In impoverished, war-torn Guatemala, county locals try to make a difference

Sutherland brothers encourage volunteers for trip next fall
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
“Study is not the goal, DOING is.
Do not mistake ‘talk’ for action.
Pity fills no stomach.
Compassion builds no house.
Understanding is not yet justice.”
— Rabbi Pirke Avot
Part one in a two-part series on locals doing humanitarian work in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY — The shantytowns of humble tin shacks now stretch as far as the eye can see on the outskirts of this destitute and gritty Central American capital. The residents are hard-luck Mayan Indians and mixed-blood Ladinos who fled their native villages in the western highlands during the height of the civil war massacres in the 1980’s for the anonymity of la ciudad. The stories they share with each other are ones of loss, and terror, and fear of returning. They are terminal refugees. Yet they know they are better off than some.

For in Guatemala City’s garbage dump, thousands of people live and try to make every day lead to the next. They wander from heap to heap of trash, looking for tortillas or beans, or even meat that a rich family in Zona 10 may have thrown out. The father, if there is one, often wanders off for days to get drunk on high-octane and cheap Agua Diente firewater, while the mother leaves her infant in an old car tire with a piece of plywood over its head to keep out the sun’s burning rays while she looks for bags of glue she can sniff to dull the pain of hunger.
Though impossible for wealthy Americans like us to fathom, this story repeats itself every day here — every single day.
To combat this, Hanley Denning, a 1992 graduate of Bowdoin College and native of Maine, has established Safe Passage (Camino Seguro), a community of local and foreign volunteers, sponsors and a small Guatemalan staff working to provide hope and assistance to the children of families living in Guatemala City’s garbage dump. Safe Passage has about 40 employees, 25 of which are social workers. It also runs two orphanages and schools, but can only house up to 50 kids at one time — all on a budget of approximately $30,000 a month
Among those who have traveled to Central America to help Safe Passage are Traverse City-resident and financial consultant Paul Sutherland, and more recently his brother Mike, a building contractor who lives on the Crystal River in Glen Arbor. A huge proponent of philanthropy, Paul was wary of talking too much about himself when I interviewed him for this article, since Denning, who will visit northern Michigan in early June, deserves the lion’s share of the credit. Needless to say, the work has only begun.
Paul carries the above quote from Rabbi Pirke Avot in his wallet at all times, and refers to it religiously. “I mean, you could donate money for a new stained glass window in a church in the United States, but putting a roof over someone’s head down there means a lot more,” he says.
Putting roofs over people’s heads is just what his brother Mike hopes to do this coming fall if he can round up a trip of volunteers. “Hanley wants me to build a shelter in the dump where mothers can drop their babies off so they won’t have to leave them in abandoned tires,” Mike says.
Though he has traveled to more than 40 different countries and didn’t think that anything could surprise him, Mike admits he wasn’t at all prepared for what he witnessed at the garbage dump in Guatemala City. Over breakfast at Art’s Tavern earlier this month, he revealed that he sometimes wakes up at night, haunted, with the image of Astrid, a five-year-old girl he held in his arms for an hour. “She wouldn’t let me go,” he remembers. “She was hanging on for dear life.
“I didn’t want to admit to myself that this kind of poverty exists for some people. The Dali Lama says that people don’t really want to realize the extremity of it even though they say they want to help the world. ‘Where do you begin?’ they ask.
“’Start anywhere!’” he answers.
“As for me,” Mike summarizes, “I love to travel. I was blown away by the Guatemalan food; the culture; the people. So Guatemala was the perfect place for me to being.”
If you would like to join Mike Sutherland this fall on his trip to build shelters for the children living in Guatemala City’s garbage dump, he can be reached at 883-7890. Lodging in Guatemala will be provided. The cost of the flight, and food while there, are not included.
Glen Lake alum Liz Martin’s story about volunteering in a Mayan clinic in the jungle in eastern Guatemala will appear in the June 16 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun