May, 2011

I initially blogged a couple of weeks ago but removed it.  I realized that I vented rather than informed about my time here - too much information about the politics and internal conflicts.

On a more positive note, I am fortunate to work with some outstanding individuals who can make a difference to better the country.  My new counterpart, Ms. Corona, works to improve village life and represents the new Belizean women who are finally involved in building and strengthening the rural country.  She's a senator for Stann Creek, the Village Council Chairperson for Pomona Village, President of the Stann Creek District Association of Village Councils (DAVCO), and Board Secretary for NAVCO.  She is focused on the relevant issues, articulate in her goals for the country without the intrusion of political parties, and strives to make NAVCO a viable player in helping the villages.  Yes, there is tension and conflict within the organization, and hopefully the situation will get resolved soon.

Ms. Moody, another impressive Belizean, works for NEMO (National Emergency Management) and has her office in the NAVCO building.  This lady started as a volunteer to work during hurricane Richard when the Belmopan coordinator abandoned his post.  After working without pay for three months, NEMO hired her.  Seventy-three years old, she came to the job without any computer skills.  Within a month, she learned how to email, write a letter, and set up schedules on a spreadsheet.  With a strong Christian faith, she lives her life to the fullest: tirelessly as a coach of a softball team, active in her church, and takes the job to the nth degree with planned events and activities and visits to the villages to assess the shelters.

Ms. Cynthia, a village council member, comes to the office to clean once a week.  She takes advantage of the computer training we offer and has become a mainstay in our office.  Extremely dedicated to work for the welfare of her village, she struggles with the chairperson to get anything done.  I won't describe her personal life history for it is remarkable that she survives with a determination to make things better.  She and her family live without electricity and water - she washes her clothes in the river.

Last Wednesday was my birthday, and it was one of the best!  I usually dislike celebrating my birthday but this day turned out to be special.  It started at six in the morning with a text from Cynthia, then another and another - all from Belizean friends and family.  Larry, the PC volunteer at the office, organized a lunch with other volunteers and the office at a restaurant, birthday cake, and card.  Then more well wishes on email and Facebook and finally telephone calls from Kimberly and Ryan.  It was nice.

Today, the Belmopan Library will have a fundraising bingo - a popular event for Belizeans.  I'm boiling the wieners for hot dogs and help with the drinks.  Ms. Mary bakes cupcakes, Kathryn pops popcorn, and another committee member made children prizes and gift baskets.

Down to Work - Life Goes On...

One thing for sure...my time here is not boring.  Finally, an update on what's happening at my site.  Mr. Lopez is gone and is now at the Ministry.  He ran for nomination as area representative for Cayo South but unfortunately lost the election.  He would have made a great area rep because his heart is truly for the villagers welfare.  The Ministry cut the budget by half, the board met to sort out what to do next.  The electricity was cut off last week because of past due payments and the telephone was cut off this week.  Ms. Corona, the board secretary, has taken the administrator role, and, this was the best development yet.  She is currently the senator from Stann Creek, DAVCO board president, NAVCO secretary, and Pomona Village Council chairperson.  I have taken the role of helping her with the office - she's articulate, focused, and motivated to sustain NAVCO and the DAVCOs.

I still plan to travel to the other districts - we received money from the British High Commission to implement the DAVCOs training which means that I can along with Jacklin proceed with the training and assuring the offices are functional.  Another great thing is that the new Peace Corps volunteer group landed in Belize a couple of weeks ago, and two are targeted for two of the districts.  That's really exciting because then I can work with the new PCVs along with the current ones already here to strengthen and continue the work for the village councils.

Katherine, the PC volunteer, who moved to the Belmopan Library site, is doing a tremendous job of helping the library become more visible and active.  Ms. Mary already had a reading program but Katherine formalized the reading program with rewards and outreach - the response was phenomenal, so far, she had to add more days because over 100 kids joined the reading program.  She planned a movie night last week - the movie "Yogi Bear" was shown on a full screen (a white sheet tacked on the outside wall of the library) - the kids and families brought blankets, and we sold popcorn, pastries, and drinks.  We had more than 150 people sitting on the grass laughing and enjoying a family night.  I loved watching them because in Belize a movie shown on a full screen was non-existent.

