The Guatemalan Poor and its Garbage Dump Education System
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The Guatemalan Poor and its Garbage Dump Education System... http://www.coha.org/the-poor-and-their-struggling-education-sy...
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
COHA is an NGO specialized in monitoring Latin American and Canadian Relations for more than 30 years…
The Guatemalan Poor and its Garbage Dump
Education System
Email This Post
August 4, 2009
This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Gretchen Knoth
Guatemala City’s Ugly Realities
The Guatemala City garbage dump, situated in a ravine, occupies 40 acres of land in the nation’s capital.
Guatemala is the most populated nation in Central America, with more than 13 million residents. This landfill, one
of the largest and most toxic in Central America, houses over a third of the country’s waste, including trash,
recyclables, and discarded food items. There are few, if any, health and safety restrictions limiting the items that
can be disposed of in the dump. Medical supplies, including used syringes, toxins emitted from discarded gas
tanks, as well as other biohazardous materials contribute to the dangers of the landfill. Human and animal corpses
deteriorate amid the waste, exacerbating already poor sanitation conditions.
The margins of the landfill are so heavily populated that they are considered a municipality of the city. Reportedly,
30,000 squatters reside along the perimeter of the garbage dump. It is permissible to erect temporary houses or
structures bordering the landfill because the ravine and surrounding properties are public land open to all.
Approximately 4,000 men, women, and children live within the squatting communities, scavenging in the dump
for personal items, including that which can be used for housing and served up as food, as well as sought after for
re-sale on the open market. Those who are unable to find space in the margins of the landfill are considered lucky
if they can find a few square feet within its borders and among the fetid trash.
However, after methane gas emitted from the compost ignited a fire in 2005, the city decided to erect a wall
encircling the ravine and imposed restrictions on entry into the dump. Other dangers threaten the safety of the
workers in the dump, including landslides, which are prevalent during Guatemala’s annual rainy season. 8 adults
and 2 children were killed in June 2008, after scavenging in a “high-risk” zone notorious for its landslides.
Accidents from collisions with garbage trucks and injuries resulting from broken glass and other hazardous items
have also often proved fatal. Following these tragic events, authorities distributed identification cards to those
who were authorized to work in the landfill, imposed opening and closing times for the entrance gates, and
prohibited any child from entering. While both necessary and beneficial, the restrictions displaced families
residing in the garbage dump and left them with few choices as to where else one might live.
The Effects of a Violent Civil War
According to the International Development Exchange, the population of Guatemala City, the largest city in
Central America and the capital of the country, is reportedly over 3 million people. Staggeringly, over 40 percent
of Guatemala City’s residents live in slums, similar to those bordering the landfill. The severe poverty and harsh
economic disparity afflicting Guatemala City resulted from the civil war, lasting 36 years from 1960 until 1996.
For most of this period, the conflict was fought between the Guatemalan government and the Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), a guerrilla group representing the interests of many native Mayans, who
opposed the state’s repossession of land occupied by indigenous communities. The conflict had devastating effects
of approximately 200,000 casualties. The signing of the Peace Accords in 1996, both mediated and implemented
by the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA), ended the conflict.
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The civil war, primarily fought in rural regions of Guatemala, forced the migration of many families from the
highlands of Guatemala to urban centers, including the neighborhoods adjacent to the landfill. There are
reportedly 250,000 internally displaced Guatemalans as a result of the civil war. The Guatemalan government has
failed to return property formerly owned by refugees and to provide support for their resettlement following the
signing of the Peace Accords. If they had done so, large-scale migration and the creation of large squatting
communities could have been less dramatic in scope.
Many of the men, women, and children subsisting on profits from the landfill were disconnected from all known
living family members due to the deaths, disappearances and refugee crises resulting from the domestic conflict.
Currently, 40 percent of the families living in the squatting community surrounding the dump are single parent
households, headed by women. Children often work instead of attending school in order to contribute to their
family’s income. Some orphaned children lost virtually all family members as a result of the extensive casualties of
the bitter conflict. These impoverished orphans must provide for themselves, and in many cases, younger siblings
as well, which poses a significant barrier toward obtaining an education.
