Last January, Mark Crosbie, a street-sweeper with Dublin City Council, travelled to Manila to do the equivalent job - in very different circumstances - over the course of eight days. The trip opened his eyes to levels of deprivation and poor sanitation that he could never have imagined.
His home for eight days was in a poor, crowded district of Manila, capital of the Philippines, where he was welcomed with open arms by a 43-year old street-sweeper, Mel, his wife and their six children. The family were living in essentially a couple of rooms made out of tin.
Mark with Mel and his wife Merle along with one of their six children
Over the course of a week, Mark accompanied street-sweeper Mel on his daily round, in insufferable heat, without the benefit of the expected health and safety precautions or the protective gear - gloves, boots, waders - that he wears in the course of his daily shift within Temple Bar.
Mark says the trip was "the most frightening thing I ever did, but the other side of the coin is it's been the best thing." Towards the end of the week, a scorpion was caught in Mel's house and he shows it on camera, trapped in a coffee jar, though that was the least disgusting thing that he encountered.
Mel uncomplainingly cleans a series of open drains day in day out, lifting sewage, dead chickens and rats from the filthy water with a shovel. Meanwhile, the live rats prowl around the drains. Paid in pesos, he earns the equivalent of € 60 a month, or €15 a day.
Mark Crosbie with a land-fill scavenger
Mark sees homelessness and poverty every day in Dublin but nothing compares with what he saw in Manila, scenes that leave him literally speechless, reduced to tears, looking away in shock and bewilderment.
"The physical aspect of the work didn't bother me, but it was seeing the poverty. . . I see poverty here every day. This morning I was out at work at six o'clock. I was talking to a young drug addict girl, I see her most mornings", said Mark.
The film shows how waste food is recycled by young children, who sift through boxes and plastic bags, retrieving edible material that is then fried to be consumed cheaply by others in a makeshift eatery.
Mel and Mark wheel a fortnight's worth of glassware to a depot
Mark says that the young people in Manila all know about Conor McGregor and they are well familiar with Westlife songs. He happened to mention to local people that he had been on holidays in Florida.
"They said, `Ah we want to go on holidays to Disney. I said `listen, don't mind Disney' - to me this was better than Disney, this was the real deal, the hospitality and the friendship shown to me was brilliant, especially being Irish as well. The priest gave me the blessing after Mass, he said `this is a noble thing for you to do.' I was just glad I did it. "
Toughest Place to Be, RTÉ Player
