Part of a Series: The Ninth Month

Health & Medicine

PRI audio player

PRI's The World

July 28, 2014 · 6:30 PM EDT

Reporter Aurora Almendral

Player utilities

download

Listen to the story.

IMG_4365.JPG

In Tondo, a Manila slum, poor families live and work in the charcoal fields, where rent is free.

In Tondo, a Manila slum, poor families live and work in the charcoal fields, where rent is free.

Credit:

Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4279.jpg

    A woman clutches her baby girl. Loste says the best part of having a big family is when they’re all together, but she says, it’s probably just as nice with a small family.

    A woman clutches her baby girl. Loste says the best part of having a big family is when they’re all together, but she says, it’s probably just as nice with a small family.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4525.jpg

    Loste with three of her daughters.

    Loste with three of her daughters.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4497.jpg

    Ana Lisa Loste’s daughter, Elisa, 17, holds her six-day-old infant, John Bird Fajardo. This is her second son after her eldest died of heart failure when he was twelve days old.

    Ana Lisa Loste’s daughter, Elisa, 17, holds her six-day-old infant, John Bird Fajardo. This is her second son after her eldest died of heart failure when he was twelve days old.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4527.jpg

    Loste’s grandson sleeps under a mosquito net on the floor of their one-room shack in the slum of Tondo in Manila.

    Loste’s grandson sleeps under a mosquito net on the floor of their one-room shack in the slum of Tondo in Manila.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4255.jpg

    Children play in the streets of Sitio Damayan, where Ana Lisa Loste moved after Smokey Mountain, when the garbage dump where she was raised was shut down by the government. This area, which smells of rotting trash from the junk shops down the road, is wid

    Children play in the streets of Sitio Damayan, where Ana Lisa Loste moved after Smokey Mountain, when the garbage dump where she was raised was shut down by the government. This area, which smells of rotting trash from the junk shops down the road, is widely referred to as Smokey Mountain Two.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4212.jpg

    The road to Ana Lisa Loste’s home is permanently muddy from leachate — the black goo that comes out of rotting trash — which drips out of the back of trucks delivering garbage to the scavengers.

    The road to Ana Lisa Loste’s home is permanently muddy from leachate — the black goo that comes out of rotting trash — which drips out of the back of trucks delivering garbage to the scavengers.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4353.jpg

    Ana Lisa Loste lives near the part of the slum called ulingan, where crude charcoal kilns burn all day, filling the air with stinging smoke. Children and young men work packing and curing the charcoal.

    Ana Lisa Loste lives near the part of the slum called ulingan, where crude charcoal kilns burn all day, filling the air with stinging smoke. Children and young men work packing and curing the charcoal.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4311.jpg

    With insecure incomes, some families put their children to work for extra cash.

    With insecure incomes, some families put their children to work for extra cash.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4565.jpg

    A young girl that lives in the shack next to Loste is covered in soot from hauling charcoal.

    A young girl that lives in the shack next to Loste is covered in soot from hauling charcoal.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4587.jpg

    Malnutrition and other diseases of poverty, like tuberculosis, is common in the slums of Manila.

    Malnutrition and other diseases of poverty, like tuberculosis, is common in the slums of Manila.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

  • IMG_4553.jpg

    Ana Lisa Loste’s daughter bathes in front of their house. It is not unusual for families in Tondo to have as many as eight or ten children.

    Ana Lisa Loste’s daughter bathes in front of their house. It is not unusual for families in Tondo to have as many as eight or ten children.

    Credit:

    Aurora Almendral

In Health & MedicineHuman NeedsThe Ninth Month.

Tagged: ManilaAsiaPhilippinesAna Lisa Lostereproductive rightshealthReligionpolitics.