Hurricane Alex

You've probably heard about the hurricane approaching the Gulf Coast, well it has already wreaked some havoc on Belize and surrounding Central American countries, Mexico and Guatemala. I have had a hard time finding out information about it, but I read a small article in a Nebraskan paper this morning (I happen to be in Nebraska).

Apparently, the Cayes (the islands) have been evacuated for the most part. Ambergris Caye is where my aunt has a house, and also where the school, Holy Cross, is located. Thankfully, I got an email update from the school saying they were fine.

Other damages included collapsed houses, missing roofs, and a Mennonite community that is cut off on the mainland due to a bridge that washed out completely.

Please send prayers and thoughts their way!

Possibilities are endless...

I am continuing to make Belize discoveries, even though I'm back in the States!

I was able to speak with a Social Work professor at the University of Mississippi who has been traveling to Belize for years. It began as a vacation for her, but, a true social worker, she soon built relationships with some of the children and mothers in San Pedro. She discovered San Mateo community- the resilience of the families there, the injustice of unfulfilled government promises, the many needs- and began volunteering. She started taking students down on service learning trips, working on community development and other projects. Recently, students on the trip were inspired to help raise money to build a road for the community. Thought the government has promised for 14 years to enhance the infrastructure of San Mateo, the utility companies refuse to do anything until there are roads. As it stands now, there are only the "london bridges," unstable wooden planks between the disease-ridden, murky, waste-filled water. Students saw this problem, and decided they didn't want their trip to just be another college class where they learned a little and went home. They wanted to make a change. The community was on board, and are currently building the road as they materials are funded, bought, and delivered by students' fundraising.

The professor is interested in collaborating with Temple students, if that works out. I am excited to see so many leads and possibilities for a future trip to Belize!

Pictures and a Book

(Since I am no longer in Belize...and I think I exhausted all possible corny phrases with the word "Belize" in them, I am resorting to more ordinary titles.)

Just a quick note to say that I posted some pics from Guatemala on Facebook, so check my profile to see some. The ones from Belize will be up shortly!

I am continually immersed in Belize history and learning, as I am reading a book called "The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw," by Bruce Barcott. I recommend it if you would like to learn more about Belize! It's about Sharon Matola, who founded the Belize Zoo, and her fight to stop the Challilo dam from being built in Belize. The effects of the dam would wipe out the breeding ground of scarlet macaws, one of the most beautiful birds possible in the world, as well as a lush habitat for many more of Belize's native animals. It goes into a lot of the political intrigue as well as the culture and climate of the country...very interesting! It's neat to be able to picture a lot of the places they mention in the book, since I was just there!

I Can't Belize it's Over

(Apologies for the half-post...I pressed the wrong button...oops. I blame it on "jet lag")

I made it back to NJ safe and sound. I had a bit of extra luck, or blessings, as I was able to change my flight to Belize City instead of Guatemala City and fly back with my sister. Josh had gotten stuck in Guatemala City for an extra week due to a volcano eruption, a hurricane, mudslides, and a sinkhole. I wanted to avoid getting stuck, if possible.

I understand the U.S. has not gotten much news of these natural disasters in Guatemala, here is one article: http://www.guatemala-times.com/news/guatemala/1661-guatemala-impacts-of-tropical-storm-agatha-threaten-food-security.html

or google to find out more, and send some good thoughts and prayers their way.

I have to admit, it is a little strange being back in the U.S. Even though I really wasn't gone for that long, I still had a couple moments of slight reverse culture shock. Like when I flew into the Houston airport and was bombarded by SO many choices of large-portioned, greasy, expensive American foods. And when I got back to NJ and everyone was driving these large, shiny cars. And there were so many large buildings with bright lights, and all the roads were sooo smooth. It was a little disconcerting.

I am still processing my trip, and I still have a lot of work to do regarding my independent study. Even though I am back, I will continue posting some more reflections, and I'll get some pictures up!

Don't Belize everything you hear...

Yesterday, we stepped out of resort paradise, and saw a strikingly different scene only 3 miles away. My aunt told me about a school that had been built in the past several years called Holy Cross, and we thought it might be a good place for me to visit. We rode our bikes from the resort, and the change in scenery was quick and drastic- from luxury houses built on sparkling water, to tiny shacks built on a murky swamp.

