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Metro Manila's homeless find shelter in pushcarts

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Mikhail Flores, AFP

<p>Like thousands of homeless people in the Philippine capital Manila, Maricel Abawag and her son used to sleep on flattened cardboard boxes laid out on footpaths. Then they got a pushcart.</p><p>Pushcarts, known as karitons, are a common sight in the city of more than 13 million people.</p><p>Often made from scraps of wood, the human-powered carts are used as shelter, storage and a source of income, such as collecting trash to sell to recyclers.</p><p>Abawag, 44, received her pushcart in November 2020 from a Catholic brother.</p><p>About a year earlier, Abawag had &quot;lost everything&quot; after her partner was jailed for beating her. He died of a heart attack in police custody.</p><p>She began sleeping on the streets while still breastfeeding her baby.</p><p>&quot;If I were to look for a house we would need to pay rent,&quot; Abawag told AFP.</p><p>&quot;Then we would need to pay for electricity, water, rice and milk -- I don&#x27;t have enough money.&quot;</p><p>Nearly 50 percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor, according to the latest survey by research organisation Social Weather Stations. </p><p>Many live in overcrowded slums or on the streets. </p><div><strong>- &#x27;I&#x27;m not afraid&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Ed Billones, who donated the pushcart to Abawag, said people without homes were often viewed as &quot;lazy and addicts&quot;. </p><p>In reality, many have come from the provinces in search of work that did not materialize or were forced from their homes by domestic abuse or the loss of the family breadwinner.</p><p>Boyet Torres, a 59-year-old scavenger, said he fled a violent father decades ago.</p><p>He has lost count of the number of pushcarts that have been confiscated by local officials during street-clearing operations.</p><p>&quot;If I don&#x27;t have one, I&#x27;m unable to earn,&quot; said Torres, who collects plastic bottles and cardboard.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ll only earn 30 pesos a day (using sacks) and that&#x27;s just enough for food. If I have a kariton, I can earn up to 150 pesos.&quot;</p><p>Every night, Abawag and her now four-year-old son sleep inside their pushcart parked under a tree on the footpath of a busy street. </p><p>The cart is 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) long and 31 centimeters (about one foot) wide and contains all their worldly goods like a torch, radio, soap, pillows, blankets and toys. </p><p>When it rains, Abawag pulls a clear plastic sheet over the top to keep them dry.</p><p>Meters away, people eat at restaurants that Abawag will likely never be able to afford.</p><p>After losing a precious bag of clothes to a thief, Abawag now locks the pushcart and secures it to the tree before she sets out on foot every day to sell rags.</p><p>&quot;If I sell enough rags, I buy food. If I don&#x27;t have any sales then I wait for people to give us food,&quot; she said. </p><p>Abawag said she was embarrassed when she began living on the streets. But her religious faith helped her adjust. </p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m not afraid to live on the street because I pray to God to not abandon us,&quot; she said.</p><div class="media-content"><div class="slider-for"><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-1.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-2.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-3.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-4.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-5.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-6.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-7.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-8.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-9.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-10.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-11.jpg"/></div><div><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/12/02/pushcarts-poverty-afp-12.jpg"/></div></div><div class="media-content slider-desc"><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows a motorist commuting past a group of homeless people resting next to their pushcart outside an abandoned building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows a group of homeless people preparing to sleep next to their pushcart outside an abandoned building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows Catholic Brother Ed Billones (R) speaking with Boyet Torres, who uses a pushcart to collect plastic bottles and cardboard to earn money, outside an abandoned building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows a group of homeless people resting next to their pushcart outside an abandoned building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag and her son resting inside their pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; next to a residential condominium building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag resting inside her pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; as her son plays outside next to a residential condominium building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 5, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag waiting for customers as she sells rags made from used clothing in front of a convenience store in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on November 29, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag and her son resting inside their pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; next to a residential condominium building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on September 14, 2022 shows a homeless man pushing his pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; as he looks for a place to park for the night along a road in Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on September 14, 2022 shows a homeless man standing next to his pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; as he looks for a place to park for the night along a road in Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on August 24, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag and her son getting out from their pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; next to a residential condominium building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div><div class="item-desc"><p>This photo taken on August 24, 2022 shows Maricel Abawag and her son resting inside their pushcart &#x27;home&#x27; next to a residential condominium building in Quezon City, suburban Manila. <cite>Ted Aljibe, AFP</cite></p></div></div></div>

Pushcarts, known as karitons, are a common sight in the city of more than 13 million people.

Metro Manila's homeless find shelter in pushcarts

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Metro Manila's homeless find shelter in pushcarts

Mikhail Flores,

AFP

Published December 02, 2022 07:31 PM PHT

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poverty

Philippines

pushcart

kariton

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