St. Lawrence University: University Communications

In July 2006, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Melissa Schulenberg and I traveled to Guatemala City, Guatemala to volunteer with an educational facility called Safe Passage, or Camino Seguro for children whose parents work in the city dump as scroungers. Melissa and I were astounded by the hard work and dedication the employees and volunteers have put into this mission, as the facilities were beautiful, and very well kept.

Safe Passage is not a school. The kids that Safe Passage serves attend public school as well. Safe Passage is a place where education is encouraged in an environment where children can experience a childhood.

The first day we were there, we were given a tour of the facilities, and background information about the lifestyles and problems within the families (workers and children of the workers). Children under the age of 14 are not allowed in the dump, of course, the dump is enormous, and sneaking in is very easy. So, Safe Passage attempts to pull kids out of the dump, in order to preserve their health, and help them with their education. However, when you pull kids out of the dump, you are decreasing the family's income based how much a child can collect. Therefore, Safe Passage offers monthly food bags, showers, haircuts, and family medical services based on child attendance.

Another problem is that many of these children experience abuse on a daily basis. Of course, Safe Passage cannot ultimately solve this problem, however for extreme cases, Safe Passage has a facility outside Guatemala city (in Antigua) called casa hogar. This is a year round residential school for children with extreme cases.

These children and their families live in extreme poverty. At first I felt very guilty about my American privilege, because most of these children have five or six brothers and sisters, and all share a twin-sized mattress with their mother, (and if they’re lucky enough to still have their father around) their father as well. We were given a tour of one of the nicer houses, one with actual walls, not corrugated steel. The house we saw had a dirt floor, no running water, no bathroom,(however there was a bucket in the alley behind the house) and the only food in the house was a half-full bag of corn meal.

Safe Passage is aware that they cannot conceivably save every child from this existence, however, they do believe that education is the way out of their extreme poverty. Children participate in entrance exams into the city's most prestigious high schools. Beyond this, children are also given the opportunity to be taught in a trade, such as carpentry, or hotel services, so that in the event that and academic lifestyle is not of their choosing, they can begin the process of leaving the dump, and acquiring a job.

So, these were the basic things about Safe Passage that personally impressed me. I feel that sometimes people expect to change someone's life overnight. I was incredibly impressed with Safe Passage's determination to the process of changing lives for the better, and their concession that helping people is a process, and takes a lot of time and energy.

After we were "filled in" about the situation for these children and their families, we were asked a few questions about our interests, so we could be placed in an appropriate classroom...I can’t speak Spanish, and Melissa can speak a little, so we were placed in younger classrooms so that most of our communication would be basic sentences and body language. Melissa was put into the first grade classroom, and I was placed with second graders.

I was immediately impressed with these kids. They were happy, cheerful, and welcoming to me. My duties as volunteer was to escort children to the nurse or bathroom when necessary, read to them, help them with their homework, play soccer with them, general cuddling, etc. I had a great time.

The first day we were there, we played soccer. I felt so embarrassed, here I am, a 20 year old, who has spent most of her life in sports camps, and in ski and soccer training, getting absolutely clocked on the soccer field by 6 year olds. I think I was sore for about a week. But, the kids were good sports about it, and didn’t make me feel too bad, every time I made a good pass, every one would come over and give me high-fives.

Although Safe Passage sees many volunteers, whenever a long term volunteer leaves, there is always cake. The volunteers go get a bunch of chocolate cakes for their own going-away party. So, when cutting the cakes, I noticed that the pieces were absolutely enormous. There was no way that one child could eat a piece of cake as big as their head. So, the kids got their cake, ate two bites, and wrapped the rest up. I asked one of the volunteers what was going on, and they said that they were wrapping up the cake to take to their families to share. I couldn’t believe that six-year olds would have the sense of selflessness to not eat the chocolate cake they rarely see, to share it with their family.

This experience taught me so much and really honestly changed my life. I was greatly touched by these kids, as well as all the volunteers and employees of Safe Passage, I will try to continue traveling to Guatemala to volunteer with them, and will always give them my support.

