In Guatemala, liberation comes through a camera lens
Ex-Reuters photographer lifts kids 'Out of the Dump
"Dancing in Our Alley" by Rosa, one of Nancy McGirr's students, depicts life in Guatemala City's sprawling municipal dump.
by MICHAEL J. MISHAK
When ex-Reuters photographer Nancy McGirr took a break from covering the carnage of war-torn Latin America in the late 1980s, she never expected to stay there. But after 14 years of building a program to educate the region’s children, she’s home.
On a fundraising junket, Nancy McGirr, who lives in Guatemala year-round, shared her story with an audience of about 40 at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Aug. 2.
A group of six from St. Martin's visited Guatemala earlier this summer as part of an outreach program with three sister parishes. Touring the country, the group spent a day with McGirr and her students, ultimately inviting her to Chestnut Hill, said Betsy Masters, who organized this month's event.
Dangerous work
McGirr's introduction to Central America came in the late 1970s, when, as a young freelance photojournalist, she rented a house in El Salvador, only to discover it was located next to one of the country's many body dumps.
Social and political unrest in the country was coming to a head and would soon explode into civil war. "I had no historical context for what was going on at the time," McGirr said.
Later, while living in San Francisco, McGirr was drawn to the flood of refugees entering the United States during the Sanctuary Movement. But, since the refugees were being harbored illegally by a network of churches, "no one wanted to be photographed," she said.
McGirr returned to Central America in 1983 to cover Honduras, which served as a base of operations for the U.S.-backed Contra rebels seeking to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
She soon landed a gig with the Reuters wire service, documenting the bloody civil strife in El Salvador, where so-called "death squads," working in conjunction with army and security forces, murdered huge numbers of civilians. "Everything I sent out, they used," she said. "I could define the news."
The work, which took her to the many war-torn countries in the region, posed substantial risks. In Guatemala alone, 48 journalists were murdered between 1978 and 1985, in addition to many others who were kidnapped and threatened, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
One international human rights group at the time described the country's climate as one of “constant, overt political terror” in which entire villages were massacred, atrocities that McGirr said she witnessed on several occasions.
In 1989, three Salvadorian colleagues were gunned down, shot off their motorcycles by the army at a military checkpoint. For McGirr, the murders were a breaking point. Beset by anger and exhaustion, she left El Salvador for Guatemala, a country in the grips of its own civil war.
A new chapter
On assignment for an Australian magazine, McGirr discovered an impoverished community of some 3,000 people living in Guatemala City's sprawling, mountainous municipal dump. About half its population were children, many of whom were heavy drug users.
Persuaded by a group of religious social workers to help out with classes in the dump, McGirr began teaching photography to a group of six children in 1991. "The kids were fascinated with my cameras," she said. What began as a six-month sojourn quickly turned into a permanent residence and a new calling.
Initially, she paid out of pocket to print her students' work. Within three months, the photos had caught the attention of executives at Konica, which in turn donated cameras and film. Out of the Dump, later renamed Fotokids, was born.
"I never thought that would happen," McGirr said. "At first, it was about getting involved with others instead of moping. But the project really healed me."
In its 14-year existence, the program has served more than 100 children from Guatemala and expanded to six different communities, including one in Honduras.
Graphic design and video production are now part of the Fotokids roster.
Despite having their work exhibited internationally, many Fotokids graduates remain in their barrios, serving as teachers and mentors to the younger generation, McGirr said. The program now offers classes to the public.
"We use photography as a tool," McGirr said. "It opens the door to show them that if they can dream it, they can do it." Scholarships allow students to continue an education that would otherwise remain out of reach.
Eight of McGirr's students are currently attending university, she said, a remarkable achievement considering that 64 percent of Guatemalan children drop out of first grade. More than half the population lives in poverty, making the equivalent of $2 per day.
Fotokids has helped make a dent in the education problem. "At first, almost no one went to school," she said, noting that few parents could afford to buy their children the requisite books and uniforms. After turning a small profit from selling postcards and photos, McGirr's inaugural class petitioned their teacher to send them to school.
But for most Guatemalan youth, life remains an uphill battle. While the country's 36-year civil war came to an end in 1996, the emerging democracy has faltered, limping through several corrupt administrations. Last month, the state’s attorneys sought the extradition of former President Alfonso Portillo from Mexico on charges he embezzled $15.7 million.
While significant challenges remain, McGirr hopes to foster change through the region's youth, one photograph at a time.
For more information visit www.fotokids.org
