Out of the Dump

A compilation of poems with photographs by children who live in the municipal dump in Guatemala City.

Grade 3 Up?Nancy McGirr initiated a project to provide a group of children living in a Guatemala City garbage dump with cameras and encouragement; this book consists of examples of their photographs and essays. The poignant black-and-white photos clearly depict the abject poverty that surrounds these young people. Through their words and pictures, readers learn about their family life, neighbors, daily struggles, and cultural superstitions. Themes of aspirations for a better future fill their narratives. The book tells a story of hope, courage, and empowerment. The photos are exceptional, and the depth and range of emotion expressed in the writing will leave a lasting impression. Both children and adults will find this title refreshing in its honesty and insight, although of course it includes no guarantees of happy endings.?Maria Redburn, Irving Public Library, TX
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Photographer McGirr's introductory note presents a sobering account of the plight of the hundreds of poor children in Guatemala City who spend days scavenging through the city's central garbage dump, searching for items to recycle or resell. In 1991, as she was photographing such children, she noticed that they were fascinated with her camera. With Konica Japan as corporate sponsor, McGirr launched the Out of the Dump project, which provides children with cameras, film, notebooks and shoes, encourages them to photograph their world and mandates that they attend school. Under Franklin's direction, the participants also began describing their lives in prose and poetry. While the quality of the writings reproduced here varies, the children's often impressively composed black-and-white photos convey uncanny insight. The hard-hitting pictures pay resonant tribute to the clearly worthwhile efforts of McGirr and Franklin. Proceeds from the book will benefit the Out of the Dump photography project. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4^-8. At the center of Guatemala City is a garbage dump that is home to about 1,500 people, the majority of them children. The families struggle to survive by scavenging the dump for items to resell or food to eat. Children are expected to help with this work, often at the expense of their schooling. In 1991, photographer McGirr gave cameras to a number of these children and encouraged them to photograph their world. The results are found in this remarkable book. Large, frequently powerful black-and-white photographs are accompanied by the children's unsparing descriptions of their lives in poetry and prose. The photographs are largely portraits of family, friends, neighbors, and animals engaged in the business of daily life. The subjects' human dignity and the normality of their actions contrast sharply with the extraordinary wretchedness of their surroundings. The writings range in topic from childhood universals (sibling rivalry, love of pets, the smells of home) to the problems common to poverty (family violence, alcoholism, unemployment). A few concerns are specific to the children's culture, such as their fascination with the evil eye. The children express fear, anger, and sadness at their situation but never self-pity. Most common is a matter-of-fact realism that is sometimes breathtaking: "People find many things in the dump. They find shoes, clothing, gold and silver, dresses, earrings, rings, bracelets, dead bodies, and strangled children." Yet not all the entries are negative: there are love, hope, and joy in these pages as well. Nonetheless, this is not a book for young readers to handle alone. Adults will want to be near to explain how these conditions arise. Where they will get the answers is another question. Leone McDermott