Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and lots of mud, bamboo, and corrugated tin buildings. As we approached
the ridge overlooking the main dump, I started thinking that this really
wasn't all that awful.
h en we entered a kind of living hell. We'd heard of the people living of
garbage dumps, and now we were in for a i rsthand look: huge bulldozers, cir-
cling black birds, and a literal mountain of garbage ten stories high with people
picking through it. It was a vast urban fruit rind covered with human l ies.
A policeman with a machine gun kept the people away from one half
of the garbage mountain. h at was where aid items that the government
i gured would cost them too much to disperse were being buried under the
garbage. About thirty people gathered. Our guide said they were waiting for
the guard to leave. I couldn't believe him. h en the guard left, and all thirty
scavengers broke into a run and dashed into the best part of the dump. h
e
smell was sweet and sickening.
Overwhelmed by the uncomfortable realities I was confronted with, I
retreated to a strip mall in a wealthy part of town. I was just settling into a
nice, peaceful, comforting latte, like I get each morning back home, when a US
military helicopter surged over the horizon. It hovered above for a moment
and then clumsily landed. A jolly Santa Claus hopped out to the delight of
the children wealthy enough to have moms shopping here.
Looking at those kids and thinking of their dump-dwelling cousins, I
realized that, even if you're motivated only by greed, if you know what's good
for you, you don't want to be i lthy rich in
a desperately poor world. I've seen it here
in Central America, where the wealthy
Painted clay fi gurines featuring a bloody,
slain peasant (the “Christ fi gure”) at the
feet of two camoufl aged, US-equipped-
and-funded soldiers (considered “the new
centurions,” tools of empire) fi lled Central
American Christmas markets during my
visit. During the heat of the Civil War, poor
Salvadoran children scooted these gory trios
into their manger scenes along with Mary,
Joseph, and the shepherds. They are a
vivid Liberation Theology reminder of
Roman Empire/American Empire parallels
and how Christ knows their struggles. I
keep this statue—my favorite souvenir from
that trip—on a prominent shelf in my oi ce.
