Community Corner

Rotarians Help Children Escape Future in Guatemala City Garbage Dump

Local club members travel to Guatemala to buy school supplies to break the cycle

John Bowers and Bill Compton recently spent a few days in Guatemala helping children whose only future has been to work in a garbage dump, salvaging anything they can.

The two men, members of the Windward Rotary Club, were visiting in support of Safe Passage. Bowers said the nonprofit organization has been in existence for 11 years to promote and support the education of these individuals making their living off of recycling materials out of the Guatemala City garbage dump.

“Something like 2,000 people, literally, that’s their job. They go every day, pick through the garbage dump for recyclables they can sell, food they can eat, clothes they can wear,” Bowers said.

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Compton said it is generational, with grandparents working alongside their children, and then their grandchildren.

“They are working in biohazards, basically,” Compton said. “So their lifespan is much shorter than you’d expect around here.”

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Compton said the idea of helping other people and being part of something bigger than oneself is a reason why people join Rotary.

Lisa Jensen, the Safe Passage worker the two men spent time with in Guatemala, said the dreams they encourage in these children aren’t the same as what people here would have.

“[Safe Passage] is trying to educate these kids so they can get jobs, be truck drivers, security

guards, etc…,” Compton said, “just some job to move out of the garbage dump. For those

kids, those are their lofty goals. It’s a long ways to go.”

Bowers said with Compton’s help and experience as a long-time Rotarian, past president of his club and current assistant district governor, the club was able to get a $1,750 grant from Rotary District 6900 to purchase classroom supplies for the 15 classes at Safe Passage.

The Safe Passage staff put together a list of supplies, and went with the Rotarians to a local store, filling up grocery carts and putting together care packages together.

“The kind of things frankly my daughter’s kindergarten teacher told her to bring, things every student in America would have. They are thrilled to have one pack of crayons for the entire classroom to have,” Bowers said.

“The thing that struck me when we were down there, when we were in and around the bare dump area, there’s hundreds of families that are there, squatters,” Compton said.

But he said there’s no political will to move them. The government brings potable water for the families to bring back to their huts, enabling the squatters.

“They are serving a service at no cost to the government,” Compton said.

“In some ways, it’s akin to slavery. These people can’t move out and do anything else,” he said.

 Jensen drove the men to Guatemala City into the red zone, which is the dangerous area of the city.

“We saw armed people with shotguns all around the Safe Passage area protect us and the Safe Passage people,” Compton said.

They couldn’t go a quarter of a mile without Jensen stopping and rolling down her window to check on the children, making sure they were going to school and had the supplies they needed.

Her role was important, Compton said, because the children have no critics. Many parents have “checked out” and don’t tell them when they are out of line.

“Not only does she care about them, she showed it sometimes with praise, sometimes harsh words, but they responded also. You could tell they loved her as much as she loves them,” he said.

The men met a lot of volunteers and teachers, some of the adult education students and some younger students.

“It was just a happy place. It was interesting, outside the walls it’s dirty and gross, a little fearful. You are on high alert. Inside the walls it’s smiles, smells of good foods,” Bowers said.

Safe Passage began with 30 children and grew until now there are 560 in the program. Capacity is 600 children total, so the next challenge is expansion. The Rotarians said they hope to make this an annual project.

 


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