Safe Passage: A School for Children Living Around the Guatemala City Garbage Dump
my world • bettering communities
When I was planning our family vacation to Central America a few months ago, I wanted my children to have a well-rounded and culturally rich experience by offering them a variety of activities, including sight seeing, traditional events, as well as opportunities to have play dates with Guatemalan children their same ages.
I also wanted them to have their eyes opened to the poverty that exists in the world so they would come back with a greater understanding and appreciation for what we have and the lifestyle we enjoy.
The day before we returned from Guatemala to the US, we toured a facility called Safe Passage.
Safe Passage (“Camino Seguro”) opened its doors in 1999 to provide a safe alternative for children living around and working in the Guatemala City garbage dump. We believe that every child should have access to education, and we enable those enrolled in our program to attend school and to access opportunities for work and life beyond the confines of poverty in the Guatemala City garbage dump.
Today, Safe Passage serves approximately 550 children and 70 adults who represent over 300 families living in the vicinity of the Guatemala City garbage dump. We run a comprehensive program that incorporates healthy living, academics, creativity, and fun for students young and old.
On our visit, we first went to a spot overlooking the garbage dump. Chase (age 9) and Connor (age 7) truly couldn’t comprehend what we were witnessing. That this was a place where garbage was discarded? Easy enough to understand. That entire families, including children, spent their days there, collecting anything and everything to sell for their survival? Not a chance!
So next, we took them to the Safe Passage facilities—first to the school and then to the women’s facility.
The boys were able to go on a tour of the school and see how it differed from their own. They interacted with the children and asked lots of questions.
Then, we went to the women’s center, where we met mothers from the nearby shanty towns who were receiving business training and English lessons. We bought necklaces they had made from the paper taken from the garbage dump—now a viable business for many women there.
On its website, Safe Passage quotes William Arthur Ward:
We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.
I loved being able to show my children an example of an organization who “builds with them” during our travels to Guatemala. It was definitely a perfect ending to an already wonderful family vacation.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities at Safe Passage, click on this link.
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5 Responses to “Safe Passage: A School for Children Living Around the Guatemala City Garbage Dump”
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Melissa Dawn Lierman, Moms Who Blog. Moms Who Blog said: Safe Passage: A School for Children Living Around the Guatemala City Garbage Dump http://ow.ly/18FRQU [...]
Nikki @ Mommy Factor on August 23, 2010 10:10 am
It’s wonderful that you include your children when learning about other cultures.
Nisha on August 23, 2010 2:02 pm
Hey Jyl, I’ve been to Guatemala a couple times and there are so many heartbreaking things happening there. Thank you for providing this glimpse into just one of the problems that third world countries face. I’m so glad your family was able to travel here! Guatemala is so beautiful.
jyl johnson pattee on August 23, 2010 5:05 pm
Thanks for your comment, Nisha! It’s amazing to see the struggles, but also the wonderful things people and organizations are doing to tackle them. This organization was inspiring to me. It was started by a woman in her 20s. Sometimes, we don’t think we can change the world, but she helped make a big difference in the lives of many Guatemalan families. I love her example!
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