This weekend, Carol, another older volunteer, and I enjoyed two nights of concert performance by a visiting pianist, Seth Montfort, at the George Price Center.  Performing arts in Belmopan continues to be infrequent, so this was a treat for us.  Tonight is the final concert of the series, and it's been wonderful to hear classical mixed with Caribbean, jungle, Mayan, and jazz music.  This performer is amazing - he's memorized all his performing works plus his own composition.  He lives in San Francisco and leads the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra.  Well, time's up - we are off to the concert!

Photos from the Trip with Kimber-lil and Angela

Angela sent me her pics - I thought if anyone wants to see them, here is the website.  Belize is a beautiful country!!

If you can't see the pictures in this email, click here to see it in a web browser: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=5099730340105%3A1896062161&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Grand Being a Tourist!

If anyone wants a true Caribbean vacation, Belize is the place for a true experience of living in the Tropics.  Kimber-lil and Angela had only seven days here, and we managed to squeeze as much of true Belizean life.  Day one, we took the water taxi to Caye Caulker and stayed at the Iguana Inn - I relished staying at the higher end of accommodations.  Kimber-lil and I had several back and forth discussions of whether to stay at Caye Caulker or San Pedro - she received lots of recommendations from friends that San Pedro was THE place to stay and that Caye Caulker was boring.  Since I already made reservations at the Iguana Inn, we ended up there which turned out fine for both of them, although after having lunch in San Pedro, she agreed with her friends.  Well...from my perspective, Caye Caulker gave tourists a true village-like place, not so commercialized, crowded, and high-priced as San Pedro.

Day two, Angela and I, even though we weren't swimmers, signed up with Kimber-lil to snorkel.  I've tried many times to learn to swim with not much luck - growing up in the city and my family very protective and closed to anything outside of family and temple activities, I was given no opportunity to swim as a kid.  Anyway, Carlos, the guide, assured us that we could do it - he gave us the fins and the snorkel gear, and we headed out to sea.  At our first stop, he wrapped a floatie around our waist then we jumped in for a trial run - poor Angela, first thing she came across was a huge sting ray, she screamed, and Carlos scolded her, "Don't scream, you'll scare the sea life!"  As for me, one floatie around my waist wasn't enough, I had to hang on to something and Kimber-lil held my hand - Carlos, "no, no, you can't hang on to anyone."  At the next stop, he gave me a floater to hang on to...in the photo, you could see me and Kimber-lil - I had to admit, it was cool to be in the water and see all the sea animals.  The hardest part of the whole trip was trying to get back into the boat.  He kept saying, "Take your fins off first, let go of the boat, use the ladder to climb in!"  Yeah, right, I couldn't reach my fins to take it off and was afraid that the fins would float away and would sink.  "Let go of the boat, flip to your back to take off the fins!  You can do it!"  I couldn't let go of the bar on the boat.  He finally threw a rope and tied it to my floatie - I struggled to get the fins off as I floated away from the boat.  Okay, now what?!  He finally pulled me in with the rope, and as I hung onto the rope, I finally got my fins off and crawled up the side of the boat - that's it!  Been there, done that!

Day three:  we water taxied to Belize City to pick up the guide for the Lamanai trek - the girls had their first stewed chicken, rice and beans, and potato salad meal for lunch  I was totally surprised that both really enjoyed the food - in fact I learned that Kimber-lil just like Ryan could douse their food with hot relish - and the habaneros here were HOT!  Tom nearly died from eating it when he was here.  Of course, I didn't climb the ruin, you know, been there, done that - Angela opted to not climb too.  Kimber-lil almost reached the top - I was surprised to learn that she was freaked out by the climb.  I realized that I didn't do so badly with my climbing experience on Caracol which was a much higher ruin.  The guide did a wonderful job of showing us all the wild life on the river and we were fortunate to see a red Jaguarundi cat swimming in front of our boat trying to get across the river.  Evidently, it was a rare sight.

