A Long Way from the Dump
I am the oldest of five children, and from the time I was little I learned to look for toys and food in Guatemala City’s sprawling garbage dump. My grandmother raised pigs, and I had to be in…
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Theme: Children and Youth
The Sound of Garbage
English + Español
The recyclers in Cateura, Asunción’s municipal garbage dump, live from the trash and, in many cases, among the trash. The fetid odor carried along by the…
Making a Difference: Building Blocks
Since the first, unplanned visit of a Brazilian entrepreneur in 2011 to Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, a diverse group of professors, practitioners, civil society leaders and other committed individuals at Harvard and in Brazil have…
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Making a Difference: A Look at Microfinance
I spent ten months working for Natik, a small non-profit organization that supports grassroots organizations around San Cristóbal de las Casas and Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. One of these projects is a microfinance fund called Veredas…
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Adiós Niño: The Gangs of Guatemala City and the Politics of Death
The phenomenon of maras (gangs) has become prevalent and pervasive in Guatemala. As one example, during a Kaqchikel Maya language and culture course I co-directed in 2013, one native speaker drew an image of the devil with M-18 written…
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