Ola mis amigos. Once again i've left far too long in between blogs.... i really dont know where the time goes i have to say.So, i feel its very important for me to tell you all about the Basurero (or Rubbish Dump to you and me), its people, children and associated charity in Guatemala City. As you can see, although i wore the Crocs they really were so far from my thoughts that they really didnt get a look in, so first blog post without a Croc picture... instead one of the amazing children i met whilst at the school run by Camino Seguro (or "Safe Passage"). The Basurero is one on the largest in Central America and although i have to say that my knowledge of rubbish dumps is relatively limited, it certainly looked pretty big to me.
I ended up on the tour there after Rachel (one of my lovely housemates, who also runs the office of Camino Seguro here in Antigua) asked me what i was doing one Thursday morning, did i fancy seeing the dump and the project that she works for (and as it turns out most of the girls i know here work for aswell) So off i set on the bus to Guatemala City really not knowing what to expect at all. Our guide was the hugely charismatic Fredy, a chap who really has had sooooo much happen to him in his 40 odd years here that its hard to know where to begin. He's worked with the children of the dump and Camino Seguro for over 15 years, along with trying to reform drug gangs (and almost getting assinated in the process), spending some time as a professional footballer, travelling extensively throughout the world (i dont know that many people that have the ex president Bush's wife amoung their list of friends but Fredy is one of them), pretty much everything. He did warn us that we might be pretty shocked at what we were going to see at the dump, but his warning really didnt prepare me, or the other guests for what we'd be confronted with.
You arrive on the cliff overlooking the dump (its a little too dangerous to actually go amoungst the rubbish yourself) and are immediately struck by three things. Firstly the smell. It was truely hideous, but then i guess this was to be expected, i mean it is a rubbish dump after all. Secondly the vultures (theyre know here as Sapolotes) - there were thousands and thousands of them. Everywhere. Great big black vultures that really looked pretty shabby.... not a great welcoming committee i have to say. Lastly the heat. Now i know its always a little cooler in Antigua, the main reason being that we're halfway up the mountains and therefore eveything is a little more chilly, so you always expect it to be warmer when you venture elsewhere. But this heat was stifling and wasnt actually anything to do with altitude or the sun, but hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish decomposing. On a cool day they reckon the temperatures in the dump itself are around 35-40' which must be properly hellish. Especially if you work there, amoungst the rubbish.
Fredy led us to the edge of the cliff which overlooks an enormous ravine that the dump is situated in. In the time we were there (a little over a hour or so) i'd say around 30-40 lorries came to dump there rotting cargo. And mobbing the lorries as they tip their rubbish onto the floor are the Guajeros. These are the people that make their living by sifting through the rubbish, trying to find anything of use (carboard, plastic bottles, bricks etc etc) it would appear that recycling hasnt really found its way to this part of the world and that the Guajeros do the job for everyone in Guatemala City and the surrounding regions. There are meant to be around 2500-3000 registered workers in the Basurero and no children are meant to work there. This being Central America, both those rules get broken, overlooked, whatever. But normally there are at least 5000 people working in the dump, alot of them below the age of 10. Their whole life is governed by the stuff that people throw away and unfortunately that means food aswell.....To see these people battling with vultures in searing temperatures with the smell of decay everywhere is something i will definitely never forget. To make matters worse this is the beginning of the rainy season and when it rains here it really rains. This obviously turns the dump into some huge decaying swamp and its not uncommon for the Guajeros to drown in the rubbish. The main reason for this is that there are actually two rivers that flow through/underneath the dump and when theres too much water it has been known for the whole thing to collapse and landslide down the ravine. Infact last year around 50 of the workers were swept away as part of the dump collapsed, some of the bodies being found as far as 20 miles away in the rivers. Not good.
