Let's go!

Whoever would think planning field trips is easy needs to think again. I was one of these misinformed souls until I tried. From losing forms to losing money we easily could have thrown our hands up in defeat, but whoever would think the trouble is not worth it is also mistaken. To begin, the educational trips were possible through Kids to Kids http://www.kidstokids.org/ an organization that connects classrooms that raise money for projects in developing countries. Initially the upper division would go on three trips to see two Maya sites, two institutions of higher learning, and I thought we'd see a few other things in Punta Gorda as well. Plans changes, imagine that. Since the school year was getting away from us, we decided two trips would be better, one for the upper division and one for the lower, this way every student would benefit. Our first trip was postponed because the form wouldn't be handed in on time so we did better the second time around, getting it to the manager only to be misplaced. I'm not sure why those planning the trip have to personally wait for the signature, then take it to the education office to be signed by the district officer. I then learned when planning the lower division trip this second signature is just as important to be waited for as well. What makes this hard is catching those you need while they are in their office-hardly ever, and even when they are ask, "Do you need this right away?" Ay yi yi! I think for each trip the form was filled out 2-3 times and that's besides it needing to be done in triplicate. Enough about the form, let's move on to money. I almost forgot the trouble of getting the MoneyGram itself. It had to be resent becasue Mr. Chub was unable to pick it up the first time, him being a teaching principal and all and not having the chance to just go to town during the week. As with the forms, the only thing I can think is give us village people a break! Which is exactly what happened. Luckily, the man in charge of sending the money for K2K is a kind soul, understanding the situation. Sadly, this wasn't the end of the money troubles. A few days before the trip Mr. Chub brought the money to the school to pass on to me to pay for the bus in advance and refund the money spent on snacks. When he checked the drawer to then hand me the $550 it was gone. A sad sad day in Santa Teresa. The standard VI boys were the only ones suspected so we had a meeting that evening with the alcalde and their parents. Testimonies were in Q'eqchi, but after the meeting Mr. Chub claimed the clues were there, the stories not lining up, some boys blaming each other, but no further investigation was had. Honestly, that night was my lowest of low of my Peace Corps experience, crying "living tears" with Mr. Chub, not for the money, but the idea of someone stealing from the school then Mr. Chub going on to state the lack of support from the village, claiming they didn't deserve a volunteer, basically telling me to go home, "cancel the trip, cancel TFABB, cancel Peace Corps." Heart. Broken. (I almost didn't want to share this because it still makes me a little sad and honestly don't want you to think badly of anyone here because maybe some parents don't support the school but no villager has ever made me feel they don't want me here.) Luckily, Joanna and Beth were here at that time. They gave me the support I needed, which translates into a long group hug and the strength to get the weekend as planned. I wanted them to see Blue Creek cave and Machacon Falls. The following day Mr. Chub had great news for me. A woman in town, Ms. Dorla Bowman from Socio-Economic Outreach heard the story and donated an amazing $200. Also, there happened to be a check from a tourist group led by Mr. Mas, my host father, for $200. He wanted the money to be used for the trip and told Mr. Chub if the village leaders had anything to say to take it up with him. That was enough to pay for the bus, so... the trip was back on! And I was all smiles! Our first stop was ITVET a technical high school for students interested in learning different trades. We saw the automotive, electrical, and woodworking departments, also took a look at their chickens and goats. Every time they were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, blank stares, but I keep telling myself that maybe now it's something they will think about. We then went to Lubaantun followed by Nim Li Punit, with a free lunch in between. A school group canceled their trip, so the residence who had prepared lunch for them invited us. Mr. Chub and I couldn't believe the blessings kept coming, we were supposed to go on that trip. The last stop was a lodge that housed two jaguars, a highlight for us all. The trip was such a success we did basically the same thing for the lower division, but instead only saw one Maya site and two lodges. This time when we saw the jaguars we got to climb the ramp and see from above. The mothers were so cute, being more afraid then their children. Some of the little boys saw the ruins as an adventure, so I was a little overwhelmed, but boys will be boys. Our last stop was the Lodge at Big Falls, but before going there we stopped for lunch. I really enjoyed our picnic-like feast outside the bus. With the grant I was able to buy some food for snacks, knowing not all the children would bring their own. The highlight of the Lodge tour was their swimming pool - raxi ha - all of them being surprised to see such blue water. My favorite part was the girl out sunbathing. I wanted to act as their guide saying, "And this is what you call a tourist..." I was surprised noone fell in the water. We made it back to Santa Teresa by 3pm, so our half-day turned into a whole day which had some students tuckered out. A fun-filled day for sure! Loves and hugs!

