Third World Children in Need of Christmas. Part 1.

    
     Every year right around Christmas time, the families and especially the children living in the garbage dump in Zone 3 of Guatemala City receive a visit and an invitation to leave behind their desperate circumstances, even if just for a few hours.  An empty bus pulls up to the entrance of one of the may dumps and sends out a small team of volunteers with the hope of filling the bus with children who are in real need of a great Christmas.  Let's go inside.



The main road inside.  The sheet-metal you see to the right marks the first series of "homes" you pass as you enter into the community.

      For the people who live in and around the garbage dump each sunrise is the same.  Tons of rotting rubbish, swarms of flies and scavenger birds, along with the burning stench which is it's accompaniment.



The photos you are seeing of this outreach were taken at one of the smaller dump communities in the city.  The main dump located nearby is much larger.  On the day of our outreach all non-workers and non-residents were prohibited by order of the police and drug-dealers who run the the dump from entering.

        The Children, adults, and elderly dedicate 14 hours daily to the search for recyclable material which will help with their daily survival.

     Everyone living in the dump is exposed to death, rape, sickness, abuse, illness, accidents, crime, and sadly a legacy of a continuing cycle of poverty that has been handed down from generation to generation.

    
   Moved by this extreme poverty and suffering of these people, Pastor Otto Alvarez founded "Libre Infancia" or Free the Children, in 1995, to provide hope and help.  Where others see a lost cause amongst a lack of resources, I have seen Libre Infancia's determination to help these children in spite of the overwhelming circumstances facing all those involved.

This is a picture of home-life for countless families born into the third world.  What you see is "home" in it's entirety for this Guatemalan family.  This is not their entrance or outdoor courtyard to their home.  Their entire living quarters as well as every material possession they own is on display in this photo.  Here on this dirt floor is where they eat, sleep, and bath out of buckets if they've collected enough rain water to bath themselves and wash their clothes.





All pictures were taken with the consent of the people depicted.  This woman
graciously allowed me to photograph her home while she kept her eye on her
two toddlers playing at the door across the outside corridor.



And every few feet the same scene with a different cast repeats itself over, and over, and over again. 

Libre Infancia believes that every child should have the opportunity to receive education, love, and care.  Their programs are designed with the intention that every child might gain the skills necessary to get stable jobs in the future, be self-reliant, and help remove their family from poverty in a dignified manner permanently.
















Volunteers such as Chris and the men from our program along with some staff of Libre Infancia
went to personally invite families to the Christmas celebration.  It was sad to learn that the boy facing
the camera is deaf and mute.

     Knowing that the overall goal of the ministry of Libre Infancia is long-term and far from being accomplished, they take steps to ease the momentary burdens of the children on a regular basis.  A great example of this was the grand Christmas celebration for children hosted at Templo de Gloria Church.



      All children were invited yet not all were able to attend.  Some parents refused our offer.  We weren't exactly sure why.  Maybe it was a lack of trust or perhaps some ingrained bitterness.  Although we were joyously received at the land-fill by most, some were clearly not interested in the local church outreach and even less the well dressed white guy with the camera.

Without help, the children you see are looking straight into their future.  It is a heartbreaking spectacle to behold.
What you see as a mere visitor to the daily struggle of these wonderful people stays with you long after you walk out the exit. These children never had a choice.  They were born into  a serious disadvantage and extreme deficit.  In short, they need a miracle.  However, every little bit of compassion they receive is done so with the most grateful of hearts.  It seems even hugs are in short supply to the children living at the dumps of Guatemala City as they were all so eager for whatever affection they may receive.  I tried to let my pictures do most of the talking as words cannot clearly convey the reality of life in these communities.  The pictures themselves offer only a narrow glimpse... a literal snapshot of the daily tortures of life in extreme and seemingly hopeless poverty.
     In my next post...(part 2), I will be able to share a moment of joy for the children you have just leaned about. I will share about a temporary exit from their daily prison, a celebration put on annually by Libre Infancia, and how a few of my blog readers have already improved the lives of some of the very children appearing in this story of which we all play a part.

Part 2 is just a bus-ride away and coming soon.