Graduation!

The Preschool and Standard VI had graduation yesterday! I was so happy I had my camera to take pictures. We started with the preschool in the morning. Wait! The day started with all the kids blowing up balloons in the community center, helping to decorate. It was so fun and I loved how all the kids were working together! Those four year-olds were so cute marching down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance, then sitting in those big plastic chairs while the program went on. They did a couple skits and sang "I love you." This was the first year for a preschool in Santa Teresa so it was our first ever graduation. I was a little sad Miss Florentina had to miss it as she is in Belize City still finishing up her Early Childhood Education Certificate. She'll be more than ready to take on the preschool next year and Miss Regina did a great job in her place the whole month of June. We then took a break for lunch and everyone came back at 1:00 for the next round.
First of all I would like to take some time to note how wonderful the villagers of Santa Teresa are. I already knew this, but it seems they always outdo themselves and make me happier still to be a part of their community. The Village Council decided this year that they would like to have graduation gowns for the commencement exercise this year but instead of renting, they wanted the school to have their own set, so they purchased the fabric to donate to the school. Then they asked a few women to sew the gowns, some offered to sew the gowns for free and a few only charged $10. So now Santa Teresa RC School will have beautiful gowns for graduation the next 10 years or so. How wonderful! The students looked so sharp as you can see in the pictures (Yay! I can take pictures! Thanks again John and Mica!) The valedictorian and salutatorian are in the dark blue, each giving speeches during the ceremony. Steven, the valedictorian had the highest ever PSE (Primary School Exam) score from the village with a 70.75. Woot woot! Our guest speaker read "The Giving Tree," and I have to admit I had goosebumps more than once. I feel like I appreciate higher education more since being here. I know some of the students won't go onto high school, but most of them will at least try one year, which makes me happy.


After the ceremony everyone was invited to the PTA Chairman's house for caldo poch. The PTA purchased chickens and each family was responsible for bringing a bowl of poch (corn masa wrapped in a leaf then put in a pot and steamed pretty much) and some fire wood. Another example of the strong sense of community in Santa Teresa. We all support and take care of each other. As soon as I had finished my lunch I had a visitor. Taylor had come to tell me we were having our practice consolidation, she wanted to let me know before going down the road to Poite so I would be ready when they came back through. I asked if she wanted some caldo (spicy soup) knowing there would be plenty and of course after she left Mr. Max, the PTA Chairman, came up to me to ask if my friend wanted to eat. How sweet!
So yes, now I'll just be hanging out in Belmopan for a couple days, then Placencia Lobsterfest, then Ke'kchi language training! This summer is going to go by so fast! Loves and hugs!

