President's Office

November 2009

It is Autumn in New England. We are awash with color as the fall foliage brings such bright crimsons rusts and golds. Almost 2300 miles south of us in Guatemala, the hills are also full of color this time of year with the patchwork hillside farms and the brilliant, multicolored traditional clothing of the Mayan people who work the land. I was in Guatemala a few weeks ago, where, besides visiting a number of schools and educational organizations, we were there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Safe Passage, the organization begun by Hanley Denning, a Bowdoin College and Wheelock College alumna.

Hanley finished her degree at Wheelock and went to Guatemala to learn Spanish. She fell in love with the country as do so many who visit. Yet it was a visit to the Guatemala city dump that changed her life. She was very moved by the difficulty of the lives of the "guajeros" -- the Guatemalans, mostly women and children, who scrape out a meager income by rummaging through the acres of garbage to collect cardboard or plastic for recycling. As a result of this chance encounter, Hanley dedicated the next and, as fate would have it, the last seven years of her life to building an organization that would help those children and families find the means to improve their lives.

Safe Passage, the project she began in 1999 through force of will and personal perseverance, established educational programs for the children. Today, through the international collaboration of Guatemalans, Americans, and people from around the world, Safe Passage has evolved into a tour de force of an organization, directly serving 500 children in preschool and other programs, providing basic education to 150 mothers, and engaging thousands of volunteers and visitors who have had the opportunity to work, teach, and learn from the community as well as to indirectly serve Guatemala City and the world as a model for caring personal education and social commitment. 

Having been to Guatemala, having seen the dump, and having met the people who work it - and those who work with those who work it -- I can understand how Hanley was so drawn to her commitment. You would need a heart of stone to not want to help.

Hanley not only thought about doing something; she acted - bringing to bear the knowledge, skills, and social consciousness she honed at Wheelock. She also engaged others, so that, when a tragic car accident claimed Hanley's life in 2007, it did not claim her vision or the institution she championed. Today, Safe Passage continues as a thriving organization through which the lives of many families are enhanced and safeguarded.

One thing that struck me about the nature of the work done at Safe Passage is how educators, social workers and health advocates work together to serve a community. This is also how interdisciplinary collaboration is reflected in our organizational structure at Wheelock through our School of Education, Social Work, Child Life, and Family Studies.

This year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, we can be thankful for everything we have, and we can also give thanks for Hanley Denning and what has evolved out of her cross-cultural encounter and her generosity of spirit.  I hope that you will join me, the Wheelock college faculty and administrators who have worked in the area (Ellie Friedland, Bill Shorr, and Lou Casagrande) and students, staff and alumni who may have connections to Guatemala as we develop what I hope to be a long-term relationship with our friends at Safe Passage.

Jackie Jenkins-Scott
President