Drop-in Centres for Garbage Collecting

Mohammad Essa is 12 years old and has been attending the boys-only Drop-in-Centre in Nichari Road, Quetta for three years now.  He looks older than his years and this is no doubt due to the hard life he is already experiencing. He explains that he has five brothers (one of whom is his twin) and four sisters (all of whom are married and left home) but his father has died.  All six brothers attend the Drop-in-Centre and all six brothers are garbage pickers.  Boys at the Nichari Road centre are generally aged between 12  and 14.  They are older and generally work long hours on the streets: as early as 5 or 6am to as late as 7 or 8pm in the evening.  The experienced and older boys can earn up to 100 rupees a day.  They drop into the centre any time of the day between 8am and 4pm for on average an hour. 

Mohammad Essa tries to come every day to the centre and begins by washing his face and hands, followed by some time in the classroom and then recreation and some food (milk and nan bread or cookies).  He describes the type of garbage that he collects:  glass, metal, hospital waste (such as syringes, saline drip bags, blood transfusion bags), stale bread (as fodder for livestock or to make industrial soap) and animal bones (also for industrial soap).  Sometimes he uses a powerful magnet to search the city’s drains.  The Centre provides him with “a shelter to rest from the heat or cold” and learn some basic skills:  “I’ve learnt ABC, I can count up to 100 in Urdu and English, and I’ve also learnt about health and hygiene, how to draw and play ‘karam board’ (a board game).” 

“But I enjoy football the most and want to be a teacher or a footballer when I am older”.  Essa goes to watch the local men playing football at a ground nearby and brings his own small ball to the centre to play with the other boys.  It is a rare moment of respite from his daily work of garbage picking.

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