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!
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