Gringos in the Garbage follows two travellers to El Limonal, an impoverished Nicaraguan community whose survival largely depends on other people’s waste.

Hub Staff

Port Elgin’s Pea Pod will host a screening of Gringos in the Garbage, a documentary about the community of El Limonal in Nicaragua, on July 31 at 7 p.m.

Organizer Sande Irwin said in an interview that the film will be an eye-opening experience showcasing the survival of the El Limonal people who live between a sewage plant, a cemetery and a garbage dump, and who Irwin plans to meet when she travels to Nicaragua on the Love and Kindness Tour in February. “For me it was just the survival of these people and what they want, they want what everybody in the world wants, they want a better life for their kids,” she said. “They're working hard to provide a better life for their kids, their dreams are the same as your own dreams.” Irwin believes it will be a humbling experience being around people who don't have a lot but she understands feel very rich in their lives.

The cost to attend the screening is $20 per person with half the proceeds going towards a meal for between 300 and 500 people from the El Limonal community, one of the tasks Irwin and her fellow travellers plan to undertake on their upcoming trip.

Irwin refers to the group as conscious travellers and said she herself has always been a conscious traveller, emerging herself in the culture and finding ways to give back. Even if she visits all inclusive resorts, she said she sources out volunteer work.

“It’s always been a real passion of mine to not just be a tourist; to really be with the local people has always been my idea of travelling,” said Irwin. The former Girl Guide leader said she knows a thing or two about organizing trips and that exposing people to the bigger picture and spreading love and kindness along the way has always been a dream of hers.

“I truly believe we start at home by helping whoever that might be, then you look after your country, then you do it globally, so that you get a really good range of helping everyone.”

Irwin hopes the screening of Gringos in the Garbage will ignite something within viewers and subsequently get them interested in joining her on her trip in February. The group will be staying at Jiquilillo’s Hotel Brisas del Mar, a beachside resort owned by Port Elgin’s Andy and Megan Evans.

“If they decided to find out more about the trip then that’s awesome,” said Irwin, adding that she wants to offer the experience of having a different kind of vacation to people and families.

For more information about Gringos in the Garbage, visit gringosaroundtheglobe.com/gringos-in-the-garbage.

See also: A mission trip to Nicaragua, one student’s perspective

Sande and Rick Irwin travelled to Chiang Mai, Thailand earlier this year where they volunteered at the Elephant Nature Park, which does not promote riding. The Irwins helped to feed, bathe, walk and give love to the rescued elephants.