Potter's House

On Wednesday, January 25th, we went on a field trip to an organization in Guatemala City called Potter's House. Potter's House works in and with the people who work in Guatemala City Dump, the people who are so caught up in the poverty cycle that they scrounge around through the trash to try to find something they can sell for a few quetzales. The trip started off as most do, with a short presentation that showed the work Potter's House does, and told the story of a few of the people, dubbed "Treasures" by Potter's House, who work in the dump.

Potter's House has five programs they run: Personal Development, Education, Healthcare, Micro-Enterprise, and Community Support. These programs have been developed over the past twenty five years to be as effective as they can be in their fields, to give aid to the Treasures, to teach them self value, how to care for themselves and their families, and even how to work toward a better future. All of the programs are designed to build up the Treasures to learn to not be dependent on organizations like Potter's House, but to teach them how they can better manage with the support of people who care.

Potter's House provide a range of things for the Treasures vary from training leaders, after school programs for children and parenting classes for parents who work in the dump, access to medical clinics, doctors and prescriptions at a reduced price to make it more affordable to the treasures, business training and small loans for Treasures wishing to start their own business, house building projects, nutrition programs and distribution of basic food, clothing, shoes and other necessities. By providing these to the Treasures, it enables the Treasures to learn how to better care for themselves, their families, and to have a better chance of one day escaping the harsh poverty cycle that clings to most of the majority world.

After the presentation, we went to the local cemetery, which overlooks the dump. This made everything we had learned sink in really deep. The mausoleums neatest the gorge that contained the dump were weathered, broken and neglected, a sharp contrast to the tombs and mausoleums near the front and middle of the cemetery. Nearing the edge of the gorge, there were vultures everywhere; and I mean everywhere. They were perched in the trees, on the mausoleums, on the ground. Clouds of them soared through the sky, diving deep to harass the people who were hard at work sifting through the garbage, hoping to find something they could sell to provide food and clothing for their family. Hundreds of feet about the dump, the stench of the rotting trash was still overwhelming; I could only imagine how bad it would be in the dump itself. There are approximately 1100 people who work in the Guatemala City Dump everyday, risking their health to sort through mountains of garbage while trying to avoid the dump trucks that paid no heed to them.

That sight tore at my heart, knowing that this is how thousands of people are the world live, and that this wasn't even the worst of it. I did find some comfort in the work that Potter's House does, though, because one of the girls we met who works at Potter's House grew up in the dump, went through the programs offered by Potter's House and now is doing much better, living an all around healthier life and helping others find the same.