Gardens Galore

Fences are going up everywhere in Santa Teresa. This makes me so very happy as it is great to see families in the village starting gardens close to their houses. Some are high school students wanting to apply what they have been learning, the others, I think, are funded by an organization in town. Of course this means I've been asked for seeds, so if you have some, send them my way. I'm curious to find out what will grow here. How exciting to try popcorn! Thanks to my mom for asking, Popcorn County USA for providing, and Joanna for bringing, I've been distributing popcorn seeds to anyone who asks. I even got to help the Ack family while they were planting. Another family ready to plant as soon as I brought the seeds to their house was the Bo family. Olivia, the mom, is one of my new favorite people. I wasn't sure why exactly until her husband pointed out she loved to laugh, yep, that would be it. I've only recently started visiting them. She is actually from Poite, her youngest brother being one of my favorite people there. Olivia and Pedro have the cutest little boy, too, Arnoldo. He repeats almost everything you say, or at least tries, and with me this is an English lesson. The best part was when he walked away saying, "tzakal"-enough. So he likes to talk and is being started young learning to garden. I was surprised though when Pedro told me the organization giving the supplies to start the gardens had yet to give much training. That seems backward. I was asking, too, if he had any solutions of keeping ants out of his garden. He didn't know that either. Time to do some research of my own, unless you reading this have any suggestions. That would be great! I'll soon put up a picture of the plants growing, don't you worry. Yippee! Now it's just keeping the bugs away. Loves and hugs!

FRIEND

Focusing Resources in Education and Nutrition Development is an initiative through the Ministry of Health along with the Ministry of Education doing just as the project’s name states. Only a few schools in Toledo were selected to take part, Santa Teresa being one. There was an opening ceremony in town to start the program and other activities have included creating a health corner in the classroom, BMI testing, a walk-a-thon, and mini-sports day. The walk-a-thon was simply a parade through the village, parade meaning the students marched themselves down the road and back again. They created a banner “Love That Body. Move That Body” and signs to promote healthy living. A few of the village leaders came along and it was perfect timing as Megan was in Santa Teresa to visit. We joked that the parade was for her then topped it off with making a cake the following day. See how well my visitors are treated?
The mini-sports day was in San Antonio where five schools came to compete in such contests as marble/spoon, three-legged race, egg toss, etc. The best part was being surprised by Dan, another Peace Corps Volunteer. I didn’t know his school was part of the FRIEND program. I hadn’t talked to him for quite some time and it was nice to be with a fellow photographer, as we decided that’s why we were brought along. Fine by me. I always like traveling with the students especially since they always are wanting me to go.
Another event encouraged by FRIEND was the Food Fair. All or at least most of the schools in Toledo come to town and create a booth, displaying health information and selling healthy foods. This was during Lauren’s visit and she had brought along some little prizes, not knowing exactly what to do with them, but they were absolutely perfect for a punch board. I’m pretty sure I’ve expressed the greatness of these games before… see the garden graduation post… and my opinion still stands strong. Yes, the sun was hot, but we had a line of children at our booth until the prizes ran out and made about $150 for the school, that’s a lot of shillings.

Through the eyes of another...

