Surviving off rubbish in Kenya's slums – in pictures

Every day up to 10,000 people sift through the rubbish at Dandora, one of Africa's largest dumps, 8km from the centre of Nairobi. The city's only dump site is the subject of Trash and Tragedy, a report from Concern Worldwide and other agencies highlighting the health hazards it poses to local people Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

Men and women pick through a rubbish truck, looking for anything they can sell on or take home to use. Campaigners have long pressed for the site to be relocated away from the slums. A report says the site represents ‘one of the most flagrant violations of human rights’ in the country, affecting more than 200,000 people Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

A man trudges up a mountain of rotting rubbish. The dump was declared full in 2001. Rubbish sifters on the 30-acre site risk illness, injury and even death. Few wear gloves or masks, and many suffer from respiratory ailments, anaemia, kidney problems and cancer Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

Women search the rubbish, seeking to earn a little money, despite the dangers to their health posed by toxic chemicals and working in a smoky, stinking wasteland Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

For these foot soldiers in Nairobi’s informal, unregulated rubbish business, the work is perilous and the rewards paltry Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

A woman stands near a burning fire at the dump, where 850 tonnes of rubbish are unloaded every day Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

A sorting centre on the outskirts of the dump Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

Father John Webootsa, who lives in Korogocho, one of three slums next to the site, has campaigned for years to have the dump moved. 'Many people have died and others are dying,' he says. 'Beneath that garbage, there are boiling chemicals and people may be burned if they step on them' Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

A worker makes briquettes from salvaged paper and sawdust on the edge of the dump. Local charities have helped set up programmes like this to support some of the thousands of people at the dump to find alternative ways of making a living. The project started in 1997, and when demand is high up to 10 people can work here Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

One of the briquette workers is Joseph Makau, who has spent 20 years working at the dump Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

John Kamande raises pigs in a shed on the dump’s edges. He is one of the dump’s ‘security’ men. Visitors must organise and pay for 'security' to walk around the site and take photographs Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile

The shed where Kamande raises his pigs. He reckons he needs 100 pigs to move from Korogocho slum, where he lives, and set up a small farm. 'My dream is to see another place,' he says Photograph: Clar Ni Chonghaile