Newburyport Youth Council: Day 1 with Safe Passage

Today we started our day learning more about safe passage and Hanley denning who started the org by selling her belongings and wanted to help. From there we were given a tour of zones 3 and 7. These are considered the red zones in Guatemala City and house the dump and graveyard. Red zones are not policed by the city because they have been deemed too violent. We did see trucks with armed military drive through a few times. The graveyard is massive and is made up of family and "apartment" style mosoleums. The difference between wealthy and poor is very clear. From the graveyard you can look down on the dump.

The group was very quiet as we stood on the top of a cliff, the odors very strong and vultures ( lots of vultures) circling overhead. Watching the trucks come in, dump and the many people working sorting through the garbage. The people are hard working and proud. It is just hard to watch knowing how unhealthy the conditions are.

From there the day changed tune as we were given a tour of the escuelita, met with the sports coordinators and played a new game. We then met with the head of tutoring services and one of the social workers. Lunch in the cafeteria was very good

After lunch the real fun began. We spent a few hours doing out tie dye project with 30 3rd graders! The NYS crew was great and tried hard to use their Spanish. It was really fun at the end when they got to teach the group of kids how to play "fishy, fishy cross my ocean".