TFABB: Take Three

TFABB now has three focus schools. Welcome to the family Barranco! Not only a new school, but a new Peace Corps Volunteer. Yay Laura! This visit was two weeks long, visiting each school so I’ll start where they started…
@ Santa Teresa
Marie, Kathie, Mica, and Kevina all came to my school on Tuesday. Half the school was on its way to Punta Gorda for the District Finals Football Competition. I was sad to miss the game, but we had a very successful day of touching base and planning for the week. Mica stayed with me Tuesday night and we were able to visit both Jenny and Xena (two girls she knew from the school she worked at during her Peace Corps service. Funny how they both are now in Santa Teresa.) This was after taking the girls to where they would be staying- the adventurous Blue Creek Lodge. We’ll just say everything does not go as planned and just around the corner is not always just around the corner and sometimes there’s a reason the doors are shut at 4pm and the kids are outside and not willing to go get their father. Ha ha! I’m still curious as to whether or not the couple Kathie was telling us about is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. Oh brother!
Wednesday-Friday Kathie and Marie did some model lessons for each teacher and Marie also led a Professional Development Workshop on where writers get their ideas Thursday evening. I once again was reminded how awesome the staff is here at Santa Teresa and tried not to think about the possibility of half of them leaving. Friday afternoon we had lunch with the teachers and village leaders. Anne explained again the TFABB focus for the next few years and asked for help with our most recent project, getting shelves for each classroom to set up a small library. The books will soon come, but once they do, they’ll need a home. The PTA Chairman along with another PTA member, the village chairman, and the alcalde all went to the school after lunch to measure for an idea of what lumber would need to be purchased. How exciting! I love how on top of it they were, even saying now is a good time for them to build since they’ve just finished planting. I’ll be happy to give you an update. When they start building, maybe I’ll get to help and put my handy skills to work. Oh how proud Rick and Dan from Sack Lumber would be. I spent the weekend home, resting up for the week to come.
@ Barranco
Since Barranco is a new pilot school and Laura is especially new to her site, the visit there was only one day and very informal. I was happy to tag along. Kathie and Marie ended up doing some model lessons after our wonderful meal with the teachers and village leaders. We ate a traditional Garifuna meal, hudut which included mashed plantains, snapper, and a white sauce made with coconut milk. Very delicious. While the girls were modeling their lessons I went to the classroom that needed watching over and listened to Anne’s amazing bilingual read aloud. The Barranco school is quite small with an enrollment of 41, 9 of those students just came in January after their parents decided they wanted them to learn English. Although from Belize, they had been going to school in Guatemala, now they take a boat to Barranco for their education. Could you imagine? I always love to see the children on the water taxi when leaving Placencia early in the morning on a weekday, dressed in uniform. How fun. So yes, if you haven’t figured it out, Barranco is a Garifuna community right on the coast with an abundance of pumice stones. I brought back one the size of a cantelope and since I don’t have a comal I can use it for my feet. Pedicure anyone?
@ Silver Creek
We spent Tuesday –Thursday at Silver Creek and I have to say I really enjoyed going back to Kevina’s school especially since I had already met the teachers there. One even greeted me by name when we first arrived. Even some of the kids remembered me. Kathie and Marie left on the morning plane and Miss Kim was here ready to train. Kim had also already been to Silver Creek during the January visit. I loved how she was able to check back on some things, then say she would come again to follow-up. She encouraged the students to write during the summer and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually did. A couple promised to write their stories and send them to me through Kevina. I agreed to write back some of my own, and if I listen to their requests I'll be writing some scary stories which might be a challenge. I don't write a lot other than journaling which is sad. How can we expect students to be creative and think up stories when we ourselves never do? I know I used to write pretend stories in elementary school, my favorite being about the Gold Rush and my journey West. You'd think with more life experience I'd be able to make up better stories. I'll give it a try.
I was able to observe Kim's lessons in a few classrooms and also some teachers doing their traditional read alouds and a language arts lesson. I must say, Kevina has some great teachers at her school and I'm sure they're all the better after having her work with them this past year.
My favorite part of the visit by far was the Standard III and IV students coming up to me after I had observed a lesson in their class, commenting on my po'ot uuq and asking if I could dance. I told them I would like to learn wondering if they had their own blouse and skirt and if they would teach me. (The traditional wear is important when dancing the marimba.) Their response, "Yes, Miss! Yes, Miss!" They even asked their teacher to bring his CD player and CD after lunch. I was surprised to see how many girls showed up after lunch with a po'ot uuq of their own, well, some had borrowed from their mothers I'm sure. They wanted to dance right away but we waited until afternoon break. It was so beautiful! Kevina had been telling me most of the women have the traditional Ke'kchi attire but are ashamed to wear it for some reason, then to see all these girls excited to share their culture, teaching a white girl to dance... this is something I'll never forget as it overfills my heart with joy every time I think about it.
Laura and I stayed one night in Silver Creek. We had a fun time at the creek washing and bathing after school for two hours. I loved how everyone goes to the same spot whereas in Santa Teresa we all have our own, except me, I spot hop. After we got back from the creek we had a mango party outside the back door. I couldn't believe all the mangoes. And since I told Kevina's host family there were no mango trees in Santa Teresa I was sent home with a bag of 20! Yum Yum! I also went home with a beautiful drawing a a princess (me) on the beach from the cutest Infant II student. She even gave me a blank piece of paper so I could draw one for her. My nickname from my overnight stay a few weeks before had stuck and was shared by the giver to his classmates, but that's okay because he also said, "I love the vampire." Oh how I look forward to my next visit to Silver Creek. My goal is to ride my bike there someday which would be quite the trek, but I think I could do it and it would be well worth the effort, but I can always take the bus, too. Loves and Hugs!

