Children of Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah is a hellish place in Accra, Ghana, where children eke out a living on a scrap heap of discarded computers that the West no longer needs.

Director's Choice2011 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition

2011 / Jens Jarisch / Sharon Davis / 360 Documentaries, Australia

COSG smoky cropped

Sodom and Gomorrah is a hellish place in Accra, Ghana, where children eke out a living on a scrap heap of discarded computers that the West no longer needs.

The children scavenge and then sell computer parts for a pittance, while they dream of escaping illegally to Europe to live like those whose computers they are harvesting. And all the while, toxic chemicals in the waste slowly poison them. Producer Jens Jarisch went to Sodom and Gomorrah to meet some of these children, and also followed the e-waste on its journey from docks in Germany to Sodom and Gomorrah, where it collects in a pile - well out of sight and mind of its original owners.

Children of Sodom and Gomorrah won the Directors' Choice Award in the 2011 Third Coast/ Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. Originally produced in German in 2010, this version was made for ABC Radio National by Sharon Davis with narration by Rebecca Massey, sound engineering by Russell Stapleton, and additional performances from Josef Ber and Thuso Lekwape. Jens Jarisch was the writer and original producer.

Click here to read a critique of the piece by TC/RHDF award winner Alan Hall. The German version of this story produced by Jens Jarisch won a Prix Italia award in 2010.

produced by

Jens Jarisch

Jens Jarisch has spent half his life in Berlin, where he currently works as an independent producer of one-hour radio documentaries.

Sharon Davis

Sharon Davis is an award-winning freelance documentary producer and journalist who has worked in radio, television and print.

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