Road Blocks to Education
As agricultural jobs account for half of the labor force, those living in developed urban areas, such as Guatemala
City, are disadvantaged in finding employment. The employment opportunities in Guatemala City are primarily
offered in the service and manufacturing sectors, such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, rubber, paper, and
textiles. The inhabitants of these “shanty-towns” ―often internally displaced persons― do not have access to the
education and training required in order to occupy such jobs, or obtain better ones.
The lack of a shared language between the residents of Guatemala City and the inhabitants of the squatting
community further obstructs employment opportunities for the men and women currently working in the landfill.
60 percent of the Guatemalan population is of Mayan descent, often speaking indigenous Mayan dialects, while
the remaining 40 percent speak Spanish. Those that migrated from the highlands to the lowlands during and after
the civil war generally speak dialects of the Mayan languages. These regional linguistic variations often make them
unable to communicate with those living and working in Guatemala City where instruction and knowledge of
Spanish is necessary for employment, as Spanish is spoken exclusively. Illiteracy also impedes employment for
many Guatemalans as only 69.1 percent of the population is literate, making it the most illiterate nation in Central
America.
Floundering Education System
According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), formal education is the most
reliable and effective means “to reduce poverty and advance socioeconomic development.” USAID reports that, on
average, Guatemalan children attend only 4 years of schooling and only 3 out of 10 students graduate from sixth
grade. The Guatemalan educational system reportedly provides for only 20 percent of the country’s children, and
most public school systems cap class sizes at 50 students, excluding many children from entering such public
institutions. These graphic figures demonstrate the extensive lack of education in Guatemala and the importance
of providing schooling in order to prepare children for future employment.
The educational system in Guatemala is poorly structured and largely unsupported by the national government.
Little funding is generated for educational purposes as few citizens pay income taxes and property taxes are poorly
enforced and ill collected. The government does impose a sales tax, but it is not applied to goods sold in the
informal economy, including open air markets. Guatemala has the largest informal sector in Central America,
employing 75 percent of the “economically active population” according to the National Economic Research
Center (CIEN). The magnitude of the loss of revenue from taxes not imposed on the informal sector is
unmistakable and accounts for the lack of funding that the government is able to designate for educational
services.
The Ministry of Education is reputedly one of Guatemala’s most corrupt government agencies, as its employees
successfully embezzle funds otherwise allocated for educational purposes. The government agency also distributes
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funds irresponsibly, some of which is directed for purchasing computers, expanding classrooms, and increasing
teacher services without hiring additional teachers.
As public schools are sparsely equipped due to limited government funding and corrupt management, private
schools have been established to provide educational services in their place for those who can afford the fee.
However, the children living in the squatting communities encircling the dump cannot possibly afford the tuition
imposed by private institutions. The fees include basic tuition, and additional expenses such as books and
transportation costs, without which a private education is unattainable. A Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala
reported that “most private elementary schools (grades 1-6) cost 150-200 quetzals [Q] per month, or roughly
$20-26. Middle school, none of which are public, cost roughly 300Q (US$40) per month. High school, [from]
which less than 20 [percent] of all Guatemalans graduate, costs roughly 450Q ($60) per month.” The UN Habitat
reports that “70 percent of the population lives on less than US $2 per day, and of these, almost 30 percent of the
population of the country, and 8 percent of the urban population live on less than US $1 per day.” While the fee
mandated by private schools exceeds those of public institutions, public schools are certainly not provided free of
charge, “these children couldn’t afford the books, school supplies and enrollment fee required by the public
school.” Most families living near the Guatemala City landfill struggle to secure daily meals and sufficient shelter.
They are unable to afford non-necessities, including an education, which has come to be considered a luxury.
The poor level of education available to most Guatemalan children has implications far beyond the continuation of
squatting communities surrounding the Guatemala City garbage dump. The lack of skilled workers in Guatemala,
due to the insufficiency of the educational system, ultimately threatens investor confidence in the nation. Foreign
direct investment could decrease, despite the possible success of multilateral trade initiatives such as the Central
American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which initially increased foreign investment. All of Guatemala,
including the wealthy, stand to lose from the country’s essentially defunct education system and the resulting lack
of output of skilled labor.
