I went on the Faith At Work pilgrimage to Guatemala in 2002, hoping to relate more personally with local people. Little did I know that my experiences in Guatemala would ripple out into my life in Maine in the following months and years.
We visited the
Guatemala City dump, an area where 10,500 people live and make their living off
of the trash of Guatemala City. 6,400 of these people are children. Needless to
say, it is overwhelming to be the midst of that kind of poverty. We rode in the
back of a pickup, on roads which were compacted trash. People were everywhere,
sort
ing out cardboard, tires, and plastic which they would sell to buyers whose
trucks were parked in the upper area of the dump. The smell was overpowering;
vultures flew overhead. I had to steel myself to endure. When it was time to
leave, our truck could not make it up the grade. We got out of the truck and
walked out of the dump. That’s when I realized – we could leave; these people
could not.
Trash Awareness
Walking out of that dump where people lived and worked to scavenge usable garbage heightened my awareness of trash. Later, as I walked around my small town in Maine, I wondered – what can I do – what makes a difference? Initially, I picked up recyclable litter I saw on my walks. Then I joined my town’s recycling committee, helping redeem bottles people donate. That money is used to help pay for the truck that takes our glass, newspapers, and milk jugs for recycling. I’m learning to be a scavenger of trash, myself!
Soon I was seeing recyclables everywhere. I started picking my co-workers bottles out of the trash basket and taking them to the redeemables bin. Later I began talking about how important recycling is. One of my co-workers has two young daughters. She told me she had never recycled, but now she is. Her girls are learning from her now. Ripples of Guatemala…
Ripples at Work and Church
I’m seeing how my experience of the Guatemala dump is still having rippling effects. At a staff meeting where I work another pharmacist suggested we start recycling the paperboard ourselves. (Our hospital recycles only glass and cardboard.) People now see me carrying a large container of recyclable paperboard when I walk down the hall. They often ask what I’m carrying, and we get to talking about the importance of each of us doing what we can. They know me, trust me and see I care enough to lug this stuff to our recycling center. A few even thank me!
Small steps lead to larger steps. We worked together with our cafeteria staff. We now have paper plates, not Styrofoam, and recyclable Styrofoam cups. At my church, I asked about all the Styrofoam use. This led our council to enact a number of creation care initiatives: “no Styrofoam” policy, buying green power, changing our light bulbs to high energy CFL’s, and using environmentally friendly cleaning products. These actions are spreading out into our church membership, many of whom did not even know it was possible to purchase green power in Maine. Our church has pledged to use fairly traded coffee, and cosponsored a resolution to encourage all the churches in the Maine conference to do the same.
An Invitation
I’m learning that small acts of faithfulness do make a difference, especially when individuals act together in community. Faith at Work has always held our relationship with Creation as one of the four “primary relationship” to attend in our faith journey. Bringing my Guatemala experience home has taught me many ways to tend creation as my faith practice where I live. From that faith practice has come the desire to lead FAW’s first CreationCare retreat this April.
In this retreat we will explore how our faith can be the motivation to make small individual changes. These small changes spread with a ripple effect and grow into larger waves that make a big impact. This will be a great opportunity to learn how others have changed their lives to better protect this beautiful planet. Care to ride the wave?
Marty Resotko is a long time member of FAW, serving as the Maine Board Chair and the National Board Vice-Chair. She is a spiritual director, and leads small groups and retreats. A gardener, quilter and lover of nature, Marty finds inspiration and nuture being outside in God's creation: hiking, cross country skiing, kayaking, and boating with her husband. Marty works as a hospital pharmacist.