Day four:  We left Caye Caulker and took a guide to Cave Tube near Franks Eddy Village.  As we were driving to the sight, I talked about my snorkeling experience and, lo and behold, the guide, Jose, was Carlos' brother!  I didn't want to tell him that Carlos was my "Mr. Miyagi" pushing me and forcing me to do it on my own.  I had to admit, Cave Tubing was my favorite - we walked a distance into the jungle - beautiful!  We reached the opening of the cave, Jose guided us through the water and into the dark cave - he used flash lights to show the stalactites and stalagmites, then we floated to an open lagoon. I had imagined cave tubing as working in rivers and rapids but this was slow, calm, and totally soothing to the body and mind.  Jose then drove us to Belmopan to my house.  We got there early enough for a quick clothes wash - they experienced my washer and spinner and hanging out the clothes with ants crawling on the line.

Day five:  We walked to the bus terminal to take the bus to San Ignacio.  This was the first time that Angela road a school-type bus in her life.  I think one needs to experience a local bus ride to get a taste of how Belizeans' travel around the country.  We picked up a taxi to get to San Ignacio Hotel, another really nice tourist accommodation.  Misael, the oldest son of the San Antonio family, picked us up at the hotel - it was fun to see some of the kids coming along - and, of course, riding in the back of the truck was nothing to them.  Misael stopped at the Women's group hut to check out the crafts - they were able to see the work area with the kiln, the pigs that fuel the kiln, and the display of the items made.  Both Kimber-lil and Angela bought some nice pieces to take home.  We then headed to the home where lunch was ready for us.  The whole family came out to meet them and they had a great time with the kids.  It gave me a chance to catch up with the family.  I showed the my little house that I lived in while training and Misael took us to the farm to see the crops that Don Roman tended.

We returned to San Ignacio for an evening dinner - as we walked to the restaurant, we bumped into a special children's musical program staged on the roadside.  After dinner, next door to the hotel was a casino - I've heard of it and wanted to check it out.  The girls watched a basketball game on a large screen while I played the slot and won eight dollars!  I never win!

Day Six:  Before leaving the hotel, we toured the Iguana Project located right on the hotel premise.  The Mystic River Inn picked us up for our final trek of the trip.  The Inn, only about a year old, was located in Crystal Rey, not far from San Antonio.  They wanted to horse back into the jungle, and this was the last part of the journey.  Again, another beautiful place, overlooking the river.

Day Seven:  The girls went horse back riding while I relished the surroundings, enjoying being a tourist in this beautiful country.

Day Eight:  The owner of Mystic River, Nedege, drove us to Belmopan to have lunch with my counterpart, Mr. Lopez, Jacklin, Ms. Corona, and Larry - a chance to meet my Belizean friends.  We only spent an hour before Nedege drove the girls to the airport.  I stayed at the office to finish the day at work.

It certainly was a packed vacation, and both girls loved it.  As for me, it was wonderful to have Kimber-lil here to see how I've lived.  I also enjoyed meeting Angela - she's a gem.

Now, back at work, lots of things changing...but that's another day to blog.

Update on living in Belize

Well, since my last blog, I continued to have fun living here.  I was in a hotel for three days then moved to a Peace Corps house not currently used for trainers and volunteers in transition.  I was so glad that I got into a cleaner hotel than the Garden City but, alas, whether it was at the hotel or the house, I contracted scabies - never have I experienced such itching and red bites on my legs.  Nurse Jackie gave me a treatment regiment of cream, instructed me to wash all clothing, beddings and anything that I had contact.  In the meantime, I moved back into the house even though the branches were still there - I imagined that getting a crane and a bucket truck here seemed difficult.

With the tree branches, I lost one of the two clothes line - now, that's another little bit to contend with - lately, black ants crawled the line and onto my clothes - I realized that was the reason I sometimes itch while I'm in bed - I never checked the sheets.  I just washed and hung out the sheets on the line after I sprayed with insect repellent, windex, and vinegar (I have no idea where I got the idea of vinegar) and dried the rest in the house with a fan - as not surprising, the ants were crawling all over the sheets - conclusion:  I'm drying in the house.

