Q&A: Charlie Thomas, Former Volunteer with Project Safe Passage in Guatemala

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thomasCharlie Thomas will introduce the short documentary Recycled Life for its screening April 20 as part of the Cine HoLa film series. The film tells the story of the life and indomitable spirit of thousands who lived and worked in Guatemala City’s toxic garbage dump. This version includes a tribute to Hanley Denning, who founded a school for children of trash pickers, was featured in the film, and who died in an accident before its release. Thomas worked with Denning for two years, including the time when the film was made.

Why should people see this film?
For one thing, it is exceptionally well done and was nominated for an Oscar as Best Short Documentary in 2007. It contains interwoven themes of ecology, poverty, family, and social justice. It’s difficult to watch this film and not leave with a different perspective on your own existence.

Why were you in Guatemala in 2006, when they made this film?
I knew at some point in my life I wanted to work on issues of poverty and education under Third World conditions. I also wanted to improve my foreign language abilities and have more contact with Native American cultures. I chose Project Safe Passage/Proyecto Camino Seguro because it had all that. It is mainly a school for kids whose parents were trash pickers at the dump filmed in Recycled Life.

I first went down there as a volunteer, basically a teacher’s assistant. After I’d been there two months, Safe Passage founder Hanley Denning asked me if I would become the coordinator of volunteers, which I did in 2005 and 2006, while the documentary was being filmed. We usually had between 10 and 20 volunteers. I helped them get acclimated to Guatemala and find housing, and mainly gave them assignments, tasks that would suit their skills and talents. I also interacted with the kids, constantly. 

What do you remember about the dump?
It’s surrounded by Guatemala City and is the largest landfill in Central America. It’s easy to know when you are getting close because you can smell it, and buzzards are circling all above. What you see when you get there is a huge ravine with trucks going in and out, unloading tons and tons of garbage. Hundreds of people are in there sorting through the trash, many wearing bandannas over their faces because of the stench, and mostly putting what they want in large plastic bags. The buzzards are right in there with the people, and that’s the image that stays with me. This mass of humanity competing with buzzards to live.

People live in the dump?
There’s a community that’s grown up around the dump, and many live in hovels constructed from whatever they find. Beyond that, they live on what they can find to eat, use, or sell. The main source of cash, though, is from recyclables they find in the trash. They can sell them on site for cash on to trucks that come by to pick it up. A good day’s work will yield about $6-$8 that way.

Are you able to forget what it was like—would you want to?
No. Working for Safe Passage is one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done. The spirit of these people was basically unbroken. They worked very, very hard as trash pickers and there was an element of pride they carried with that. They weren’t beggars, or criminals. As for the kids, they didn’t ask for much. If they weren’t hungry, they were happy.

What was it like to be around Hanley?
Hanley showed some of the purest acts of selfless devotion I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve never seen a complete saint and don’t expect to, but she was about the closest I can imagine. What she did initially on her own and with few resources was phenomenal. Safe Passage was not founded as a faith-based organization, but the locals called her “Angel del Basurero” or “Angel of the Garbage Dump.” I know she would take joy and satisfaction knowing her work is now well-established and will outlive her. I think she already knew that before she died.

The film had already been completed, and then she was killed before it came out. They added a 15-minute tribute to Hanley and attached that to the DVD. The reason I’m showing that tribute is because the content is very good—it’s not just a memorial, it shows interviews with her and tells more about what Safe Passage did. It adds a lot, which is appropriate for Hanley. She was focused on results and she wouldn’t want people to sit around and grieve if instead they could be getting stuff done.

Did this experience have an impact on your view of recycling in Knoxville?
Statistics were showing that the percentage of material recycled by the trash pickers in Guatemala City was higher than that in any city in the U.S. When I was on City Council there was a strong push in 2011 to implement a curbside recycling system. It was conceived and designed by inspired city employees, but I was happy to actively support it and help vote it in.

Do you have any other messages for those who might see the film?
I’d like to emphasize that you don’t have to leave the country to do this type of work. We’ve got homeless and people eating out of garbage cans and literacy problems here. I went to Guatemala to do this, but there’s plenty right here in Tennessee to keep us all busy.

Recycled Life screens on Monday, April 20 at the Black Box Theatre in the Emporium (100 S. Gay St.). Doors open at 6:30 p.m., movie starts at 7 p.m. Free for members, donations accepted from non-members.

Rose Kennedy came to Knoxville to work as an editorial assistant on 13-30’s Retail Appliance Management Series and never saw a reason to leave. Her “so uncool I’m cool” career among the alt weekly newspaper crowd has led to award-winning articles on Dr. Bill Bass and the Body Farm and cyber-bullying at West High School, and treasonous food columns about preferring unsweet tea and feeling ambivalent about biscuits.

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