Tags / Slum

Filipino man with his arm raised in Cebu City. Here the locals are getting free medical treatment once a week by the NGO German Doctors and Filipino Volunteers.

Friends in a shanty town in Cebu City, Philippines. Documentary for the NGO German Doctors.

Chinese cemetery in Cebu City, Philippines

A young Filipina girl in the slums of Cebu City, Phlippinies where the NGO German Doctors offers free medical treatment.

Homeless children play with an umbrella, while their parents wait for a free consultation with doctors in Cebu City, Philippines. Homeless people live in the tombs at the Chinese cemetery and get free medical treatment once a week provided by the German Doctors and Filipino volunteers.

A collection of moments in Kathmandu. Nepalese going about their business, taking a break, participating in events...

Old woman taking part in the Hanuman Jayanti festival at the Swayambhunath temple in Kathmandu on 4 April 2015. Religious ristes and events play a significant part in a Nepalese's life. Nepal is overwhelmingly Hindu with almost 85% followed by 9% Buddhist, 4% Muslim and 1.5% Christians.

A Nepalese family taking part in the Hanuman Jayanti festival at the Swayambhunath temple in Kathmandu on 4 April 2015. Despite the adherence to the traditional ways the younger generation is increasingly influenced by external (western) culture.

Rickshaw driver in Kathmandu taking a rest from his job on 2 April 2015. With an unemployment rate of 46% people work long hours to earn enough their keep.

Homeless man resting at a small shrine in Kathmandu on 2 April 2015. Around 2.8 million people or close to one tenth of the population is living in slum in Nepal. With a growing population and growing urbanisation this number is destined to rise leaving more people living on the streets.

Rickshaw in Thamel, Kathmandu on 31 March 2015. The tourism industry blossoms creating jobs for upwards half a million people.

Old homeless woman staring at the pigeons at Durbar Square in Kathmandu on 12 March 2015. Nepal ranks 145th out of 187 countries on UNDP's Development Index from 2013 with 30% living on less than half a dollar per day. The subsistence economy is widespread, but poverty is visible everywhere.

Nepalese woman enjoying the morning sun in Kathmandu on 10 March 2015. As the traditional family structures change increasingly replaced by western style nuclear families the elderly people experience seclusion and isolation.

Text: Javier Triana / Photos: Álvaro Barrantes
The Padilla family are masters of junk food. None of them work in Mc Donalds or in local fast-food chain Jolibee, but they spend hours with their products in-hand. When the sun goes down in and those franchises are about to close, leftovers take on a whole new life in the slums of Manila. The Padillas re-fry the leftovers at their own home, de-bone them and pack them into small plastic bags ready to sell to the poorest among the poorest. "Pagpag," as it is called, is an ingenious solution for these people to fill their bellies.
"I would prefer to do something different, but now I'm too old to apply for a job, and pagpag generates enough income for my family," says Jessica Padilla, 35, mother of five.
The Padillas know it's prohibited by the Department of Social Welfare and Developement, but pagpag (literally "shake off," the dirt from the edible) pays the school fees for their children and provides them with enough food.
FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Chicken bones being swept in the Padilla's slum-house, after the re-cooking, de-boning and packing process.

Ezequiel Padilla takes a break from re-cooking 'pagpag'to watch Jessica Padilla and his cousin de-bone and pack the meat in plastic bags.

One member of the Padilla family sweeps the chicken bones in the Padilla's slum-house, after the re-cooking, de-boning and packing process.

Danilo Valdra has a bite of recently prepared 'pagpag' inside his slum-house in Baseco, Manila.

Danilo Valdra cooks 'pagpag' in a wok, adding onions, tomatoes and soy sauce in his house in the Baseco slum, Manila.

Ezequiel Padilla and a customer at the Padilla's 'pagpag' stall in the Baseco slum market, Manila.

50-year old Danilo Valdra and his wife, both of them 'pagpag' buyers and consumers, outside the tiny slum-house they live in Baseco, Manila.

50-year old Danilo Valdra and his wife, both of them 'pagpag' buyers and consumers, outside the tiny slum-house they live in Baseco, Manila.

50-year old Danilo Valdra and his wife, both of them 'pagpag' buyers and consumers, outside the tiny slum-house they live in Baseco, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (standing) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (standing) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

An image of the impoverished Baseco slum, Manila, where many 'pagpag' consumers live.

Men playing pool and daily life at the impoverished Baseco slum, Manila, where many 'pagpag' consumers live.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Jessica Padilla (R) and her cousin fill plastic bags with 'pagpag' they'll later sell at the Baseco Market, Manila.

Ezequiel and Jessica Padilla at their 'pagpag' stall in the Baseco slum market, Manila.

Ezequiel and Jessica Padilla at their 'pagpag' stall in the Baseco slum market, Manila.

Ezequiel Padilla grabs a bag filled with 'pagpag' at his stall in the Baseco slum market, Manila.

Although 40% of Mongolians still live as nomadic herders, democracy, market capitalism and a resources boom catapulted the Mongolian economy to achieve the world’s fastest growth in 2011 with GDP growth of 17.3%. Trillions of dollars of natural resources lie beneath the steppes, grasslands and deserts of Mongolia. It possesses enough coal, copper, gold, uranium, silver, fluorite and other minerals to make every Mongolian wealthy.
In this decade of economic growth, hundreds of thousands of nomadic herders have abandoned their traditional way of life and moved into the Ger District: a tent slum in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar. The impoverished area has no running water, little waste collection and an unemployment rate around 30%. However, it was not the country's economic growth that has lured former nomads to the city. These former nomads are climate refugees.
During the cruel winter of 2009-10, nomadic herders fell victim to the dreaded "zud," a weather phenomenon in which snow is frozen solid by temperatures as low as -48C. Eight and a half million cows, horses, goats, sheep and camels starved and froze to death during an extreme 55 day cold spell.
Climate change scientists have noted more frequent "zuds" and some of the most extreme weather conditions seen in Mongolia in a thousand years. Nomadic herding traditions that are integral to Mongolian life and culture are facing their greatest challenge. In the mean time, life in the Ger District is a struggle just to get by.

A girl fetches water from a storage tank.