If things could get any worse, and here they often can, the main Cemetary for Guatemala City overlooks the dump aswell (it was across the other side of the ravine from us) I'm guessing the upkeep of graves here isnt quite what it is back in Blighty, the main problem being that if youre buried you have to pay around Q200 (£20) rent a year for your burial plot. In this part of the world thats an enormous sum of money and if you dont pay, well lets just say we saw alot of coffins lining the hills. If you dont keep up with your rent they chuck you and your coffin into the dump aswell.... nice. Good to see that theres so much respect for people even after theyve died here. Fredy also said that grave robbing was a real problem as often people are buried with jewellery, perhaps a belt or a ring or a necklace and people will break into your grave to see if theres anything they can steal. The whole thing is shocking (if you havent seen the pics on facebook and i know that alot of you have, then please take a look), this really isnt one of Bods big exaggerations i'm afraid. Standing there watching the whole thing unfold below me was all rather surreal i have to say. The average Guajero will earn around Q50 ($6) a week, generally by recycling plastic bottles and other odds and sods they find. The shanty towns that surround the dump house somewhere in the region of 50,000 people (estimates say it may be double this number) and the average family size here is at least 15-20. $6 a week to feed 20 people, i mean i know the food at MF Global isnt great and that budgets are tight.... but thats just ridiculous. We stumbled back to the bus, everyone in some sort of state of shock at what theyd seen.....
We then headed to the good bit of the tour. Camino Seguro. The school (or now schools) set up by Hanley Denning around 10 years ago. She was an American tourist who came to the dump by accident one afternoon, saw what was going on and decided in that instant that she was going to make a difference. She quit her job, sold all of her belongings and started to set up a school for the children of the dump. They call her the Angel of the dump, and it really is heartbreaking when youre told she was killed in a car crash in Guatemala City 2 years ago. Terrible. However everything she worked so hard for carries on.
The school started off in an old church right on the edge of the dump with the sole purpose of trying to help/protect some of the children there from the horrific day to day existence of living amoungst the rubbish. Its now two schools, one for the youngsters, one for older children that on an average day has around 300-400 pupils (i think it actually may be many more than that) We turned up at the junior school in the middle of play and bath time and it really is very hard not to be moved to tears almost immediately. Here are some of the poorest kids your ever likely to find anywhere on the planet, running around, happy as pie, basically just being kids. Amazing. The school provides them with 3 meals a day (normally rice and beans which they love) an education, clothes, a wash, clean teeth, everything that you and i would take for granted without even thinking about it. The place was a proper inspiration to anyone who thinks that its impossible to make a difference in this world. Camino Seguro has its first teenager going to University this year, one of the very first pupils that came to the school when Hanley set it up. Amazing.
As i know alot of the volunteers here (the lovely Georgie my ex-housemate, Stine from Norway, Suzanne from Holland) i sat down with the children for half an hour or so for a bit of playtime. It would appear that all Guatemalan children are fascinated by cameras and as i generally have mine with me whilst travelling i thought i'd let them have a play. It was hilarious, they all snapped pictures of just about everything, the floor, their friends, an arm, a leg, whatever and were amazed to see pictures of themselves!! It really was so brilliant. I think i must have eneded up with around 600 pictures or so, most of which i just had to delete (i mean theres only so many pictures of the floor someone can have!) To see these children happy and smiling amid what must be extremely harsh living conditions (domestic violence and much more unpleasant things are rife in this part of the world) really was fantastic. I dont know where the time went, but in what seemed like an instant we were leaving to go to the big school and see the other projects. I was extremely sad to go.
The other building helps the older children with further education. It has a library, a music room, all the calssrooms have computers, pretty high-tech. This building also houses the new projects for the parents of the children. Illiteracy rates in Guatemala are around 50-60%. Here amoung the people that work in the Basurero its nearer 80%, so the school tries to help the adults aswell. Theres actually a group of mums who have set up their own jewellery making workshop and because of this some ladies now earn enough so as not to have to got the dump everyday. Really rather impressive. Theres also a huge canteen so that the students can get decent food aswell (decent food is something that is a very scare commodity in and around the shanties here.) We spent around half an hour here in the big school before having to head back to Antigua and i think everyone was properly stunned by what they seen. I know i was.
Its very rare for me to be moved to tears by things i see, but the half day i spent around the Basurero and in the schools of Camino Seguro really was one of the most emotional half days i've spent in my life. Please check out the website http://www.safepassge.org/. I know its very difficult to single out any one thing in the world that is a cause worth giving to, but i really think that this one has made a huge difference to the children of the dump in Guatemala City and if you are thinking of donating money to any sort of charity then this one really is worthwhile.
B
Thanks Bod, you're really making a difference!
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