The principal and founder of the school, Frances, happened to be walking out of the building as we rode up, and she was happy to give us a tour. The kids were out of school after a celebration that morning, so she had some free time. The tour began with a walk around San Mateo, which is possibly the poorest town of Belize, side by side with some of its wealthiest areas. The history of the town goes something like this: Belize (like the U.S.) has 2 major political parties. A candidate from one party promised land to a group of people, along with amenities once they built on that land, which was a swamp. The people began building on the swamp, but the candidate lost. The promises never came through, and today they live on the swamp with no sewage system, little access to electricity, and little to no running water. Where else would they have gone? Their houses were already built, and their are jobs available at local resorts, so they stayed. A couple of years ago, the government estimated that a couple hundred people lived in San Mateo. But when a grad student came and did a survey of the area, he found closer to 1800 people. Oops.

A missionary couple (Frances and her husband) visited the area, saw the great need there, and also saw lots of kids wandering around in the middle of the school day. They realized that the other 2 schools on the island were filled to capacity, and many kids in San Mateo had no opportunity to go to school. So, they built a school, which now serves over 500 students and has a dental clinic and a surprisingly beautiful computer lab. Check out the website at www.holycrossbelize.org They seem to be doing well, but are always in need of lots of materials, as the government only provides teacher's salaries. Everything else, including funds for healthy meals that the school serves kids each day, must be fundraised.

Back to our tour of San Mateo: as they have no running water and no sewage system, all of the trash and waste goes into the swamp below their houses. As this community is 50 feet from the ocean, most of the waste gets swept out to sea. Recently, a 3- year old girl fell into the sewage (which is actually not so hard to do, as I almost fell in walking across the unstable wooden walkways, nicknamed "london bridges"). She had a cut on her leg, it got infected, did not receive proper medical treatment, and she died. The free clinic is an hour away on foot, and the people of San Mateo often aren't able to get there when they need to.

So you see, there are lots of issues here: environmental justice, social justice, economic justice, and so on. I have to wonder about the thousands of vacationers who come through, or the expats who own property, what would they do if they knew? Or do they already know? As owners of property, I imagine have they have at least some power here in Belize because of their contributions to the economy. Couldn't they, along with the Belizian people, put pressure on the government to fulfill the original promises of some infrastructure to the San Mateo community? And if the desire to stop injustice, or to help fellow human beings, isn't enough, what about the goal of preserving the beautiful ocean, the coral reef, the beauty they are here to enjoy?

I have a lot of questions and thoughts, but it seems that this is a good spot to look at social work issues. Anyone wanna join?!

To get a better view of the situation, check out this short video (less than 5 mins.!). It was produced by a 9- year old girl!

http://ambergrisdaily.com/belize-video/san-mateo-belize-documentary

I can hardly belize it.

Today I saw a man riding a bike with a raccoon on his head. That's something you don't see everyday. I didn't even know they had raccoons in Belize; in fact, my sister agreed that they don't. Hmmm.

Two days ago, we were staying on the border of Mexico, and decided to venture into a new country. Why not? Little did we know that there were exit taxes, they had to fumigate our car (and we had to pay for it), and Chetumal, Mexico, is not so easy to navigate if you don't know where you are going. Still, we found a nice little restaurant on the water and enjoyed some Mexican food and drink, while watching the crystal aqua blue water. It was gorgeous. I kept waiting for a manatee to swim right up to us. Sadly, it didn't.

But one of the most interesting things about this visit, for me, is the striking difference between the two countries. Mexico is much more "developed" than Belize. And when I say "developed," I mean smooth, paved roads, some American restaurants, and lots more people. For better or for worse. Though Mexico seems to have an infrastructure that is more developed (like the roads), Belize has insisted on maintaining its under-developed charm. The bumpy dirt roads and the lack of chain restaurants are a part of what makes Belize, Belize. I hear that the only chain restaurant in the country is a Subway sandwich place in Belize City. In a globalized world of multi-national corporations, this is rare. In some ways, Belize's resistance to globalization has made it more intriguing to tourists, and possibly better for tourism in the long run. Belize is known increasingly for its opportunities in ecotourism.

At the same time, this nation is very diverse. The 260,000 people that live here are made up many different people groups. The Maya, who at one time populated Belize with over 400,000 people, who have left behind thousands of ruins and archeological sites. In fact, one uncovered mound was in my sister's backyard at the ranch. Many individuals of Mayan descent still populate Belize, and the language is still spoken by older generations. Belize is also home to many Creoles, Asians, German Mennonites, expatriates from the Global North, and so on. This is part of what makes the culture so rich and fascinating here. So, while Belize may not be on the cutting edge of globalization, it is a combination of many different cultures, languages, and people groups. Beautiful.

(Some of my information is adapted from The Making of Belize: Globalization in the margins. By Ann Sutherland).

Belize the day!

