• Changlair Aristide walks across the Truitier landfill wearing his soccer uniform after a day of scavenging for useful items to use or sell. AP Photo
    Changlair Aristide walks across the Truitier landfill wearing his soccer uniform after a day of scavenging for useful items to use or sell. AP Photo
  • Mr Aristide, a 36-year-old trash scavenger, uses sand paper to smoothen the metal rod he uses to pick through the rubble. AP Photo
    Mr Aristide, a 36-year-old trash scavenger, uses sand paper to smoothen the metal rod he uses to pick through the rubble. AP Photo
  • He jokes with a friend as his wife Violene Mareus braids their 9-year-old daughter Changline's hair outside their home near the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
    He jokes with a friend as his wife Violene Mareus braids their 9-year-old daughter Changline's hair outside their home near the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
  • Guerdy Joseph, a 24-year-old trash scavenger, rests in his protective clothing, including a Christmas costume hat that he found in the trash, at the end of his work day at the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
    Guerdy Joseph, a 24-year-old trash scavenger, rests in his protective clothing, including a Christmas costume hat that he found in the trash, at the end of his work day at the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
  • A resident feeds his pigs on the edge of the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
    A resident feeds his pigs on the edge of the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
  • Cattle rummage near people scavenging the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
    Cattle rummage near people scavenging the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
  • People who scavenge the trash for valuables use headlamps at night as a truck prepares to dump its load. AP Photo
    People who scavenge the trash for valuables use headlamps at night as a truck prepares to dump its load. AP Photo
  • Trash scavengers run through the smoke of burning trash. AP Photo
    Trash scavengers run through the smoke of burning trash. AP Photo
  • Trash scavengers work with headlamps as they look for useful items. AP Photo
    Trash scavengers work with headlamps as they look for useful items. AP Photo
  • Scavengers climb on a trash truck arriving to unload at the Truitier landfill. AP Photo
    Scavengers climb on a trash truck arriving to unload at the Truitier landfill. AP Photo

The Americas

Surviving the dump in Haiti - in pictures

Plumes of smoke fill the air as rubbish burns at Cite Soleil's landfill site in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation

The National

September 12, 2018

  • English
  • Arabic

Changlair Aristide makes his living in a smouldering, hellish landscape - the stinking refuse of an impoverished land.

Like thousands of others, the father-of-nine survives by hunting for anything left of value in the Truitier landfill north of Cite Soleil, a notorious slum near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Bin lorries roar 24 hours a day, leaving 100,000 tonnes of waste each month across 200 acres. Pickers frequently fight for the most valuable hauls.

Desperation and misery dull any sense of optimism.

"It's a hell on earth," said Aristide, 36, who has been sorting through waste since 1994 and originally saw the work as a way to get rich in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.

__________

More galleries from The National:

US marks 9/11 with sombre tributes

World in focus - best photos for September 11, 2018

The Middle East Framed - regional photography for September 11, 2018

United StatesHaitiAmericasChanglair Aristide