Young Garbage Pickers in India
In this November 18, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, sits on the lap of her mother Marjina as the train leaves for their village in West Bengal, at a railway station in New Delhi, India. Six months ago, Marjina stepped off a train in New Delhi with her two children, hoping to find a better life after her husband abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. The family spent their days at a landfill picking through other people’s garbage to find salvageable bits to resell or recycle. After six months of poverty, illness and shame, they returned to that train station in New Delhi, headed back to an uncertain future to their hometown in West Bengal. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 11, 2014 photo, Marjina, right, segregates trash with the help of her children and a young neighbor outside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 6, 2014 photo, a worker loads segregated trash for recycling on a truck on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. Rag picking is effectively the primary recycling system in India. While the rag pickers offer invaluable services to the city, they have few rights and are exposed to deadly poisons everyday. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 11, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, helps her mother Marjina lift a sackful of trash for segregation outside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 11, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, daughter of rag picker Marjina, lies on a sack of trash after she fell ill, outside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this October 17, 2014 photo, young waste pickers look for recyclable items at a landfill as the sun sets on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. Rag picking is effectively the primary recycling system in India. While the rag pickers offer invaluable services to the city, they have few rights and are exposed to deadly poisons everyday. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 18, 2014 photo, Marjina, right, her daughter Murshida, 12, and seven-year old brother Shahid-ul make their way towards a train station on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this October 17, 2014 photo, young waste pickers look for recyclable items at a landfill on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 10, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, right, looks at her brother Shahid-ul, 7, lying ill on a bed inside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. The children live with their mother, a rag picker, and spend their day at a landfill picking through other people’s garbage to find salvageable bits to resell or recycle. They arrived in New Delhi, hoping to find a better life after their father abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 6, 2014 photo, Munna bhai, a trash dealer, hands over money to Marjina for trash she segregated, as her daughter Murshida eats sweet lemon on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. The family spends their day at a landfill picking through other people’s garbage to find salvageable bits to resell or recycle, earning $26 a month. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 10, 2014 photo, Shahid-ul, 7, right, sits on a sack of trash as his mother Marjina, center, speaks to a neighbor outside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this October 29, 2014 photo, Marjina, 12, is taken to a hospital on a cart used to carry trash, outside their rented shanty on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
Indian waste pickers look for reusables from the debris of a damaged vehicle at a fair ground where a massive fire Tuesday evening gutted down a temporary fire crackers market set up for the Diwali festival in Faridabad, a suburb of New Delhi, India, Wednesday, October 22, 2014. According to local news reports more than two hundred temporary shops were gutted down in the fire but no one was hurt. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)
In this November 18, 2014 photo, Marjina adjusts her sari, with her daughter Murshida, 12, and seven-year old son Shahid-ul standing beside as they wait for a train at a railway station in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)