Saturday, April 26th - ALL PROCEEDS from the sale of our Safe Passage Blend & Brewed Safe Passage brewed coffee will be donated to the Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage

Fri April 25th - Mon April 27th - Virtual Dump Installation on Display

The Virtual Garbage Dump installation is photographic journey through the Guatemala City Garbage Dump from behind the lens of area photographer Beth Price.The mission of Safe Passage is to empower the poorest, at-risk children of families working in the community of the Guatemala City garbage dump, by creating opportunities and fostering dignity through the power of education.

More information on GUATEMALA from Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage

Guatemala means “land of trees”. A thousand years ago, the remarkable Mayan civilization flourished here. Today more than half of Guatemalans are descendantsof this proud heritage. Mayan languages are spoken alongside Spanish — the official language. The country’s beauty and cultural strength is not accompanied by prosperity or cohesion. In 1996 it emerged from a 36-year civil war. More than 200,000 people, most indigenous civilians, were killed. Refugees fled to Guatemala City, leaving
their traditional way of life in the highlands. Today, poverty is widespread, estimated at 70-80% of the population. Nearly halfof Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished. The poorest of the poor struggle for survival at the Guatemala City Garbage Dump, the largest landfill in Central America; 1/3 of the country’s trash ends up here.
For over 60 years this has been the home and workplace for thousands of familieswho make their living salvaging from the City’s trash. Many have lived at the dumpfor 20-30 years, passing this way of life on from one generation to the next. It’sestimated that 3500 children currently live in this toxic wasteland.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm and is filed under Announcments, Social Change, Guatemala. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.