Safe Passage:
Safe Passage works with the poorest at-risk children of families working in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Within a safe and caring environment, they provide a comprehensive and integrated program that fosters hope, good health, educational achievement, self-sufficiency, self esteem and confidence.

Their primary focus is on creating opportunities and dignity through the power of education.


Manos de Madre:
The Municipal Garbage dump in Guatemala City is the largest dump in central America. It supports a community of 50,000, whose lives are inextricably tied to the dump. The dump feeds families, where over three thousand Guatemalans recycle the trash for one to three dollars a day. They call themselves “guajeros”. The dump is everywhere. The neighborhoods surrounding the municipal garbage dump are built on old dump. The smell is inescapable. The trash is inescapable. Reaching heights of 85 meters, it is a tower of symbolism that represents the struggle this community faces. While it is the epicenter, the blast zone of our story, it is not our story.

Irina, single mother of 5 children and 2 grandchildren, is raising her family here. She is fighting for her family. Her weathered hands and feet are the dump. They are the 60 year civil war that tore her country apart. They are both the redemption and curse of a beautiful nation. Travel with us to an unseen world. Journey into the heart of a mother in one of the most dramatic places on Earth.