Just spent the last ten days on vacation with four friends from the States.  They stayed at my place the first two days to see how I lived and to help out with the library.  Miss Mary was totally surprised to see the guys fix the bathroom - the toilet and the overhead light was out of commission for over a year.  They then bought a ceiling fan to replace one that hadn't worked for years.  While they worked at the library, we ladies hopped on the bus and visited the Belize Zoo.  Hurricane Richard created a lot of damage to the place but most of the animals were saved.

Next day, we rode the bus to Orange Walk via Belize City - two buses to get up north.  We stayed at the St. Chrisopher Hotel which was an ideal place - rooms located next to the river.  We travelled the river to Lamanai to see the ruins.  I loved taking the tour again.  While the guys stayed at the hotel the next day, we took a bird watching trip to Crooked Tree Village - we rode the boat on the lagoon in early morning and saw wonderful wildlife.  On the third day, we booked a tour of the Baboon Sanctuary - we got a close up of the baboons monkeys, had a Belizean lunch of stewed chicken, rice and beans, and potato salad, then headed to Belize City where he dropped us off at the water taxi for Caye Caulker.

I've decided that Caye Caulker gave tourists a closer view of Belizean/Caribbean than San Pedro.  I heard so much about how upscale San Pedro was the place to go as a tourist.  We took a day trip there, and I was totally disappointed - crowded and expensive and the ambiance was commercial.  I came back to Caye Caulker with better appreciation of this island.

Kimberly and her friend are scheduled to come on the 16th - only ten days away.  My San Antonio family are excited to meet her, and she'll see not only the tourist part of the country but also the beautiful countryside and what it's like to live in Belize.  I am amazed at how I now see myself as part of the Belizean life - the country is beautiful and the people are becoming very dear to me.

Another Adventure in Belize

I came home yesterday from work and found one of the branches from my monster tree on my roof - yep, it tore a two-foot hole and bent my ceiling.  It's rained for days, and at first I thought the collapse was from the water-soaked vegetation, but on closer look at the branch, I found that the insides were hollowed out by termites.  I am so glad that I live in a Peace Corps house!  Anthony came over right away and assessed the damages.  He got the branch/trunk off the roof, hammered in a sheet of zinc to cover the hole, and nailed the ceiling panel back into place.  He was scheduled to return this morning to replace the roof, but it's raining again and he's not able to work on it until Monday.  In the meantime, Peace Corps office just called to tell me that I need to evacuate from my place until they can take down the overhanging branches.  I really don't want to go, but I can see the risk of the branches falling while I'm sleeping.  I have until three to pack up my things and move to a hotel - fortunately, it's not too far from here which will give me access to my place easily.  Well...so much for a quiet weekend...

On the Downhill Road

Now as I progress on the last half of my stay here, I can look forward to visits from family and friends.  I have four coming in a few weeks - it'll be nice to play tourist and enjoy the country.  Then, Kimberly will come in March with her friend - again, another break to sightsee and relax.  My sister may come in April and then Ryan and family will come in May.  Whew, what a nice way to fly through the Spring! In June, the new PC volunteers will come aboard, and I'll start training the people who will continue rural development of the Village Councils leaders.

The Ministry confirmed Mr. Lopez' s position as the Water Board Coordinator for the entire country - a great new job for him.  He'll start his new job in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, the board will meet, and it'll be interesting what will happen in the office.  The president has ideas of eliminating Mr. Lopez' position and Jacklin's job and replace them with board members who are volunteers living all over the country.  He thinks that I can take some office duties but, of course, that's not Peace Corps' mission - we don't replace Belizeans, we're here to train, develop local talent, and help sustain and enhance organizations. I am so glad that I plan to direct my efforts to the districts and not stay in the office.

The Belmopan Library will now have a new PC volunteer as a permanent assignment - a recent transition for the volunteer to move from her original site which didn't work well to help the library.  I'm excited that we have two of us helping them - she'll bring energy, new ideas, and can concentrate her time in full.  We already have an idea of using a Peace Corps program that allows volunteers to ask for donations on the web - our friends and family can help the library who desperately need money - as an example, the library has no outside sign, so no one knows that's a library.  The books are so outdated and worn - the kids come to research and read for school assignments and projects.  I helped one student who needed a picture of meridians of the world map - the resource books were torn and dirty and published in the 1950's.  If anyone is interested in helping, please let me know.