Prevention & Rescue

Today we headed out with the Prevention & Rescue team from El Castillo, back to the market area near the bus station. Remember the dump we went to on Monday – back there! You know how it is when you are on vacation and you go back somewhere again 3 days later because you enjoyed it so much?

First of all we went into the stalls behind the market place. We waited in a junction of market stalls whilst the team went to see if there were any children around. Soon the children started to gather, and then the team played games with them, shared a bible story using a jigsaw puzzle and gave out biscuits and flavoured milk drinks. These children lived in the tin shacks behind the market stall and were dirty and unkempt; some of them wore traditional Mayan dress.

I was intrigued to observe one woman who lived on the stall next to where we met with all the children. Imagine a shack the size of our kitchen back in MK; well that was where she lived with her 6 children, the youngest of which was about a year old. It was black with smoke from the charcoal fire which she had in the shack, and her existence reminded me of our camping weekends where we made do with very little, only much dirtier and more basic. She also had a small kitten and a chicken running round her shack. I cannot begin to imagine what her life must be like. Engaging her in conversation we discovered that she came from a rural part of Guatemala and spoke an indigenous language, saying that she had moved to the city to give her children a better life.

We then walked to another part of the market where the team engaged in the same activities with another group of children. Thankfully we met with this group at the entrance to the rubbish tip, and not actually on the tip, but the stench was still there, and the dangers.

Walking through the market we were assaulted by many different sights and smells. Some of them were very pleasant – fresh flowers ready to be sold in high class florists, lovely fresh fruit which really did look good enough to eat, avocados, coconuts, tomatoes and other exotic fruit and vegetables which we did not recognise. There were men whose arms and faces were black with the charcoal they were selling, and the smell of rotting fruit and urine as we passed some parts of the market.

We moved on and stopped at a more enclosed space where the market stalls were mainly selling western clothing, which seemed deserted but soon about 10 children had gathered, and a similar programme was repeated by the Prevention & Rescue team. It was great to hear from the team that many children were not here because they were in school, as one of the aims of the team is to meet with the parents and encourage them to send their children to school.

This afternoon we headed off to meet a young man who had recently left El Castillo to begin an independent life as he had turned 18. It was good to hear about his hopes and dreams for his future – to continue his studies and become an engineer. He proudly showed us his grade cards, which had averages over 70%, and it was clear that he was diligent and hard working; his notebooks were extremely neat and tidy. Here was a creative young man too, who enjoyed drawing and being part of the dance group in his church. I pray that this quiet and friendly young man achieves his dreams, though the odds still seem stacked against him as he tries to study and aim for a better life.