On the outskirts of Cairo lies the world’s largest garbage village, home to 60,000 Zaballeen–Arabic for garbage people. The Zaballeen have survived for centuries by recycling Cairo waste. Following the international trend to privatize services, however, Cairo sold contracts to corporations to pick up the city’s garbage. As these foreign companies came in and began carting garbage to nearby landfills, the Zaballeen watched their way of life disappearing. This extraordinary film documents–with often surprising humor–the daily struggles, frustrations, and friendship of three teenage boys born into the Zaballeen trash trade. Introduced by Pete Moore, Associate Professor of Political Science, CWRU.