I have had inconsistent internet connections in the last couple places, hence why I have not been able to post as much. While this leg of the trip is a little different than the first, I feel that this has helped me a good snapshot of some of the diverse sides of Belize. If my journey was similar to "Eat Pray Love" (a very good book, I just finished it), this would be the "Eat" part. Eat, and indulge a bit :)


Needless to say, this has given me a very different picture of Belize- from ranch, to small village, to deep jungle, to large town, to capitol city, to jungle cabana, to jungle spa, to sketchy seaside hostel, to birdwatching inn, to thatched roof resort, to high end ocean resort...I've seen it all.

For the past several days, we have been traveling around the north of Belize with my aunt, uncle, cousin, and sister in an air-conditioned car. Which is pretty different than the old school buses I had become accustomed to.

I had another disappointment on Sunday, when we drove for several hours looking for the Baboon Sanctuary, and never found it. Belize is not necessarily known for its signage, as we have come to realize. We did find one monkey in the trees (yay!), which made us think we were on the right track. But once we started going deeper into the forest, over shifty bridges, on a bumpy back road, and into a tiny village, we realized something was not quite right. In the village, my family made me get out of the car and ask about the Baboon Sanctuary. The Belizians laughed at me and pointed back to the main road; we had gone several miles off track.

Anyway, the Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) will have to happen next time. "Baboon" is the local name for the black howler monkey (which really does howl almost like it's in pain, I've heard it). Local communities have collaborated to preserve the land and live in peace with the monkeys, who were becoming scarce in Central America due to hunting. Those involved in this effort have found that educating locals about the issue has been even more effective than strict hunting laws. The education at CBS also targets more sustainable farming techniques as well, and involves schoolchildren as well as adults in surrounding communities.


As a result of all this, CBS has become a model of wildlife preservation combined with preserving the way of life of humans who have lived on the land for generations. It's a win-win situation! The more I write about it, the more I want to see it. Guess that will have to come on the next trip...

(P.S. Check out my Facebook profile if you want to see a video of my sister with a friendly howler monkey at CBS)

Belize it or not!

(This post was from this past Friday, but due to lack of internet access, I haven't been able to get it up here until today!)

Today I had some disappointments. So far, this trip has felt very successful for the most part. Surprisingly so. I think I expected more difficulties and barriers, but things have been pretty smooth.

However, I was excited about trying to get to Belize prison, the Kolbe Foundation, during the trip, and found out that this wasn’t going to work out schedule-wise. The prison sounds fascinating. It was taken over by Rotarians in 2002, who run it as a faith-based non-profit. It actually focuses on rehabilitation, rather than the profit-driven business that much of the prison system has become in the U.S. But alas, I will not get to see it in action, at least this trip.

This afternoon, we went to Belmopan, where King’s Children’s Home is located. I thought I had an appointment, at least somewhat. I talked to one of the managers a couple of days ago, who said that I could stop by after lunch today. But when we arrived, she wasn’t around. The women in the kitchen said that we could just walk around and wait until she came…so we did, a bit awkwardly. In the U.S., you don’t just walk into a home like this without an appointment, a tour, rules and regulations, and all your clearances. But we found kids, or rather, they found us, and we played with them.

They took to us immediately, grabbing our hands, hugging on us, jumping on us, wanting to play games. They weren’t a bit shy; we didn’t have to prove ourselves at all. I get the feeling that they are used to volunteers coming and leaving. There were at least 5 young female Canadian volunteers at the home currently. Apparently there is a volunteer house right down the road, where people can stay for however long to help out. I was able to talk to one of them for a little while, but they were very busy with all the kids.

So we did have an enjoyable time playing with the kids. I mean, I did meet Spiderman (who knew he was in Belize?) and I got to be a shark for a while, which is always fun. Also, my white shirt is now a fashionable shade of purple thanks to one little chalk artist I was holding. But on a more serious note, I don’t feel it is very valuable for us to just come for a few hours and leave. It was obvious the kids were very needy- there are about 40 who live there now. And I was hoping to talk to someone to learn about the home- where do the children come from? What are the situations in Belize that lead them there? How was the home started? The manager never showed up, and the woman who was apparently in charge of counseling/therapy with the children was occupied while we were there. All in all, I felt the visit was pretty unsuccessful. I got a feel for the place, but didn’t learn many specifics, and don’t feel that I contributed much.

Well, I guess that it’s all part of the learning experience.

And on another note, the large amount of toothbrushes that I brought down (thanks to Christina and Prof. Hollm) have found a home. They were distributed between a Guatemalan women’s coop, Cornerstone Foundation, and Mary Opens Doors. All were happy to see them.