The smell of garbage hung in the afternoon air as the children finished picking through a waste disposal site in Sungai Selamat Dalam village, Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Dewi Wulandari, 8, took off her gloves and plastic boots. Next to her was a sack of bottles and used plastic cups. "After school I scavenge to help Mom," she told Tempo.

Dewi is the third of six children. Her mother is a trash picker. Her older sister, Mita, 14, works as a boutiq