Hope for Change
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have intervened in Guatemala and worked to provide educational
services to Guatemalan citizens. One in particular, Safe Passage, is a non-profit organization that offers free
schooling to the children of men and women working in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Safe Passage has
expanded to include a secondary school, pre-school, and an educational center for the children’s mothers and
fathers. The nutritional and medical services provided by the organization provide other necessary services that
are lacking in such an impoverished community. While Safe Passage and other NGOs continue to provide
outstanding assistance to those living throughout the garbage dump, the Guatemalan government must still
improve the condition of the country’s entire educational system.
Providing education to the residents of Guatemala City in order to help them gain access to greater employment
opportunities is becoming increasingly important as the garbage dump, which serves as the primary source of
livelihood for many residents of the squatting community, could potentially be closed in the coming years due to
the site’s limited capacity for additional trash. The dump generally receives 500 tons of garbage each day
according to Tierramérica. Once the landfill can no longer accommodate additional trash, the men and women
working in its environs will be rendered unemployed, with less access to food and materials for shelter.
The Guatemalan educational system must be improved if the men and women residing in the squatting
community are to have any prospect of escaping from the severe poverty and hopelessness of the Guatemala City
garbage dump. While USAID and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations, such as Safe Passage,
have contributed resources to increasing school attendance and graduation rates, more must be done by
Guatemalan authorities to prioritize the educational system on their political agendas. Increased oversight of the
Ministry of Education and its distribution of funds would help to ensure that educational services can be
efficiently provided. Government incentives encouraging children to attend school, including food stuffs and
monthly stipends, as the Brazilians have done, would increase education rates by compensating for the loss of
income resulting from their attending school. Providing alternative educational opportunities, such as trade
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schools and vocational training, would allow students to pursue a variety of useful careers without which the
children of the poor will be almost without hope.
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Comments (5) Login
Sort by: Date Rating Last Activity
Douglas Milton · 130 weeks ago -1
A group of Canadians are leaving shortly on a " Back Pack Supply Mission" All attendees are trying to assemble
approximentally 30 back packs of school supplies each to deliver to the kids at the dump.Hopefully we can deliver
around 600 back packs Every little bit helps
Reply 1 reply · active 26 weeks ago
Boom · 26 weeks ago -1
You made a fool out of me and boy youre bringing me down you made my heart melt boy i go through the floor
but rumour has it she aint got your love anymore rumour has it oooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooo
Reply
I.S. · 67 weeks ago -1
Thank you for your research and helping to bring this issue to light. International Samaritan, headquartered in Ann
Arbor, MI, has been working to help alleviate poverty in the Guatemala City Garbage Dump Community for 16
years. Working closely with the Guatemalan government, we have built a nursery, K-sixth grade school, as well as
adult training and sewing schools for the garbage dump community. We run medical missions, food programs and
build houses. We also organize volunteer service trips for people who want to go and help in this community. We
have seen some truly amazing, measurable results - students escaping a life of garbage dump squalor - through
our programs. On March 3, we will be dedicating the first 7-9 grade school for children in the Guatemala City
garbage dump community. International Samaritan is always looking for more people to get involved. Please visit
our website at www.intsamaritan.org to learn more about how you can help children living in severe poverty in the
Guatemala City garbage dump community.
Reply
Sheila · 55 weeks ago 0
This is another example of the way Capitalism treats people. These poor people are supposedly "free". Free to
starve, free to die from disease, free to see their children suffer.
I'd be willing to bet they would enthusiastically give up there freedom to live in a progressive
socialistic country like Cuba.
It would be good to see the differences between the two countries and have everyone decide where they would
4 of 5 5/16/12 10:29 AMThe Guatemalan Poor and its Garbage Dump Education System... http://www.coha.org/the-poor-and-their-struggling-education-sy...
rather live.The terrible Castros, they only lifted their people out of illiteracy and despair
Reply 1 reply · active 1 week ago
Mark Steel · 1 week ago 0
What a retard you are. I suppose you're sipping on a latte at Starbuck's on your laptop writing your lines of
witless garbage. I've been to both.
Reply
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