Advent 2021: Meet a New Partner in Guatemala
We invite you to the Guatemala City dumpsite anytime during Advent to bear witness to the magic, power, and joy this season has to offer for everyone, rich and poor alike! – The Rev. Dana Craft
Guatemala City
This last week of Advent, we want to introduce you to a new ARDF partner.
Children participate in the churches programs under the cover of metal sheeting. A new ARDF project will build a permanent structure.
In Guatemala, Anglican Chaplain, the Rev. Dana Craft and his wife, Damaris, minister to hundreds of children and their families who live on the edge of a large landfill in Guatemala City. Eight years ago, they founded Cristo Mi Redentor church in Zone 3 (at the dumpsite). The church operates numerous programs to support the community, from church services and bible studies, to feeding programs, tutoring, and medical support.
The Guatemala City dump community is possibly the most dangerous place in all of Guatemala. Nearly everyone living there has a direct link through family or neighbors to organized gang activities. The gangs are notorious for kidnappings – and worse. Everyone has experienced some sort of trauma. It is a dark place to live and hope can be hard to find.
We asked Rev. Dana where he sees the light of Christ breaking through into the darkness this Advent.
“There exists a certain type of unique poetry wrapped up in the planting of our beautiful Anglican tradition among the grimy grays and dirty browns of the Guatemala City dumpsite, where a blanket of dark red mud and dirt covers everything. For our families living within the dumpsite, this is their Guatemalan-version of snow. Instead of a mall Santa collecting loose coins for the Salvation Army, we have homeless on the street corners and petty thieves in the shadows.
But something miraculous has occurred. This joyous Christmas spirit has made its home among our parishioners. Once, this festive time of honoring the birth of our Redeemer was seen as only another day to descend into the giant chasm slowly filling with trash. Today, makeshift lights and handmade decorations are hung. Even presents are wrapped in used newspaper or decorative table napkins. And tortillas and tamales are thankfully prepared for all. Families put aside squabbles and disputes of every kind and hugs are shared and toasts raised with cups of Atol.”
We first met Rev. Dana after Hurricane Ida pummeled central America and we were looking for a partner in Guatemala. Rev. Dana, Damaris, and others associated with the Anglican Church of Guatemala were traveling to Coban, one of the areas hardest hit by the Hurricane, to deliver much-needed relief supplies. This relationship based on a relief project has now grown to a partnership to strengthen the programs of the church by the landfill.
The 2022 project will build a community center so that all of the programs currently being offered can move into a protected space. Currently, these are held outdoors, under the cover of metal roof sheeting.
The church is located near the entrance to the landfill. Rev. Dana and his team envision a building that all the residents will pass by on their way into the dumpsite to scavenge. Eventually, the expanded programming in the community center will offer a safe place for residents to leave their children during the day while they scavenge, as well as a tangible reminder (through a cross on the building) that Christ is present in their current circumstances, even if they do not recognize Him!
Rev. Dana’s vision is to strengthen those in the community with skills - and a faith - that will eventually take them away from this community, to a self-sustainable life outside of the landfill. Each of the programs offered by the church has this goal.
We invite you to the Guatemala City dumpsite anytime during Advent to bear witness to the magic, power, and joy this season has to offer for everyone, rich and poor alike! – Dana
And so, you are invited into this vision from the comfort of your Advent circumstances in North America. Please consider supporting this project with your prayers and your finances.
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