PORTLAND (AP) – Eleven University of Maine at Farmington students have been accepted into a travel course that will take them to Guatemala City’s infamous garbage dump to assist in the work of a charitable program launched 10 years ago by a woman from Maine.

Course requirements include teaching English to Guatemalan children, designing an educational project related to their major and composing a “reflection” on their experience.

The course is being led by Mariella Passarelli, a UMF chemistry professor who is originally from Guatemala.

The Safe Passage program was started by Hanley Denning, a Bowdoin College graduate who was killed two years ago when the car she was riding in was struck by a bus in Guatemala.

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Information from Portland Daily Sun, http://www.portlanddailysun.me/

AP-ES-03-19-09 1328EDT