I asked my friend Lauren who visited in April to write her own blog post. Here it is:
"Lauren, do you know what you’re getting yourself into? You know you are going to have to bathe in a river." my friend Amy said as she was explaining the living situation in Belize. Amy has been volunteering with the Peace Corps for about a year and a half now and lives in a village with no electricity. While telling fellow family members and friends of my travel plans to visit her and to teach in the school she volunteers at as well as travel, many responded to me not only with puzzling faces but also with many questions. "People actually choose to live like that?" they said. "What do they do with their lives?" "No television?" "Are you going to have to drink out of the water you bathe in?" All valid questions that I was eager to find the answers to.
I left Colorado as it was snowing early in the morning on April 4th. The plane ride was fairly quick compared to traveling to Europe. A couple hours to Houston, then a couple more hours and I arrived at the Belize International Airport in Belize City. Once I stepped off the plane, warmth and humidity instantly welcomed me to the city. I quickly passed through customs, picked up my luggage and made my way to the waiting area for my connecting flight to Punta Gorda. The airport was pretty tiny and cute so I took a couple pictures, bought some water and sat on a bench until it was time to board. As I was drinking my water, I noticed a lady with a really cute hat sitting across from me. When the lady started to speak, I quickly realized by her southern accent it was none other than Resse Witherspoon with her new husband and her children. So crazy! I really couldn’t believe it! What a fun way to start my Belize adventure!

After about an hour and a half domestic flight, I arrived at my final destination for the day, Punta Gorda. Punta Gorda(PG) is often described in travel books as a sleepy town in which the people are soooooo tired that they cannot even pronounce the entirety of the name hence its initial nickname PG. I liked the quiet town and enjoyed meeting up with my friend Amy there and catching up on life! We stayed the night at a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) house and got to see more of the town the next day. My favorite thing about PG was the Jonny Cakes (these delicious biscuits filled with cheese) and Fry Jacks (similar to sopapillas) that are served with beans and eggs for breakfast.

Later that afternoon, we took the high school bus for a two hour ride into the village where I would be living for the next two weeks, Santa Teresa! I absolutely loved everything about the village from the kindness of the people, to the culture, to the food, to the simplistic way of life and even the language. Santa Teresa is a relatively small Mayan Indian village where the people speak a language called K’ekchi (Q’eqchi). English is spoken as well). It was actually really fun to learn some basic K'ekchi. Here are some of my favorite words and phases:
Yo’os- Hello
Ma sa aachol? How are you? (literal translation- Do you have good in your heart)
Sa inchol- I’m fine (I have good in my heart)
Chaabil -beautiful
Laa’in X…-My name is……
Tojokre -Thank you
Tawil Awib -Take Care
Naka thin ra- I love you
Mas chick sak’e – The sun is hot.
Heehe- Yes
In’ka- No





..
The way of life would be considered old fashioned compared to the States. Most women stay in the home during the day taking care of the children, cooking, doing laundry (in the river) and household chores while the men are out working various jobs from farming to bus driving. Women are almost always seen in knee length skirts and shirts that have short sleeves. A lot of the women and girls also wear the Mayan traditional clothing (uks and po’ots). Amy was so sweet and had some traditional wear made for me to wear in the village. I absolutely loved wearing it!


Since there is no electricity, food is made fresh daily. Most families live on caldo (soup), beans and corn tortillas. Silverware is not needed because everything is eaten with a tortilla. I had the opportunity to enjoy many of the foods when I met and visited with the families. Everyone always offers you food if you come to visit. The food is amazing! They really like to make their food peppery (spicy) which was great. I had everything from fresh fish, to caldo with a wild rodent, to chicken tamales, to tons and tons and tons of corn tortillas, sometimes flour (my favorite), the most amazing beans as well as porridge and a cacao(chocolate) drink. They also had the most beautifully tasting zestful oranges! One night Amy and I visited 3 families and were so extremely full but it’s considered rude to not take or eat the food that is given to you. Amy told me once that she went to visit a family that had only 3 eggs to feed 4 kids and the family gave her an entire egg to eat for herself. She felt so bad about it but ate it out of politeness.
My days spent in the village were always fun! A typical daily schedule looked like this:
5:30- Wake up (Usually by dogs barking, rosters crowing, howler monkeys making a creepy howl sound or the neighbor family playing Mexican music which was fun because it reminded me of my family and covered up all the animal noises)
6:00- Go for a walk or run
6:45- Go
to the creek to do laundry and bathe
7:45- Get ready for school and eat breakfast
8:30-School
11:00- Lunch break (1½ hours! )! Make lunch and rest in the hammock!
1:30- Walk back to school.
3:30- Schools out!
4:00- Rest
4:30- Play futbol(soccer) with GLOW girls (they play with bare feet..wow)
5:00- Visit various families to make tortillas and play with the children.7:30- Back to the thatch house to relax, read, write, talk with Amy, get things ready for the next day, etc.
8:30- Bed time! :) :) :)

Getting to teach at Santa Teresa R.C. School was a very great experience. It was really neat because the school in the village happened to be Catholic although there are 3 different religions in the village (Baptist, Protestant and Catholic). They start the day in prayer, have religion class in the morning and transition breaks/lunch as well as ended the day in prayer. A priest comes into the village once a month for a school mass and the children spend a week preparing the songs to sing at it. It was neat to see how a Catholic School works and is operated in Central America.




