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Can We Make A Difference: Changing The Lives Of Guatemalan Children Living From The Garbage Dump?This is the recap by Frank Robinson, of a presentation by Mindy Whisenhut, at the March 113th, 2007 CDHS monthly meeting. Our
speaker this month was Mindy Whisenhut, Director of Religious Education
at Schenectady’s First Unitarian Society, who took a group of
middle school kids to work helping poor Guatemalan children. The
program, “Safe Passage,” was started by an American
woman, Hanley Denning (recently killed in a car accident). It focuses
on children of families who survive by picking through garbage in the
city dump.
Mindy’s talk was preceded by her daughter Alex, 11, who
started there by working with one and two year old kids, then graduated
to fifth and sixth grade girls. Alex told us how she had to conquer her
fear in interacting with those girls, and, despite a language barrier,
ultimately succeeded in making friends. She was careful to point out
that these kids didn’t want pity. “Pity never
helped anyone,” Alex said.
Mindy described the scene as the “Grand Canyon of
Garbage;” the dump for the capital city’s 2 million
residents, which stinks, oozes toxins, and attracts vultures. Somewhere
between 1500 and 6000 people comb the trash for things like plastic,
cans, cardboard, etc., that can be sold for pennies, and even for
edible food. To do this they actually have to buy permits. The children
are mostly victims of abuse, and many use alcohol and drugs. They live
in shacks with dirt floors and garbage everywhere; in streets filled
with what Mindy referred to as
“crap”—from birds, animals and humans.
And yet, she noted, they do not exhibit despair; they even plant trees
in front of their shacks.
The key to rising out of this poverty, Mindy said, is education. These
children have not been educated in the past because it was
unaffordable; they have been needed to help their parents pick through
trash. The “Safe Passage” program was set up to
give them one good daily meal, medical care, and most important,
education; it now serves 600 children. Mindy noted that the single most
important factor influencing individual longevity is in fact education.
This is the key to economic advancement, enabling people to move into
occupations wherein they can be productive and earn their way to better
lives.
She observed that until recently, at least, the Guatemalan government
has done nothing for these people living at the margins of society;
while in fact a lot of Americans have been there
helping. And she noted that between her two visits to Guatemala, some
improvement could be seen: some of the shacks now have plumbing and
electric power.
Interestingly, Mindy discussed the difficulties she had in persuading
the board of her Unitarian organization to approve this venture. She
was often told, “There is plenty to do here.” Her
answer was, “Yes—but we don’t do
it.” Of course, Americans in fact do a great deal to help
less fortunate Americans. But the point is that the existence of
problems in one place cannot justify washing one’s hands of
problems elsewhere. One might add that while there are Americans in
disadvantaged circumstances, worthy of our attention, no Americans are
as bad off as those Guatemalan dump pickers—who have just as
much human dignity and worth.
Mindy concluded by quoting clergyman and writer Edward Everett Hale:
“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything
but still, I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I
will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
Mindy’s talk was accompanied by a slide show, and a display
and sale of Guatemalan handicrafts. The program in question may be
found at www.safepassage.org
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