AMEDICAusa – Delivering the goods in Canalitos, Guatemala
Canalitos: Welcome to the “Red Zone”
The cantón of Canalitos, known in Guatemala City as Zona 24, is one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of a city already infamous for gang violence and extreme poverty. You venture there with some trepidation, and only with good reason. It is designated a “Red Zone“. Once denoting areas controlled by the insurgents during the civil war, Red Zone is now the term for particularly dangerous, crime ridden areas.
Canalitos Firefighters on scene with a 17 year old girl, victim of a gang shooting.
Emergency Services in Zona 24 are provided by the Bomberos de Canalitos. A small, very young Fire Department, their Facebook page is littered with posts of shooting victims to which they have responded. Since they have no fire engine, they run primarily out of a small “Ambulance”, a worn out Toyota mini-van. Formally the private vehicle of the Fire Chief, it is showing its age. Bucket brigades are used to control any fires. Independent of the two national Guatemalan fire organizations, they struggle for support. Asking a Quetzal (13¢ U.S.) a month, what few funds they have come in small donations from local residents.
Building a Fire Company in Canalitos
We do not do much work in Guatemala City. We have a relationship, of course, with the Bomberos Voluntarios and Bomberos Municipales, and both have their national headquarters in the capitol. But, by and large, the capitol’s fire companies, while underfunded, have more equipment and training than their rural counterparts. They protect, after all, the homes and workplaces of the country’s congress, bureaucrats and most of the nation’s wealthy.
Canalitos is different. Annexed into the city almost as an afterthought – Guatemala’s major watersource of is here – few of the city’s services are available to residents. Neither national firefighting group is really interested in investing in such a poor area. Of course, very little tax revenue comes out of the barrio, so it remains largely ignored by the government.
Enter Pablo Muralles and Angelica Garrido. Veterans of Guatemala’s Bomberos Municipales, they created a new fire department where none had existed. With the grandiose name “Asociación de Emergencias Medicas Bomberos de Canalitos” (ASEMBOC) they took on a small, run-down commercial building for their station While building the department, they recruited at-risk youth to form the core of their firefighting force. Creating an alternative to the gangs and violence is important to them.
AMEDICAusa meeting in Guatemala City with (L-R) Pablo Muralles, Angelica Garrido, and Marisol Martinez of ASEMBOC
AMEDICAusa Gets Involved
Guatemalans are a close people, even when far removed from home. Carlos Luna, a Canalitos native now living in Chicago, brought the fire department to our attention. Luna runs a large Guatemalan community group in the windy city, as well as “Marimba Luna Maya” an international youth music group. He also holds down an everyday job. Carlos is a busy guy. But he still has time to try and help out his native barrio. He contacted AMEDICAusa after hearing how we help the Guatemalan fire services, and put us in touch with Comandante Muralles. A meeting was arranged in Guatemala (to which the firefighters brought Rellenitos, one of my favorite Guatemalan foods) where we got to know the department and it’s challenges.
Of the things Bomberos de Canalitos lacks, perhaps none are so important as protective gear for the firefighters. Helmets, coats, jackets, gloves and boots are difficult to find, and very expensive in Guatemala. Even more difficult is to find them in matching colors and styles to outfit an entire fire company.It is not at all unusual to find firefighters in 1960’s era fiberglass helmets, canvas jackets and gardening gloves. ASEMBOC had some, courtesy of Carlos and the Chicago Fire department, but not nearly enough. Could AMEDICAusa help them out? We had received a great donation of black turnout coats and pants from Waldwick Volunteer Fire Department in New Jersey. An equal number of fire helmets, nearly new, came from the Huntington Volunteer First Aid Squad in Long Island, New York. Boots from Pennsylvania, gloves from North Carolina. Yeah, we can do it! But how do we get it to Guatemala? About this time, Volcán Fuego erupted in Guatemala, and AMEDICAusa was involved in the relief effort. The aftermath of the eruption brought the chapín community in Chicago together in a relief drive for the folks back home. Donations of clothes, medical supplies, food and money were being raised, and a Guatemalan-American shipping company, ServiExpress, had even donated the shipping. Carlos Luna asked if I would be interested in coming to Chicago to speak and help out at their relief event. (He also promised me the best Rellenitos north of Tikal if I would do it.) Space could be found for some fire gear he told me. Not wanting to show up empty handed, I managed to stuff enough sets of turnout gear, helmets, gloves and boots to outfit Canalitos into my little car and set out for Chicago. Chief Angelica Garrido sheds a tear while receiving an AMEDICAusa equipment donation “I may have caused a Fire Chief or two to cry during my career, but never before in happiness” – Neale Brown, AMEDICAusa Fortunately the Guatemalan community of Chicago were spared the agony of my public speaking, but we loaded A LOT of boxes that night. Enough to fill a couple of tractor trailers with donated goods. Included in that haul were our firefighting equipment, soon to be on its way to Guatemala. So, two emergency service agencies, one Chicago community organization, one shipping company, one Maryland based non-profit, several dozen volunteers, and several thousands of miles later, the firefighters of Canalitos are a little bit safer tonight. It makes me want to cry a little too. Next we have to find them a better Ambulance…. anybody got one to donate? No,really…I’m Serious. Call me. Hard to say who should be towing who… A Long Journey for Fire Equipment
It really Does take a Whole Village
