5.15.2002 Goosie is alone, as his friend was hung by his webbed feet, wings spread, lifeless. Poor goosie. looking back: the image of the dead goose is etched in my memory, because when I first saw it, one of the 6 year old twins was standing and just staring at goosie.  I found out that [...]

Sunset on the Southern Highway, BelizeAs Michelle has already said in the post before this one, we are approaching the end of our service with Peace Corps Belize. It has been a great 2 ½ years and both Michelle and I will truly miss Belize and all of our friends and family here. Although, with the aid of the internet, we’ll be able to stay in touch with our friends in Belize via email, Facebook, and VOIP services (i.e.- Skype) and we’ll always come back for occasional visits throughout the years.

What We’ll Miss about Belize There are too many things about Belize that we will miss to capture in a Blog post, but to name a few: our wonderful friends and family here that welcomed us with open armshow people enthusiastically greet one another in a proper fashion (most of the time) when passing by on the street (Good Morning, Good Afternoon, etc., or a slightly kinder way to greet someone you would say the salutation twice: “Good Morning Good Morning!” )the always warm/hot climatethe awesomely LOUD thunderstorms that Punta Gorda gets during the rainy season. the interesting wildlife here: Geckos chirping away while running up and down your walls and ceiling, the Jesus Lizards and Iguanas that inquisitively stare at you while every morning run across our tin roof sounding like small children pouncing and sliding, the scorpions, the numerous types of large spiders, and lastly the fire ants that pack such a painful bite/sting for such a tiny creature the beautiful sunrises and sunsetsthe palm treesall of the fresh and interesting fruits and vegetables that most people have never heard ofthe beautiful historical landmarks and sites (i.e.- the Mayan temples and villages, the ATM caves, etc.)all of the fruits that were growing in our own backyard (limes, avocados, bananas, coconuts, grapefruits)the overall kindness that Belizeans generally give to one anotherLuckily all of the positives (as mentioned above) of this experience outweigh any of the tough or negative experiences.

Interactive Language Training is Making the News

On Wednesday, May 16th at 6:30am (8:30am East Coast U.S. time), I will be on a Belize national TV show called “Open Your Eyes” with my friend and host mother Alice Noralez, to discuss and promote the Interactive Language Training (ILT) computer programs that I created for the country of Belize: http://edition.channel5belize.com/OYE (watch the live streaming of the program from this link). “Open Your Eyes” is a morning talk show that discusses Belize current events, history, people, and basically anything that is newsworthy.

Before I came to Belize in March of 2010 as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I wanted to learn how to speak the basic greetings and vocabulary words of Garifuna, Q’eqchi, Mopan, and Kriol, all of which are the spoken languages of Belize, respectfully. By being able to communicate the basic dialect of each of these languages, I hoped it would illustrate my level of respect for the languages, as well as the many people of Belize who I came to get to know and support in development capacity. However, I soon realized that although there was limited information about these languages, there were actually no online resources available for individuals who wanted to learn how to speak these beautiful languages. As a Peace Corps Volunteer serving two years in Belize, I made it my goal to develop free Interactive Language Training (ILT) Programs for individuals of all ages who are interested in learning Garifuna, Q’eqchi, Mopan, and Kriol. As I began developing the ILT programs, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my Belizean friends and acquaintances were in support of this project. They shared with me their hopes and their fears. They fear their native languages may disappear if the younger generations of Belizeans don’t take interest in speaking their native language. They shared with me their hopes that these programs would encourage the younger Belizean population to become more active in their culture and language. They believe, as do I, that these ILTs will create a fun environment for learning and serve as an introduction to the language so the youths can converse with each other and the elders in their community.Free downloads of all ILT programs: http://pcbelize.com/ilt View Interactive Language Training photos, interviews, and info on our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/iltbelize

Thankful A sailboat sailing off the shores of Punta Gorda Town, BelizeMichelle and I both feel honored to have worked alongside the great people of Belize and to have served our country in the U.S. Peace Corps. As corny or cliché as this may sound, I really have a much greater appreciation and love for my country, the United States, more so now than ever. I realize just how lucky we are to live in the U.S. and what a great country it truly is. This isn’t to say that Belize is not a great country in its own right; it’s simply that absence (of the U.S.) makes the heart grow fonder.

We would like to thank all of the Peace Corps Belize Staff who helped us during training as well as during our service to make our experience here in Belize go as smooth as humanly possible. Also, thanks go out to our fellow PCVs who helped enrich our service and helped us grow individually and professionally. Last but not least, a BIG THANKS to all our family and friends in the U.S. who supported us throughout our Peace Corps service, we couldn’t have done it without you. We really look forward to catching up with everyone when we come home on May 27th!

This is my second Mothers Day away from home. They celebrate Mothers Day here, same as in the States. I had a wonderful phone call with Jeff this morning. The rest of the day has been very low key. I'm nursing some gastric "unrest" and some bug bite blues, so I haven't been very active. A little bit of painting, and a WHOLE LOT of Law & Order SVU. They're having the "Mother of all Marathons" with mother-themed stories - HOURS of them!

So the whole work week was a little bit like today. Very low key. EXCEPT

We passed our halfway point! As of May 3, we have been here 406 days, and we have 405 to go!There was a murder very close to our house on Thursday night. Like a "professional" hit with seven shots in this one guy. They drove up, jumped out of the car, shot the guy and drove away. I was standing right next door to where it happened less than five minutes before. Thankfully, this is not typical of Dangriga (not that we don't have a knifing or rape now and again). Generally it's a pretty peaceful town. Here's a link to the story. Enjoy the Kriol! http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/70289 AND here http://www.lovefm.com/local_news.php?item=230I finished the first chapter for the CHW training manual - THREE DAYS EARLY.Those were the highlights. Steve and I also went over to Hopkins for the grand opening of the Sandy Beach Restaurant yesterday. It's going to be a success, I'm sure. They'll really get going when they get their liquor license!

