Sunday, March 23, 2008

Smokey Mountain





Smokey Mountain is an enormous trash dumpsite on the outskirts of Manila where thousands of poor people live. They make their home in the dump and dig through the trash hoping to find things to sell, recycle or eat. It is called Smokey Mountain because it is perpetually on fire and smoldering.

Remember the days when we used to brag about how clean Amman was? Not anymore. It seems like wherever there is a vacant piece of land there are piles of trash and/or building materials strewn about. The Jordan Times report (March 21-22,2008) concerning Jordan’s ranking in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report stated that Jordan did not score so well in the enforcement of environmental regulations. I can believe that. Today as I drove in Khilda on the road connecting Wasfi Tal street with Bahjat Talhouni street (near to the Ma’araf School) I said to myself I had to write this blog. The amount of trash lining the road is shocking! And this is right here in the middle of west Amman. I have driven on this road before, noticed the trash and people picking through it, but thought maybe the municipality was delayed in picking it up. But there is no excuse for this!! The roadside ‘dump’ is a real eyesore, a health and fire hazard especially in this hot weather, and also a danger to drivers as the trash is now covering part of the road.

Welcome to Amman’s Smokey Mountain!! ………z

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went out to King Hussein Park early one Friday morning to take some pictures after a busy Thursday night of family picnics and partying. I was amazed at the amount of trash that was just left lying around the park. I can't believe that people think that keeping Amman clean--including places that they actually enjoy frequenting--is someone else's business.

Sunday, March 23, 2008  
Blogger Unknown said...

Yes, I live by this mess. And it is also a notorious 'potty' stop for taxi drivers and other lazy souls. People have no shame.

Monday, March 24, 2008  

Post a Comment

<< Home