Justice Growing In The Dump: Can Two Greyhounds Teach Us The Basic Needs Of Humanity?
That Day The Greyhounds Were Running Faster
That day, the greyhounds were running faster. As the sun rose, the smell from the garbage piles had also started to rise. The business owner was grinning with his yellowed teeth. He had a hunting rifle in his hand. Today was the day to go hunting. In front of his two sons, nephews, and daughters, he handed the rifle to me. The metal machine was much heavier than I thought. As soon as I took the rifle in my hands, my arms slumped down and they all laughed together.
This was one of the hundreds of garbage landfill areas located in the countryside around every city. As a newly graduated environmental engineer, after a few unsuccessful workplace experiences, I had started working here. I could not complete one month in this workplace with a very low wage and where environmental legislation was complied with only on paper. The business owner was illiterate. He had four wives and so many children that I did not know the number. His other brothers were also doing the same job in different cities.
Mr. Adem was saying: “The people working here have nothing to lose. Think about it, Ms. Pinar, these are people who eat the bread they find in the garbage. Therefore, you will not expect respect here.”
The Afghan Refugee Reality And Those Who Have Nothing To Lose
I faced the Afghan refugee reality in this business. Afghan refugees, whom I thought to be numerous illegals, were both working and living in this business. Let alone living, it was not a place you would even want to spend your five minutes. And these 7 to 8 Afghan men between the ages of 17 and 45 were sleeping on cardboards and bags that came out of the garbage inside a shack in the landfill area. They were not receiving any wage. During the days, they separated the garbage from each other, collecting blue plastic bottle caps in a separate container, papers in a separate place, and metals in a separate place.
Garbage came completely mixed to these types of garbage landfill areas, which is a common practice in all third world countries and established within the framework of European Union environmental compliance laws. I am talking about approximately 12 years ago. I do not know the current existing situation, but it was like this in that period. Two groups of people used to work in this job. One: People who have nowhere to go. Two: Those who make a living by sorting through garbage. Both of these groups, as the owner of the business said, had nothing to lose.
They kept a few rule-compliant areas ready that they arranged to show when the inspectors came; and when the inspectors left, they did whatever they wanted. Anyway, the incoming officers were leaving the business quickly because they did not want to stay in this area any longer due to the smell here and the filth in the environment. On such days, the refugees had learned to hide in the shack and to be quiet until the inspectors left. The workers immediately put on gloves and masks, but as soon as the inspectors left, they took them off and put them in their pockets. Wounds had constantly formed on their hands, around their mouths, and noses. When I told them that they caught germs and that they should wash their hands with soap, they all laughed together.
Black And White Greyhounds: Understanding Before Judging
There was a black greyhound in the garbage landfill area and she had just had puppies. She had seven or eight puppies. Some were black, some were white. Let's call the business owner Adem. I intentionally change the names because some of the people in my personal stories are still living and my goal is to approach the ideal of a world where the three basic needs are guaranteed. It is not to blame or complain about the people I encountered in the past.
Life is hard for everyone when our basic needs are not guaranteed, and it is very easy to judge someone without wearing their hat. But we can never know how we would behave if we were in the place of the people we criticize. They are not us, and we are not them. At least, while there is no healthy food for everyone, safe housing for everyone, and education about the meaning of life, telling a person why they behave like this would be extremely illogical.
Anyway, Mr. Adem spared only two of the greyhound puppies for himself; one black, and the other white. He gifted the rest, together with the mother greyhound, to his brothers who operated garbage landfill areas like himself. The two little greyhounds reached the consistency of naughty children within two weeks. Every morning they were running towards me and waiting for me to pet them.
Watchmen And The Invisible Face Of Deep Poverty
There were two people doing the watchmanship of the garbage landfill area. One was a man who was thin and actually not mentally stable, who also had nowhere to go, walking around with plastic slippers on his sockless feet. The other was an old gray dog that no longer cared that the giant sewer rats living in the garbage stole the food scraps given to him.
Let's call the sockless man Huseyin. Just like the other very poor people working or living here, Huseyin was also illiterate. He also had no mind. He only had intense emotions and a deep sense of loyalty. He was grateful for the right to sleep in the shack and the bread he could eat here. Furthermore, they had told him, "The whole business is entrusted to you, Huseyin. It is your duty to protect this place."
Deep poverty is much more widespread than we think. Within the first two weeks, I had realized that I could not work here anymore. Due to the obligation to employ an environmental engineer in the business — within the scope of the new environmental legislation — employing an environmental engineer in garbage landfill areas was mandatory in that period. I do not know its final state and I do not care. Today, no existing law or regulation expresses a universal value, including the most developed countries in the world. A law or regulation that does not guarantee healthy food for everyone, a safe living space for everyone, and the "Love your neighbor as yourself" education is inherently doomed to remain on paper.
Those Who Make Their Own Rules And Resist Change
Mr. Adem maintained his rule in this area where he had declared his own rules. His sons and brothers kissed his hand and obeyed. His four wives also sat around the same table. He had so many children that I did not know the number, the youngest being only one year old. All of his children had grown up in this dump. In this place where there was no soap, accompanied by the garbage smells that became unbearable at noon hours, one of his sons was wetting the cardboard boxes coming out of the garbage with a garden hose. Thus, the paper would become heavy on the scale and be sold at a higher price.
I have many more memories regarding garbage landfill areas. I worked only one month in this business I mentioned. They did not pay my wage. And I was ashamed to ask for it. Have you seen a pair of black eyes shining right in the middle of the hiding Afghan refugee's face that had turned pitch black from filth? All he wanted was to be able to eat one more slice of bread at dinner time and to sleep in the corner he found in the shack without being harmed by another refugee who had almost turned into an animal from struggling to survive like himself. For me to say, "Pay my one month's wage for working here," I would have had to not see those fear-filled eyes.
After seeing the weak, skin-and-bones woman who tied her child to her back, sorted through the garbage from morning to evening to collect blue plastic bottle caps, and brought them to the scale for a few pennies, I could not say, "Give me my money." The life of the collectors seemed very difficult to my eyes, but interestingly, they did not want this order to change either. Because they did not even know that there could be another order. You cannot take the old one out of their hands without giving them a better one!
The Compromise Of Two Greyhounds: The Three Basic Needs
After seeing how the people sorting garbage with their bare hands on the Ford system got injured by used razor blades, broken glass pieces, and torn dangerous parts; after seeing them separate carelessly thrown away women's sanitary pads from food waste without caring, I could not say, "I worked here for a month. Give me my right!"
I returned home carrying the two greyhound puppies, one white and one black, in my heart. "I will not be able to do this profession," I said. However, the problem was not in my profession. There was only one problem, and over the years, two greyhounds grew in my mind. The white one justified everything. The black one criticized everything. And now they have reached a compromise: Healthy food for everyone. Safe living space for everyone. Within the scope of the education of what the meaning of life is: Love your friend as yourself. The spiritual law.