GLOW

Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) is a Peace Corps initiative and Peace Corps Belize picked this up by doing a summer camp for girls ages 10-12. This year will be our 3rd Camp GLOW and I’m super excited to be a part. One goal of the camp is to then train the girls to start their own club, something Santa Teresa has recently shown interest in. Florentina and I made a trip to Poite for a quick presentation by Lilly, explaining GLOW through power point. Our next step was to get the girls together to see what they were interested in. I had mentioned an Earth Day Trash Clean-up during a staff meeting, which wasn’t received well, but Florentina thought it was a great idea for a first GLOW activity. The girls at the introductory meeting were on board and excited, even made beautiful signs inviting the Standard IV – VI girls. “Come and keep our village beautiful. It’s interesting.” I also asked a few girls who had went to camp to share a little about their experience and we brainstormed ideas for future meetings… play games, bake cakes, help elderly people in the village. What sweethearts, already knowing the importance of giving back. So, we did our trash clean-up, filling six or so buckets before covering half the village. We hope to finish the rest and continue to pick up on a regular basis. Of course I was telling them they could pick up trash everyday if they would like, but we should try as a group once a month.
Our next activity was baking cakes, which we did over the fire hearth at Florentina’s house. The girls collected fire wood and mixed the batter creating three different cakes, coconut, chocolate, and a cinnamon one. All three were delicious. They then took the slices to sell, telling their customers about GLOW and asking between a shilling and a dollar for each piece depending on the size. It was so much fun and we even made a little money. I’m excited for our next bake sale.
I was out of town the following Saturday but some girls did go to elderly people’s houses in the village, asking what they could do to help. This will be a repeated activity as well and I can’t wait to be part of it. Since then I’ve been either gone, or a few girls have just come by my house Saturday afternoons to play games or paint their nails. We’re waiting for Florentina to get back from her month long training in Belize City (I miss that girl!) to do another fundraiser. Soon though, I’ll have to hand out the applications for Camp GLOW which will be in Belmopan the middle of July. Wow! Time is really flying by. Loves and Hugs!

Cacao Fest!

A couple weeks ago I was able to help at an annual even here in Toledo- Cacao Fest! (http://www.toledochocolate.com/) There are many cacao growers in the area, so each year they celebrate the bean for an entire weekend. The first night was a cocktail-like party serving wine and, you guessed it, chocolate. The night was spent on the rooftop of one of the University of Belize buildings. There were brownies, fudge, truffles, candies, covered nuts and coffee beans, even a chocolate fountain with fresh mango and mango and pineapple. Delicious. I felt pretty spoiled volunteering at such an even as I, too, was enjoying the chocolate and wine, but I did "work" too. There was an area for food, so naturally I was drawn to help there. Help was needed setting up and keeping full the salads, chips and dips, and shrimp with chocolate sauces. I was in my element and felt so much at home being reminded of serving at the cafe' and all my other food service jobs. I was so happy and couldn't keep from smiling. Maybe Mr. Chub is right by predicting I'll open up a restaurant when I move back home, of course specializing in Belizean dishes. If was also fun because a girl from another village who works in PG was helping, too, and we became fast friends. Oh! And a major highlight, the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful firework display at the end of the night. Quite impressive.
The next morning was the fair by the sea front where vendors had set up tents, selling their goods while music played on the loud speakers. I helped with the Cacao for Kids, which was different art activities including rock painting, puppet shows, and sidewalk chalk on the pier. I spent a few hours trading a box of chalk for cacao beans. As the children signed up for the event, they were given a bag of beans that they used as currency to participate in each activity. Someone had painted a mural on the pier of trees and flowers and animals for the kids to color in with chalk. Most of the kids just wanted to get their box of chalk and leave so it was my job to encourage them to stay and color. Some beautiful creations were made, including a huge, multi-colored whale in a tree. I recognized some of the little boys from the Earth Day trash clean-up back in Indianville, but could only place them after they left. I think it was even a couple days after when I finally realized why they looked familiar. Plus, I met a next new friend. This girl was from London but volunteering in Dangriga, her year of service about to be done. We chatted quite a bit and she even brought me water a little later knowing I would be thristy, what a sweetheart. I love how kind people have been to me here.
The last day of the festival was celebrated at an archeological site, Lubaantun. I had a short tour given by the those excavating the site and spent the day enjoying the cultural Monkey dance and the performance of the Three Kings. I loved how I kept running into some of the same people all weekend reminding me what a small place I live in. Loves and Hugs!