los guajeros en guatemala - wordpress.com · buscan cosas para reciclar cosas para vender y cosas...

Los Guajeros en GuatemalaGrade 4--Inquiry

What do you know about garbage dumps?They’re nasty

They smell bad

They’re big

Produce bad chemicals

All different types of garbage

Incinerator

How does a garbage dump & recycling work in the US?We have to sort it into bins

Garbage truck, recycling, compost, yard waste trucks take it away separately; they go to

separate places in the same place.

You need to know what is what so we can sort it.

If I put recycling into garbage, it gets sorted there.

You can get fined, if you sort it wrong.

In 7 years we’ll run out of room.

¿Cuántas personas trabajan en el basurero?

Aproximadamente: 7000 personas 1000 niños

¿Qué hacen los guajeros?

Buscan cosas para reciclar cosas para vender y

cosas que pueden usar.

¿Cuánto dinero ganan los guajeros?

Con suerte, pueden ganar 40 quetzales cada día.

Cuarenta quetzales = $5

What are benefits of people working in el basurero?They could find something worth a lot of money.

They could find things for their home or family.

They help recycle items that would otherwise fill up the dump.

They have their kids with them and they don’t have to do super dangerous things.

They earn money for themselves and their family.

What are drawbacks of people working in el basurero?People could get hurt or die/ it’s dangerous

It’s dirty and unsanitary.

They only get $5.

There could be conflict.

Children work there.

They might not find anything and then won’t make money.

What do you think should change? How?They should get paid more.

It should be safer, with more safeguards, uniforms, etc. (protective gear)

Running water, etc. should be installed.

They should have an area for children.

Make sure kids don’t work there.

Safe shoes, check for toxic chemicals.

Write a letter to the Guatemalan government in Spanish.

Escuela para los hijos de guajerosHanley Denning, a college student from the United

States, visited Guatemala in 1997 to learn Spanish.

She was struck by the difficult reality for the

families and children who worked in el basurero.

She sold her car and her computer and started a

school called “Camino Seguro” so that children

who couldn’t afford the fees for public school

could further their education for free while their

parents worked. Her hope was the education

would be a bridge out of el basurero.

Usando la basura para construir una escuelaAnother approach to improving education

and reducing garbage in Guatemala is

building schools out of garbage itself. The

group, Hug it Forward, provides the

expertise and plans and the community--

including the kids--then build their own

school out of plastic bottles stuffed with

plastic bags (for insulation.)