Northern Michiganders give Guatemalan children a Safe Passage

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
GUATEMALA CITY — The children’s Christmas pageant at Safe Passage, near the dump in this gritty urban hell, resembled similar pageants all across the United States last December. Kids dressed up in costumes made of brown crate paper or wings made out of yarn string, and danced in front of their proud mothers. They were what they deserved to be — children.
Safe Passage (Camino Seguro in Spanish), now one of the most successful, non-governmental children’s aid organizations in Central America, offers a way for children who all but grow up scavenging for food alongside vultures in the garbage dump to return to school while not worrying about the source of their next meal, and eventually work toward economic self-sufficiency for them and their families.

Over the last year a handful of northern Michigan philanthropists have formed the Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage, a local chapter devoted to helping the efforts in Guatemala City and nearby Antigua, and nearly 20 members of our community have traveled to Guatemala to witness the poverty there and learn about the programs that now offer hope to so many children. Some took photos to help raise awareness; some sponsored children; some volunteered their labor to improve infrastructure; some gave medical services and supplies — but all brought hope to the children of Safe Passage. And these northern Michiganders returned home even more inspired to work together as a community to support Safe Passage.
The Great Lake Friends will welcome back Safe Passage founder Hanley Denning on Wednesday, July 19 for a celebration and fundraising event at the Hagerty Conference Center in downtown Traverse City. A native of Maine, Denning spearheaded Safe Passage after she traveled to Guatemala in 1999 and felt compelled to take action when she saw families living around the city’s enormous garbage dump in Zone 3, scavenging for food or anything they could sell to survive. Children worked alongside their parents or were left unsupervised in the streets. Not in school, unable to read or write, these children faced the same bleak future endured by their parents.
Starting in a small chapel next to the dump, Denning offered a safe place for children to drop in and get a healthy meal, gradually building an innovative educational program. Today, over 500 children are served, from preschool to high school, receiving comprehensive support and tutoring as they attend school and work toward economic self-sufficiency. Safe Passage is a community of local and international volunteers and a Guatemalan staff working to provide hope and assistance to families living in the dump. State of the art facilities now provide a safe refuge where children come daily to gain the confidence and skills needed to obtain stable jobs and lead their families out of the cycle of poverty.
“One little boy (at the Christmas pageant) was mad he didn’t get a costume, so he blew his nose on someone else’s costume,” remembers Lorraine Beers, who represented a delegation from the Traverse City Rotary Club in mid-December along with her husband Mack, Jim Modrall and Amy Borer. The quartet spent four days in Guatemala, touring the project sites, the classrooms and the workshops, and trying to comprehend the horrors of growing up scavenging for food in the dump in an atmosphere of complete desperation.
In the evenings, Lorraine, Mack, Jim and Amy washed the grime off their hands and sipped Chilean red wine at Safe Passage’s cozy hotel, Lazos Fuertes, while reflecting on what they had seen and learned each day. “I’m not sure how yet, but our life has changed after this experience,” Mack reflected. “Seeing what we have causes a pain in your heart,” answered Lorraine. “But that pain wants to make you do more.”
The big question on everyone’s minds was how to convey to people back in northern Michigan the gravity of what they saw and experienced here. About 100 Traverse City Rotarians generously donated crucial supplies for the kids: everything from soccer balls, to toothpaste, to lice shampoo, and Lorraine, Mack, Jim and Amy arrived in Guatemala with 400 pounds worth of supplies in eight suitcases. “It’s great to know that those who can’t come down here will at least contribute supplies,” reflected Jim.
Great Lakes Friends provides a way for everyone to get involved, learn, and help. Michigan locals can sponsor a child or a teacher, make presentations, or collect school supplies and other needed items for people from our community to deliver when visiting Safe Passage. Students can travel to Guatemala, learn Spanish, and help those in need. And, for the hundreds of Michigan families who have adopted Guatemalan babies, Safe Passage offers a way to reconnect with their child’s roots and aid their countrymen.
The Great Lakes Friends Fiesta on July 19 will feature Guatemalan food, music by 3 Hour Tour, the Original 3rd Coast, and other local musicians, as well as a Silent Auction with Guatemalan handcrafts and an amazing array of services and items donated from local artists and businesses. The cost of admission is $25. Please call (231) 590-6072 or email safepassageglf@yahoo.com for more information.