In Belize, most of the teachers start teaching right out of high school and don’t receive any training to teach. I had the opportunity to teach math to all of the grades showing the teachers different strategies to use when teaching as well as ways to get the children to participate and make learning math fun. I am really a big advocate on positive reinforcement and will never forget the first day I taught math in Belize. I was teaching Standard 3-4 students how to reduce fractions in which I did whole group instruction, board practice for the students, a fun game and then seatwork review practice. When the students were finished, I checked the problems and if they were all correct I gave them a star with a pen. I have never seen kids so excited to receive a star on their paper. Once other kids heard about it, I started hearing many voices say “Can I have a star, Miss?” “I want a star, Miss.” I don’t think I will ever get over how excited these kids were to receive a star on their paper!

Something else that I got to experience in Santa Teresa R.C. School was a field trip to the Food Fair. If you have ever been on a field in the States you might remember your teacher always counting and taking attendance multiple times to make sure no kids are missing and everyone has showed up. Belizean culture by nature is just very relaxed. We arrived on the bus by the school a little before 7:30 and at 7:30 the principal, Mr. Pop stepped onto the bus, and announced, “Well, looks like everyone is here.” And we were off for the two hour ride to the nearest city Punta Gorda. There were literally 6+ children in some seats and tons of children were standing in the aisle. When we arrive at the fairgrounds the kids were free to do what they wanted. No real supervision. There were many booths set up that sold various types of foods and some were learning booths. There was also a MC that had music and games.
I was really excited for our booth! We not only had great food and drinks to sell, but the kids, Amy and I made a punchboard for this event. I brought a ton of prizes from my mom’s classroom to Belize and we used them for the punchboard. We had the kids write the prizes on white slips of paper and also messages about healthy eating on others. We folded them and punched them into the board. At the food fair, kids came up to our booth and paid a shilling (25 cents) to pick a slip from the board. Some would win the prizes I brought and others just got the message. The kids loved it! With the prizes, we ended up raising $164.25 for the school!! So cool!





Highlights of life in Belize:
*Amy and I have birthdays that are 4 days apart so we spent one weekend on the beach in Placencia for a little relaxing birthday bash. We had a blast snorkeling, swimming in the salt water, and Karl-okie-ing!
*Also for my birthday, killing a chicken to make tamales, learning how to weave a kuxtal (purse) and then having homemade doughnuts made by the neighbors.
*Going to Blue Creek to swim in the caves. I felt like I was in The Goonies movie…it was awesome.
*Biking 2 miles up and down the steepest hills, then hiking a mile to see and swim in these beautiful waterfalls.
This is definitely an adventure I will never forget. I loved living in the village, napping in a hammock as well as playing with and teaching the children. I always wanted to be in the Peace Corps so it was really cool that I got to have a mini-experience. Amy does so much good in her village daily. Peace Corps is known as, “the hardest job, you’ll ever love.” She is pretty much always “on-call” to any of the villagers at all times and spends the days working with reading groups in the schools, putting together field trips and leading an after school music club. The kids are currently learning to play the recorder and one afternoon I taught them, Hot Cross Buns. Amy has also taught many of the women in the village new things to bake as well as showed them how to make soap. In addition she has taken over a GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) group for Standard 6. I had the privilege of leading a GLOW group session about inner beauty and self-esteem. The village is extremely lucky that they have Miss Amy and everyone loves her very much. It will be so hard for her to say goodbye in October.
Looking outside at all the Colorado snow falling in May as I finish writing this makes me miss the humid heat of Belize (even the days I needed a sweat rag). I hope to go back someday. I was telling my mom I want to adopt a Belizean child…lol

I have so many other fun stories and things to share about the culture in Belize that I could probably write a book. If you are still reading and want to know more, feel free to ask! Also if you are thinking about going, don’t think…DO IT!


