It's hard to imagine a more unsanitary place to grow up than the outskirts of Erdenet, Mongolia.

Here on a small strip of land-bordered by a copper mine, a lake of toxic waste, and a garbage dump-about a dozen families are raising children. Clean water is a 90-minute walk away.

The town of Erdenet is a four-hour hike. Just a few hundred metres from the homes, pigs drink gray fluid from the toxic waste pool, filled continuously by a sewer pipe connected to the copper mine. Endless mounds of garbage fill every visible corner.

Batsaihan Erdene-dalai is one of the children growing up here. Like the other children, this 14-month-old boy is filthy and often sick.

He lives in a ger, a circular felt tent that is the traditional house of Mongolian nomads. But Batsaihan isn't going anywhere. His family has lived at the edge of the dump for more than 10 years and they have no plans to leave. During the day Batsaihan stays with his grandmother while his parents scavenge the dump.

Some children in poverty are forced to scavenge rubbish dumps for things to sell... it happens all over the world.

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