Free Dhaka's Children from Toxic Landfills Now.

Even after nine years, Bithi still isn’t used to the smell. Each morning, she sifts through mountains of new rubbish outside Dhaka with her bare hands. “You don’t have to be there to imagine it,” she says. “You already know how terrible the stench must be.”

That’s just the beginning. There are also the constant headaches from sifting through toxic refuse. Her hands are covered in fresh cuts every day. There are more injuries too, some from sorting and some from dodging the huge trucks and machines that process the waste, so that she doesn’t get crushed.

Bithi is not from Dhaka. She is from Patuakhali, a town on the south bank of the Laukathi River, near the coast. As in so many communities in the Delta, climate change has made catastrophic floods more common, and traditional farming has become impossible. She and her family were forced to leave for the city in search of work. Most of the waste pickers are just like her: displaced migrants forced to leave their coastal homes for the same reason.

Despite the horrendous conditions around her, Bithi is grateful to have found work. Some days, she can gather up to 700 items to take to the recycling centre, enough to survive the month. But that isn’t why she is smiling. In fact, she says, “My mind is completely at ease.” Her daughter, Sadia, attends a nearby school run by our partner, Grambangla.

It isn’t the first time Sadia has gone to school. Bithi always knew that the importance of education, especially for girls, goes beyond learning. “An education gives a person a voice,” she says. “It allows them to speak up and hold a meaningful conversation. Without an education, a person completely loses their voice in society.”

Bithi wanted that for Sadia. She didn’t want her working on the site, so she sent her to a school. However, it was far away, and meals, stationery and books were not provided. Every day was agonising. “The stress used to be constant. I would be trapped in loops of worry over whether my child was getting food. I didn’t know where I would find the money for notebooks and pens.”

Thank you.