A BIG THANK YOU (tojokre) to Amy for inviting me to her village, sharing her Belizean life with me and being a superb hostess! I am very thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful friend! I have been extremely fortunate to have so many amazing experiences in travel but this has been hands down my favorite!


Guatemala travels are up next!


All my love,
L

"They can't take our fun away."

Mother's Day was so much fun in Santa Teresa! Although I did miss my own mother, I was surrounded by all my favorite mothers in Belize. The celebrations started Saturday afternoon when my GLOW girls made Mother's Day cards for their own mothers and grandmothers. I made a few to then deliver the next day. I woke up early Sunday morning to see the Lords of the Rainforest bicycle race pass through the village. I was invited to go along in a truck which was a good idea. I had fun, but was surprised to see how many men dropped out after not going too far. Good thing they had a truck and trailer following behind to carry all of them. A boy from the village came in fifth.
We rode along beside him for awhile about 3/4 of the way through, telling him at the moment he was in the spot to win a sheep, but he should go get fourth place, a cash prize. We then decided he wanted that sheep and was happy to stay where he was, thinking it was worth more than the money. I talked to him a bit after he finished and couldn't believe he was still riding his bike. I wouldn't have been able to walk. He even offered to carry me back to Santa Teresa later since I was stuck in Blue Creek now without a ride. I wanted to stay for the football games, but knew I needed to be back at 3:00 for a softball game. I was waiting for the boys from Santa Teresa to play, thinking that maybe, just maybe if they lost (I know a bad thought) I would have a ride home, them being ready to go home. Good for the team, but bad for me, they won, and it was quickly approaching 2:30. It takes about 30 minutes to drive from where I was to where I needed to be, and I had only my feet to take me, barely any trucks were passing. I went anyway, a few Santa Teresa villagers passed me on their bikes, thinking I was crazy to be walking, "Mas chik sak'e" - the sun is hot, but you do what you have to do. I didn't want Petrona, the chairlady of the women's group and organizer of the fun day, to be disappointed in me for not trying at least to get back. I walked awhile then, what was that? A truck passing? Yes! This made me think of Lauren and her commenting on how things always work out for me, but I think that's the way it goes when you are living for others. I easily could have stayed in Blue Creek, telling Petrona sorry once I did reach late, she would have understood, plus I didn't really think it was necessary for me to be there. I guess I was wrong and needed to be there. Thanks to the kind souls who gave me a ride, I've decided they were angels since I had no idea who they were or why they were going to Santa Teresa (later I found out they were buying lumber, who goes to a back village on a Sunday afternoon to buy lumber?), I made it just in time to stop at my house to grab some water and hustle to the church. We had enough to play a mothers v. youth game when I came, but just wait, here they all come... we ended up having a full on mothers v. mothers competition.

We had to first explain to them that there would be no prizes for the winners. At first, Petrona had the idea of having a Mother's Day fun day at the field, little games and contests and music. We didn't have support from the village leaders though,so almost canceled the whole thing altogether. Luckily, when I went to help Petrona kill her chickens to prepare for the meal for the men helping Mr. Max plant, we decided to just have a softball game for fun. Mr. Max didn't understand this, neither did another husband who came to find his wife, wondering where his dinner was... little tension there, but all in all the day was so much fun! Some of these ladies had never played before and the rest not for a very long time. We all enjoyed ourselves, and I wonder how many were sore the next day. I think though it's something we will continue, every Sunday evening, this being their idea. Like I said before, they didn't need me there, I actually didn't even play, but I guess they all wanted me there. Petrona told me when she was inviting the mothers they all asked if I would be there, not sure if that's really why they all ended up coming, but maybe that's where their children get it from. Oh, and notice, too, the crowd that formed. Not only did we have full game, but also a cheering section.

And not to forget, my cheeks were so sore from smiling and laughing so much. That's how much fun we had. And another thing, I went to deliver my few cards and the last stop even got a hug, which doesn't happen much. That made me so happy I almost cried. Hope your Mother's Day was just a wonderful.