We have a DVD outlining some different projects among the working class and working poor of Taiwan, courtesy of some of our research sources we know personally. But these discreetly taken photos are of people we see everyday, pushing or pedaling piles of junk for next-to-nothing. Often (usually) they are elderly, at least they are on our block.
We’ve included a shot of one of the local betelnut shops — the most immediately noticeable high-profile vice. Addictive and cancer-causing betelnuts are typically sold by young girls wearing next-to-nothing to working class males. The money is good, but I still call it poverty.
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I believe they are recycling the junk.
Yeah, the recycling drop off place is in an alley back of our apartment building. They push their carts onto big scales and get paid buy the weight.
a big number of these elderly doing the recycling are actually not poor. i know a few that are actually pretty well off, in fact probably weathier than me and my family. they do this for the exercise and just to pass time.
That’s interesting. I’ve noticed that the park is full of older folks exercising, especially in the mornings – seems to be a popular way to pass the time. I never would have guessed that many of them were doing it for exercise, rather than need. Some of the folks around our neighbourhood work long hours in all weather. At dusk I see the same ones that I saw early in the morning.
yup. our next door neighbour is an elder lady in her 70′s. she does the recycling thing all day long from dusk until dawn pushing her cart around the neighbourood. she owns a few houses on the main road out here that she rents out to businesses, so she’s easily at least pulling-in tens of thousands of NT$ a month from rent alone. we’ve asked her to rest and stop with the garbage collecting and recycling, but she says she likes the exercise and it helps her pass time. she said she did stop for a while some time ago but she was just bored out of her mind and the days went by too slow, so so she had to start again.
Man. What a way to kill time! I’ve wondered if the retired-age folks around here were in need of things to do. In the park across the street there’s a giant Chinese chess party every single day for hours and hours every afternoon. Same guys every day, and it’s crowded. One older guy we hang out with when we can – his wife runs a family fish soup restaurant – often complains that he’s bored. He’s actually giving us a mahjong lesson tonight.