Hola Todos,
My little town of Antigua is nestled in one of the highland valleys overlooking Guatemala City, and is literally in the shadow of the volcanoes Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. As you ascend the winding road from Guat City, you get a clear picture of just how sprawling the capital is. The harshness and disparity from one zone to another is softened by the haze that settles on the lowlands each evening. Although scenic and beautiful, the ride up the mountain can be frightening during the afternoon rush hour with bicyles, scooters, cars and busses zipping in and out of traffic, disregarding posted speed limits and or lanes.
Antigua itself is steeped in history as can be seen in its many historic cathedrals (some dating back to the 1500´s), municipal buildings, and cobble stoned streets. It is not unusual to see people transporting their families or wares on horseback, nor is it unusual to see armed guards. The police are armed, the bank and store security people carry rifles, as do the ¨touristico¨police---makes me a little heebie jeebie. The streets are also filled with ¨chicken" busses filled beyond expected capacity---even carrying passengers on the roof. They´ve earned the name from the variety of passengers they carry---and their farm animals! They look like our school busses but each is a unique work of art---painted brilliant colors, with varied designs, personal slogans, and many even have religious icons or stuffed animals attached in various locations.
Antigua was the thid capital of Guatemala and in its early history was actually the governmental center of all of Central America. In the late 1700´s, the town was devastated by a major earthquake and the capital was then moved to Guat City, where it remains today. Signs of the earthquake can be seen in the photo of the cathedral. The entire city lies within approx. 15 square blocks and I walk (hobble, limp, crawl---depending on time of day) everywhere!
As part of my orientation with Camino Seguro, we must learn a great deal of history to understand who the people we work with are. Since the time of the Conquistadors, the common peope have suffered the plights of civil wars, poverty, ignorance, an under representation in government. Although CS is a non-governmental organization, many political opinions are cast about and certainly add color to our history lessons. Corruption is a frequently used word----as we speak, the current First Lady is being accused of embezzling funds from charitable organizations---but that´s another story.
Needless to say, social reform is slow in coming and Guat. is in deperate need for educators, both for the childrens´futures and the current state of the adults that make their living any way they can. Although statistics vary, it is believed that as many as 70% of the children across the nation are illiterate. Public schools are free but because corruption if particularly high with the education department, most schools must charge large sums of money for uniforms, paper and supplies, and even teacher stipends. The 30% of the children that can afford to attend find themselves in classrooms with as many as 50 other students and only one teacher---and only for half days! Many of the teachers have not gone to universities---instead they receive teaching diplomas by choosing to focus on education their last year of high school. In rural areas, it isn´t uncommon for the teachers to only have a 6th or 7th grade education. They all are doing the best they can in a situation that is complex at best, and outrageous at worst.
Yesterday, the CS volunteers visited the dump in Guat. City. I thought I would be prepared, having seen the documentary, but what I saw left me speechless. We began our tour at street level but then climbed to the hills overlooking the entire landfill. The sight of thousands of vultures is what strikes you first---spiraling around and around, covering the hillside and the mountains of waste below. What I saw beyond that was so profoundly horrifying that "a living nightmare"only begins to describe the scene. Countless men and women standing atop mounds of waste, picking through it, scrambling for position as each new garbage truck dumped its load, standing dangerously in the path of bulldozers, and toting enormous bags over their shoulders. Knowing that this is the third and fourth generation of people that have had to live this way--in such a squalid and toxic environment is just too much for me to bear or comprehend.
A few years ago, after a tragic fire in the landfill, the government banned entry to children under the age of 14. Previously, entire families would work from sun up to sun down collecting recyclables to sell---as well as food, clothing andf household items for themselves.
Children were put to work as soon as they were old enough to walk and carry a bheavy bag at the same time. Those younger would play alongside their families as they worked. Guatemala has never had regulations for dumping garbage and thus the landfill contains not only household and business refuse, but chemical waste and bio-hazadous materials from hospitals as well. It is said that the remains of countless unknown civil war casualties were brought here and it curently serves as an ossuary for the cemetery it borders.
After the fire, the spotlight was on the government to make some radical changes, so young children are now banned from entering the landfill and anyone working in it must have a permit. Sounds like maybe more supervision, right? But instead, they are just implementing a fee for people so destitute that they have to resort to working in a landfill. There is no documentation as to how the governent uses these funds, but no safeguards have been implemented.
The landfill is located in a cavernous expanse of land that abuts a large ravine at the head of a river. Despite government´s claims that the fill would reach its capacity in 2008 and be closed, the refuse is continually shifted, covered and pushed further down the ravine toward the river. One third of the nation´s garbage continues to come to the dump and from this, the "Guajeros", as the workers are called, recycle one-ninth of the nation´s garbage, every day---performing a huge service to the city and country.
From their toil, a family of as many as eight can only expect to earn approx. 50 Quetzals per day---that´s about 6 dollars. It´s no wonder that the area is surrounded by squatters living in shanties and shacks---most without water or electricity. It is not uncommon for children to be seen playing in garbage or swimming in the foul pools of water that collect after a rain. Although the main security entrance prevents children from entering the dump, the surrounding area is unfenced and allows families to bring their children with them. 85-90% of the people have respiratory illnesses, hepatitis, vermin bites, life threatening infections or other illnesses stemming from their unsanitary living and work conditions.
Camino Segura was originally started to help the youngest children from these families but it has grown incredibly and now provides: school supplies and uniforms to participants, hot breakfasts and lunches to over 450 children each day, educational reinforcement, adult literacy classes, sports programs as well as helath and sex-ed for teens, medical clinics and even bathes the young children each day.
My job will be working in La Guarderia, the nursery for children 1-5 yrs. of age. Although the two main buildings are about 10 blocks from the dump, la guarderia is right acoss the street because the mothers can´t walk them the farther distance. The children themselves won´t arrive for a while because of a potentially dangerous situation in its backyard. A large plot of open land next to la guarderia became a squatter´s village this past September. Although this is typical and occurs frequently without notice, there is talk that this might become a violent eviction. The squatters have nowhere to go and are willing to fight for it. Thus the start up time has been postponed while officials wait to see what transpires. In the meantime, we are physically setting up the classrooms and are taking direction from a woman CS hired to establish a more "Montessori-like" environment for the youngest children. She can only be here a week so I am stepping in to guide them once she leaves---this requires further Spanish lessons on my part----and the use of ultra soft kid gloves in discussing any change because the teachers here are doing the very best they can with the little they have---I feel so happy to be able to share the experience I have with them---I´m sure I´ll be counting on many of you primary teachers back home to answer questions and privide me with some guidance. (And counting on the Gods to guide me with tact and grace!)
So for now, my day is divided into four parts---teacher training and lugging "stuff" around in the a.m., Spanish lessons in the late afternoon, volunteer work at the local hospital right after lunch and deep, deep sleep not long after dinner. The weather has been freezing! 40-50 degrees---no windows or heat----yikes! I continue to send all my love and best wishes---I always look forward to hearing from you and it is the highlight of my day when I receive emails. xo P.