Sodom & Gomorrah

Have you ever wondered what happens to your computer when it is not needed anymore? Nowadays, our Lenovos, Acers or Macbooks rarely last longer than four or five years, but where does all that electronic trash go after all? Well most of it is actually being put into containers leaving for Africa where it is illegally taken to huge trash, or e-waste, dumps. There, children try to make a living by selling the scraps. But the toxic elements in the waste are slowly poisoning them. Ghanas capital Accra holds one of the biggest of these dumps on the whole continent. In the neighbourhood of Agbogbloshie, better known by the locals as Sodom & Gomorrah, children and juveniles make a living of burning plastic cables and then selling the metals to young males who control the big junk scales that often stand where tracks can be seen in the ash covering the ground. These guys again try sell the toxic trash to a foundry near the harbor. The biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah is now supposed to be re-enacted in Accra. This time, however, God is not playing any role, it is the city officials who want to demolish the slum next to the central business area of the capital.