Safe Passage By Alexa Unser ’08 Bozeman, MT See the prints created by Alexa and Prof. Shulenberg, which are for sale with proceeds to benefit Safe Pasaage In July 2006, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts Melissa Schulenberg and I traveled to Guatemala City, Guatemala to volunteer with an educational facility called Safe Passage, or Camino Seguro for children whose parents work in the city dump as scroungers. Melissa and I were astounded by the hard work and dedication the employees and volunteers have put into this mission, as the facilities were beautiful, and very well kept. Safe Passage is not a school. The kids that Safe Passage serves attend public school as well. Safe Passage is a place where education is encouraged in an environment where children can experience a childhood. The first day we were there, we were given a tour of the facilities, and background information about the lifestyles and problems within the families (workers and children of the workers). Children under the age of 14 are not allowed in the dump, of course, the dump is enormous, and sneaking in is very easy. So, Safe Passage attempts to pull kids out of the dump, in order to preserve their health, and help them with their education. However, when you pull kids out of the dump, you are decreasing the family's income based how much a child can collect. Therefore, Safe Passage offers monthly food bags, showers, haircuts, and family medical services based on child attendance. Another problem is that many of these children experience abuse on a daily basis. Of course, Safe Passage cannot ultimately solve this problem, however for extreme cases, Safe Passage has a facility outside Guatemala city (in Antigua) called casa hogar. This is a year round residential school for children with extreme cases. These children and their families live in extreme poverty. At first I felt very guilty about my American privilege, because most of these children have five or six brothers and sisters, and all share a twin-sized mattress with their mother, (and if they’re lucky enough to still have their father around) their father as well. We were given a tour of one of the nicer houses, one with actual walls, not corrugated steel. The house we saw had a dirt floor, no running water, no bathroom,(however there was a bucket in the alley behind the house) and the only food in the house was a half-full bag of corn meal. Safe Passage is aware that they cannot conceivably save every child from this existence, however, they do believe that education is the way out of their extreme poverty. Children participate in entrance exams into the city's most prestigious high schools. Beyond this, children are also given the opportunity to be taught in a trade, such as carpentry, or hotel services, so that in the event that and academic lifestyle is not of their choosing, they can begin the process of leaving the dump, and acquiring a job. So, these were the basic things about Safe Passage that personally impressed me. I feel that sometimes people expect to change someone's life overnight. I was incredibly impressed with Safe Passage's determination to the process of changing lives for the better, and their concession that helping people is a process, and takes a lot of time and energy. After we were "filled in" about the situation for these children and their families, we were asked a few questions about our interests, so we could be placed in an appropriate classroom...I can’t speak Spanish, and Melissa can speak a little, so we were placed in younger classrooms so that most of our communication would be basic sentences and body language. Melissa was put into the first grade classroom, and I was placed with second graders. I was immediately impressed with these kids. They were happy, cheerful, and welcoming to me. My duties as volunteer was to escort children to the nurse or bathroom when necessary, read to them, help them with their homework, play soccer with them, general cuddling, etc. I had a great time. The first day we were there, we played soccer. I felt so embarrassed, here I am, a 20 year old, who has spent most of her life in sports camps, and in ski and soccer training, getting absolutely clocked on the soccer field by 6 year olds. I think I was sore for about a week. But, the kids were good sports about it, and didn’t make me feel too bad, every time I made a good pass, every one would come over and give me high-fives. Although Safe Passage sees many volunteers, whenever a long term volunteer leaves, there is always cake. The volunteers go get a bunch of chocolate cakes for their own going-away party. So, when cutting the cakes, I noticed that the pieces were absolutely enormous. There was no way that one child could eat a piece of cake as big as their head. So, the kids got their cake, ate two bites, and wrapped the rest up. I asked one of the volunteers what was going on, and they said that they were wrapping up the cake to take to their families to share. I couldn’t believe that six-year olds would have the sense of selflessness to not eat the chocolate cake they rarely see, to share it with their family. This experience taught me so much and really honestly changed my life. I was greatly touched by these kids, as well as all the volunteers and employees of Safe Passage, I will try to continue traveling to Guatemala to volunteer with them, and will always give them my support.
St. Lawrence University · 23 Romoda Drive · Canton, NY · 13617 · Copyright · University Communications · 315-229-5585