

They ship some of the scrap to Turkey,

while the rest is recycled in Syria.

Amer: People scavenge. They sell. It all comes to this.

It's the best business in Idlib.

Narrator: Some of the plastics are recycled

into products like floor mats and even turned into fuel,

while old rubble is being used to construct new homes

and buildings, because raw materials are hard to find.

Meanwhile, people like Hussein

and Abdullah pick up what they can, one bag at a time.

Hala: Nobody is helping us. We only have God and the boys.

I feel for them. They get hurt and tired.

Narrator: The war has robbed Abdullah of his childhood,

but he still dares to dream.

Abdullah: A day will come when God will resolve all.

We will return to the village, work, go back to school.

Narrator: And like any other mother,

Hala hopes things turn around for her family

and for her country.

Hala: I dream that they study, wear clothes, eat, and drink like boys their age.

To wake up and find that God made Syria better.

The best thing is for God to better Syria.

To endure the suffering, what a life.

No one cares for one another.

If you only knew what happened when I smiled.

They stopped thinking, and their eyes were full of envy.

They're not after goodness. They want our eyes to cry.

But God is great, and to him we complain.

To our God we complain.

Oh, my tired soul.

The people I loved betrayed me.

The people I loved betrayed me.

That's it.