(Surviving) living off garbage

As part of its new Health and Education section, Jornal Preto e Branco took to the streets to chat with garbage collectors in the city of Maputo. This time, we spoke with two young garbage collectors with similar backgrounds. Apparently, both are orphans, did not go to school, and embraced life on the streets to earn a living. One has been on the streets for twenty-five (25) years, the other for eight years, one from Maputo Province and the other from Gaza Province.
Read both versions in full:

Between users and beneficiaries of trash cans

My name is Moisés Andrade, a magical name. I was born in Gaza Province and, due to circumstances in life, I ended up in Maputo. Initially, I sold bread on the street, but one day I lost that opportunity, so I decided to take to the streets and, with no other choice, I became a garbage collector par excellence, preferring to collect bottles.

It all started with the death of my father. I was left with only my mother, and later she had a partner, my stepfather. We had to live with him, which was a challenge for me. Basically, I didn't go to school to earn any kind of stable job, so when I realized that I had to do some work to support myself, I decided to become a garbage collector. 
It is an almost new profession, where the sale of garbage has been considered for illiterate people, nobodies who must and/or can accept everything the market offers, with unclear policies. I earn only eight (8) Meticais for one (1) kg of plastic. I have been taking serious risks with my life, for example, on the other hand, I earn little, although I have managed to get the basics to ensure my continuity. 

As you can see, I recycle bottles. Because it's true that in the container, for example, all the garbage is together there, we need to search through it. Some people have deposited broken bottles, used injection material, food scraps with hair and/or poisoned food. So far, God has taken care of us and the worst has not happened yet.

There is another situation, for example, some people deposit food that has been mixed with poison to combat rats and other insects, hair, and deposit it in the container. For now, “God” has been monitoring the situation. As far as I know, none of us would have lost our lives because of this carelessness on the part of the city's residents.

I would like to take this opportunity to praise this initiative by the newspaper for giving a voice to the people on the street. Not everything has been bad. Certain people have been separating trash into different types of plastic, which has made life easier for waste pickers. Without wanting to impose, everyone should act in the same way to better contribute to the continuity of life for certain people who depend on trash.

The same challenge extends to municipal authorities, who should create conditions for different containers to accommodate different types of solid waste. I hope that the publication of this interview will contribute to an exemplary and inclusive urban attitude among users and beneficiaries of trash cans.

After all, there are many of us looking for plastic.
Call me Ali Moiana, a magical name. I am 41 years old and have been a garbage collector since 2000. I used to live in Marinha, in downtown Maputo, in my parents' house, but with their death I lost my home. For a while I lived with my sisters in the Ponto Final area, but when their mission ended they returned and I was left alone, adrift, with no choice but to become a waste picker.

I temporarily rented rooms in the outskirts of Maputo, in neighborhoods such as Maxaquene, Polana Caniço, and Hulene. It was a time when recycling was valued by local businesses.

At that time, glass was the main raw material, and we collected bottles. We sold them to a man, but that man also lost his life. There was no other place to sell the bottles.

Currently, the main recyclable material is plastic, used bags, and plastic bottles. It's only eight or ten meticais per kg, but note that accumulating a significant amount has been a difficult task, as there are many of us looking for this material.

So, I can devote myself from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to collecting plastic in different places, which involves long walks and hard searching in different garbage dumps to earn only fifty meticais.

Sometimes we find good things that we can sell to earn some money, a little bit of reasonable money. My wish is that the market would increase the price per kilogram of plastic, because we are really suffering, and I would also like to get out of this life. Because this life is hard, really hard...

... I can't find another way to make a living, I have no way. That's why I'm still here, still suffering with this life. At that time, I can't lie, I didn't study because I was living with my stepfather, but my stepfather didn't treat me well...

Thank you for the opportunity to share this insight into the life of a cat.