Guatemala: #5

This place was truly an abomination. The flies, the smell, the smoke, the vultures and other animals. and, unfortunately, there were people there also scavenging for recyclable materials which they sold to someone at the dump. We discovered that a lot of corruption was going on there. A self-designated “Master of the Dump” is actually making a lot of money because he refuses to make vendors from outside come to buy the recyclable materials — so he has a virtual monopoly. He pays the people less than what other recyclers would pay for the same materials. This person seems to be quite abusive to the people there, from that point of view, and from the point of view of being in control of everything. To some extent he is a little bit like a garbage dump “Mafia Don.”

“…He had compassion on them…”

All of the people working at the dump were filthy and covered with soot and dirt. It was pitiful to see the children there. A lot of the young men had very angry looks on their faces. We walked around a lot. The place reminded me of a post-apocalyptic movie — the eyes had a hard time accepting it as a reality. It had a very surreal feel to it, and it looked like something that just should not be allowed to happen in this day and age. But, there it was, in its full reality. These poor people make somewhere between $1 and $3 per day, depending upon how many trucks come into the dump. They become very competitive, because the first ones to get there when the trucks enter get first pick from the garbage that is dumped there by the truck. The whole atmosphere seems to be charged with anger, negative emotions and electricity.

As we were walking away to leave, a couple of women and men came up to us and questioned us as to why we were there. We had gone there with a woman who had worked at the garbage dump and had lost her husband because of the contamination. Everyone there knew her, but she had gone ahead of us. They were very angry because some people had come a few weeks before and interviewed them under false pretense. Very negative reports appeared in the newspapers mentioning names and accusing them of being abusive to their children. They thought we might have been the same people. We spoke to them and tried to explain why we were there — that we were trying to help.

Finally after much talking, lengthy explanations and some great diplomacy, they calmed down and actually became quite friendly in the end. We asked them what was their greatest need; they shared that they needed education and healthcare the most. We explained that in Nicaragua we had actually done a center for children to get them out of the dump. One man pointed to the area of the dump and said, “This is hell… this is real suffering…  Would anyone ever bring their children here if there was another choice?”

The question was very poignant. We talked for a while and they decided that they were going to form a committee. Victor Morales did a wonderful job of being our intermediary in this situation. They are going to get organized, and we will be in dialogue with them to see what we can do to help them with their needs. It is a pity that there is such corruption in that place. I'm not sure if anything can be done there, but we have been helping all the areas in communities around the garbage dump with certain projects.

When we boarded the bus, I felt very good that we had turned around the situation from hostility and anger, and walked away as people who could speak with each other politely and smile at each other and even embrace each other. The ride back to Guatemala City, like all other bus rides that we took, was fairly long, but the conversation was very exciting. We were discussing theology for the most part, but it seemed to have been no time at all before we reached our destination. I actually learned a lot about Lutheran theology and theology in general during this trip, courtesy of Pastor Volz, et al.