It may be true that Belizeans make reasons to party, but does this cause me to love them any less? Quite the opposite my friend, quite the opposite indeed. A perfect example of this happened mid December when PLENTY came to graduate our garden. How does a garden graduate? Or maybe a better question is why? I'm not sure. You tell me. Anyways, back to PLENTY, it's an organization that has been assisting rural Toledo schools with creating gardens the past few years. They helped get it started, providing fencing, tools, and seeds, and to officially hand over the responsibility a celebration must be had, of course. (Did I ever mention our health clinic was inaugurated not once, but twice?) These ceremonies look quite similar... National Anthem... Invocation... Welcome Addresses by all the village leaders... item from the school children... then we hear from the sponsoring organization. After all is said and done, traditional marimba music is played and a select few people start to dance in their cultural wear. The ladies even made me get up and dance with them this time.
Finally, not to forget the most essential part, we all eat lunch together. This event was a little different than most as a variety of food was prepared. Usually it's lone caldo and poch (see pictures) but part of PLENTY's goal with the gardening project is to get students to start eating more balanced meals by simply adding vegetable to their diet, you know, the vegetables they grow in their gardens. :P
I didn't get to help with the cooking as much as I would have liked because I was busy with the punch board as a fundraiser for the school. Students pay 25 cents a chance to pick a paper stuck in a board. The paper will either have a message i.e. "Better luck next time," or the name of the prize on it. Thanks to Bernard, a tourist who stopped in Santa Teresa last season and brought a bunch of cool toys with hime, and Larka and Mikah, who brought a few fun things with them, too, we had all the prizes without expense. Yes, I've been holding onto all these things for a long time but was waiting for a fair way to disperse them and must say it was a success. We made $100 for the school and the children got some pretty neat things for a shilling, plus punch boards are tons of fun. (I apologize mostly to Bernard who has been witing a long time for this photo.)
Who knew it would be the men that were the only ones to wear the animal visors. I guess age is just a number and still can't keep from laughing.
Well, that's all for now and if you ever need any help planning your own graduation, you know who to come to. Loves and hugs!
Note: I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I like writing it, or only half as much, that would be good, too. Sorry I've been slacking a little, more to come... more to come. :)
