Guatemala Mission Trip: Day Three

Today was a very hard and full day.  We made our first trip into Guatemala City to spend the day at Safe Passage.  Today was full of tours, meetings with Safe Passage staff, and learning about all that Safe Passage does in the community around the Guatemala City garbage dump.

Our first stop was at the Guatemala City cemetery.  The cemetery overlooks the dump, which is located in a ravine.  We made a stop just inside the entrance to the cemetery to see something that illustrates the massive disparity of wealth in Guatemala.  In the picture below, the large pyramid on the left is the resting place of one person.  The stacks and rows on the right are called “los apartmentos” – or the apartments.  Each slot is the resting place of one person.  Unlike the United States where we purchase a cemetery plot and remain there, families in Guatemala must pay for their loved ones’ resting place every two years.  For families that have little income, this is oftentimes hard to do.  If families do not pay, their loved ones remains are removed.  There are conflicting reports as to what happens to the remains…some are likely thrown into the garbage dump, some are likely tagged and placed in mass graves where their families are able to retrieve them if they become current on payments.  Guatemala is a country of contrast – of extreme beauty and extreme devastation, of hopelessness and hope, of life and death, and wealth and poverty.  This became very real to us early on today when we saw the apartments.

The Guatemala City garbage dump is the size of 22 soccer fields.  It is a ravine that has been filled with trash since at least 1960.  Roughly 6,000 people work in the dump, sorting and collecting items to recycle or resell.  The dump is an extremely dangerous place to work.  Toxic chemicals, human waste, and high levels of methane gas take a significant toll on the health of those who work there.  There are also frequent landslides…or more specifically, trash slides.  The dirt you see in the photos below is not land, but rather trash that has been piled and covered with dirt.  There was a massive slide just a few weeks ago that likely killed several people…though the government is not concerned with keeping accurate records or issuing official reports about the people working in the dump so the exact number is unknown.  In 2005 there was a massive fire that started when methane gas ignited.  It burned for weeks.  Prior to the fire, the dump was completely unregulated.  Families lived in the dump, children played and worked alongside parents, and gangs controlled the dump and surrounding neighborhoods.  After the fire, a wall was put up around the dump to control access, all workers are now required to have a permit, and no one under the age of 15 is allowed in the dump.  Even though it is still a heart-wrenching thing to see, there has at least been a small amount of progress.

Immediately after the dump, we went to Safe Passage’s main location in Guatemala City.  We were greeted by more contrast.  We had just left a desolate, smelly, horrific place and walked into a beautiful building full of smiling children, joyful sounds, and loving people.  We spent most of our time visiting with heads of various programs at Safe Passage (they have four locations and many, many programs to serve the community).  We heard from the executive director, one of the English teachers, we learned about their adult literacy program, and heard from the Program Director for Creamos – a social entrepreneurship program that allows women in the community to make a living outside of the dump, teaches them financial literacy, and inspires self-esteem.  The women of Creamos make jewelry out of trash – primarily with beads made from paper from the garbage dump.  You can see some of their work here.  We visited the Jardin Infantil (preschool) location and were surprised to see references to the University of Washington in several locations.  The school of architecture at UW has made several trips to Safe Passage to help with construction of facilities and a remarkable playground structure at the Jardin Infantil.  Go Seattle!

Safe Passage's main location in Guatemala City - the Education Reinforcement Center (the CRE...the acronym makes sense in Spanish).  This houses their elementary and secondary classes, tutoring programs, and a health clinic.

Our team coordinator from Safe Passage, Charlotte, giving us a tour of the CRE

Executive Director, Todd Amani, sharing with our team

We had a fantastic lunch at Safe Passage.  Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition of any country in the world.  Safe Passage provides two meals a day to all their students which provide them with all the nutrition their bodies need.

The play structure built by the University of Washington school of architecture

In the afternoon we had the chance to help in an English class for one of their class periods.  It was so much fun!  We were each paired with a student and we practiced our English with a game of tic-tac-toe that is too difficult to explain here.  The room was full of smiles and laughter all around.

Our team with the students in the English class

As we reflected on our experience today, we were all quite hopeful.  Even though we had seen some very hard things today, we also saw immense hope.  We have spent a lot of time talking about the Kingdom of God – the way the world will be when it is put back together the way God intended it to be from the beginning.  The Kingdom of God is not just something in the future, it is here now…just not completely.  We saw a piece of God’s kingdom today at Safe Passage.  We saw hope and love and wholeness and health in a community where those things are hard to come by.  We are beyond excited to begin working with the children in classrooms at Safe Passage tomorrow so we can be a part of what God is doing in this community.

Our day ended with dinner at Monoloco in Antigua and Compline back at our hotel.  We are very ready for bed.  Please pray for continued strength and health for our team, and for eyes to see God at work through us and around us as we work at Safe Passage.