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The term "guaje", from which derives the word "guajero" has several meanings. In some countries the term has negative connotations associated with social futility, ‘a fool deserving of deception’ and other similar meanings. In Guatemala, guaje means ‘a thing of little value’. In the dump, the people who spend their lives sifting and sorting of rubbish call themselves "guajeros." The word refers to their occupation, not necessarily implying that they themselves have little value, however it is an apt description of their circumstances. A guajero is any person, child, adult or elderly man who lives and works in an area intended for the rubbish, dedicated to the activity of searching for and sorting through objects and materials that can be recycled, and a “guaje” is an object or piece of material that they find. guajero performs the social and environmental task of recycling. It is, however, looked down upon by society as the most appalling form of poverty.
The guajeros are discriminated against because of their association with the dump, and so they have made the dump their life. Whenever possible they avoid contact with the outside world, for example it is unusual to see guajeros in the streets of the city. This means that the guajeros (whether adults, children, grandparents or babies) withdraw from society so as to avoid a confrontation with the world as we know it. They only share this miserable existence with those who are also suffering, and those who are equally socially inadaptable. Their natural yearning for a life of affection and normality, and the lack of this that they suffer, means that their impulse towards strangers is initially one of fear and aggression. Más información...