A little over a week ago about 20 of us women and a couple of the men here went on a little excursion to the city dump.  Well, actually they didn't take us right into the dump, but first to a cemetery above the dump so we could see it from afar.  You see, there are lots of people that work at the land fill but don't get paid, in fact they have to pay to be there.  These are the poorest of the poor who live as close as they can and then spend their days sifting through the garbage for something that they can use or sell.  This is how Guatemala recycles.  First the men who gather the garbage from the homes and businesses sort through it for metal, plastic, glass, cardboard and whatever they want.  Then it is taken to the landfill and is gone through by all these other people.  Somehow they can tell from what area, or Zone, the truck is coming from and will jump onto the truck as it is coming in to unload and they claim the contents.  People use to live right in the landfill but laws have been made to change that and also the age at which a person needs to be to work there.  They are trying to protect the children.  I heard that a few months ago there was a land or garbage slide at the dump and 30 people went missing.

     In 1999 a young girl named Hanley came to Guatemala and saw the plight of the children of the dump and knew she had to do something.  She sold all she had in the States and opened a little school/care facility for these children. She started with about 45 kids.  It has grown to about 550 kids and three different facilities for the kids and to help educate the mothers who want to learn and perhaps graduate from school.  Hanley was killed at the age of 37, as a runaway bus hit her car, but the project still is going strong.  They teach the ladies to make jewelry out of paper that they get from the dump.  They roll  and shellac it to make beads, then add other beads or chain or whatever to make necklaces, earrings and bracelets.  Then they bring it to a little store there at the Safe Passage buildings and leave it for sale.  After it sells they get a percentage.  If you are interested they have a website:  Safepassage.org.  Go to "who we are" and then "our history" to see a picture of the dump. There are other pictures of the schools and kids there also.  I was going to send my pictures, but the sites pics are much better.

    I was really touched by this and that this young girl made such a difference in so many lives.  Seeing this reminded me of a book I read a while ago, "The Rent Collector".  A story about people who lived at a garbage dump in Cambodia. A memorable book.

     I have added some pictures of the cemetery.  Yes, these are mausoleums, not small homes.  The pic of the long building is where the people with less money are laid to rest.  It is kind of a big wall of lockers.  The fee is approx. $30 a year for one space and if not paid the remains are dumped over the cliff  into the landfill.  

     So.....on a brighter side.  Here is a picture of the front of our clinic.  The door is just behind the pole.  

The Clinic

We had some volunteers here this last week, so all five chairs were busy, busy!  A dentist from St. George, Dr. David Brown, his Hygienist, two assistants and his two kids. They were really great and he plans on coming back in May with his wife and other assistants.  

Dr. Brown & Volunteers

     Doug Gray is coming in April with three other people to help out and do some site seeing too.  We have to turn in a report on the work done at the clinic each month, quarter and year.  The last two months we show about $120,000, but they haven't adjusted fees for a while so I think we will check on that.  $120,000 is about 922,111 Quetzals, the money used here.

    Hope everyone had a fun St. Patricks Day!.  Make this next week a great one and remember who loves you!

  Love,  Grammy, Shaun, MOM

Clinic Staff