The center of life for Safe Passage children is the Guatemala City dump where many parents work, often earning $1 per day. Because of a large fire, children are no longer allowed to work in the dump. Adults sort through trash and sell what they can. If a child can make it to the 8th grade, or better, high school,, he or she can often make enough money to move the family away from the dump.

Twice a day, we walked to the field, El Campo. The surface is rough, packed dirt over old trash. The field where we played is no more than a quarter mile from the dump. There is a constant and strong smell of trash and exhaust. People remove the catalytic converters from their cars to get better gas mileage. That fills the city with exhaust.

One of the goals of our lacrosse efforts is to help these kids build self-esteem. We are off to a good start. Here Monica displays her t-shirt and award she earned on awards day.

As it is in the U.S., playing lacrosse was cool! These boys figured they were also.

The walk to "El Campo."

The walk to "El Campo."

As expected, face-offs lasted forever! The field is packed dirt and rocks and trash.

The girls and boys played together and equally.

Everybody hated the goggles; they were sweaty and itched and were donated by Cascade and U.S. Lacrosse. Our goals were made of sticks and old newspaper and rope.

Ben is about to bend his knees (hopefully) to show the fine points of a good ground ball.

Mynor has a lot of potential as a lacrosse player. That's clear watching him move around the field. He could be a high varsity player in the U.S. in short time.

Many boys living around the dump join a gang when they get older. Hopefully, the gang that Mynor joins will have lacrosse sticks and a coach.

Selvin caught nine out of ten of the first passes I threw to him. He was some proud!

Oscar was very quiet, but good, and very proud when he scored a few goals!

Selvin practicing his cradle.

Each child had a shirt with their name, donated by John Fay and Atlantic Sportswear. These shirts were a big deal!

Carlos Gomez (left) is new to lacrosse, but keeping the program going. He is great with kids and he needs our help!

One quarter of the whole group.

Homes on the edge of the dump. This area is the "new development."

Many lacrosse players return at the end of the day to homes like these on the edge of the dump. Some have electricity, some have water, and some have Dads. All are dark and locked and very small.

The walk to "El Campo."

"El Campo" could be dry and dusty or muddy. It is a public area perhaps a quarter mile from the dump.

Working on getting low. So, the shirts were a little big.