Sorry, that's all there is. Here are some pictures:

These are some that I painted for the restaurant.

Young Garifuna girl - about 9"X9"

Garifuna drummer - about 5"X4"These were taken yesterday at the grand opening of the restaurant.

Steve in the kitchen at Sandy Beach

Miss Marlene, one of the ladies who run the restaurant. She is a

VERY good cook.

Meghan was the Jill of all Trades - bartender, money manager,

sign maker

Here's one of the signs she made

Steve put up one of the pictures I made - on the women's bathroom

And on the men's bathroom

11 may 2002 10 am- to go to yo creek or not to go? that is the quiestion. Pack my bag, and see how ambitious I am. .. On an eastbound bus, slowly slowly I will get to Yo creek and the gathering of rum drinking PCVs. When I left my house, I still wasn’t [...]

Well hello there!

Strange to think about it right?! This is probably our last blog post in Belize. I hope I can try to fill you in on the last few weeks here in Belize, as well as future endeavors. First, Nate and I really must thank everyone who has been following our blogs for the last 27months. Many of you sent emails and letters, even care packages. Heck, some of you even visited. Thank you for your love and support. What a journey! The last few weeks have been crazy and chaotic….as you can imagine. Nate and I got to do some last minute traveling in Belize. We went to a Maya Temple that was beautiful and the Belize Zoo. For such a small country, the sites and landmarks are incredible. The Zoo is such an incredible story, with tons of amazing Belize animals. Nate loved the gigantic eagle, I loved the puma. But probably the most exciting thing that we were able to do was to go to the ATM caves. They are Mayan Caves that you crawl and swim through. You climb all through this underground cave and see ancient artifacts like bowl, tools, and a few skeletons. Very cool!

Besides our little adventure, Nate and I have been spending a great deal of time with our Belizean friends and family. As you can imagine, it is pretty difficult to say good-bye to all of these amazing people. We have been finding ways to honor them and our time together. They made this experience for us. They impacted our lives. Changed our hearts. We are different people now because of them. It’s hard to honor them with small tokens of appreciation, but we are trying. In the last two weeks, we have had tons of dinners together, pizza parties (with specialty pizzas!), and more recently, handing out cookies to everyone we know. If anyone knows me, you must know that I do not bake. Making chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies have been interesting….haha!

Last week I finished my last week of school. It was bitter sweet. I finished all of my projects last week that were at the school. The last minute painting and touch-ups of the school library walls are finished. Electricity and the set-up of computers are officially done. It was great to see the final product. It was difficult however, to say good-bye to the children and teachers at the school. They will be missed immensely. Nate is on his last week of TCGA. He is trying to finish last minute marketing tools for the organization. We just had an amazing pizza party with the guys (and girls!) They were more than co-workers to both Nate and I. They were our friends and our family. They are a great bunch of people. Besides wrapping up work, Nate is still spending his last remaining weeks marketing his ILT. It has been a big success here. Nate was on the national radio station talking about it. He has it on Facebook, given it out to the Embassy, Belizean organizations, school computer labs, community libraries, and pretty much any other person/organization who are interested in it. Peace Corps staff are planning to use it for their upcoming trainings of new Peace Corps Volunteers and the ILT program was so successful that Nate and his imitative will be written about in Peace Corps World-Wide magazine. We are very proud of him!Speaking of how amazing Nate is, he was officially offered a job when we return! The next few weeks consist of wrapping up and packing up our house. We will be spending all of our time with the friends and family in our lives here. We will be returning to the states at the end of the month! Nate was offered a job as a Senior Web Designer for an online university in Northern Virginia. We are extremely blessed to have this wonderful opportunity. He starts work shortly after his return from Peace Corps.We plan to visit our families as soon as we return. We also plan to visit everyone along the way! In the short time we return, we will also be looking for apartments too. I have best friends who already live in the area that we are moving to, so Nate and I are relieve and happy to have a support community already established for us. Now that we know where we are moving to, I have begun looking for Private and Government jobs related to counseling. I will keep you all updated! We will have a prepaid phone when we return and try to get a phone plan when we get settled in. Please email us if you need to get a hold of us.

Nate and I are looking forward to returning. We appreciated the totality of this experience. We had an incredible experience here. When people ask…”would you do it again”, the answer is always yes, we would definitely do it again and we are already planning to return to Belize to visit everyone in the next few years. We also have an appreciation for our friends, family, and our support system in the states.We look forward to fun things again like washers and dryers and wi-fi everywhere. We will miss so much here: The people, PG town, the market, the culture, the beauty that is Belize and so much more. We don’t really know what is ahead for us. We have hopes and we have dreams. We have our future. We know we will have to readjust to living in the states, but we also know that as long as we have each other and our family/friends, then we will be straight!

Until the next time,Michelle (and Nate)

Steve here:

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Red Bank village about 45 minutes south of here. I went with my work partner, Tylon, who is a social worker leading the child nutrition project for our district. We pulled up benches and plastic chairs in the shade of the health post and had a wonderful audience of about thirty mothers and at least that many children. We talked about the nutritional benefits of Incaparina for children, especially during the first two years of life. We also worked with the visiting nurse who talked to the mothers about food preparation for children after weaning.

Community Health Worker is teaching mothers about weaning to

solid food. Mothers in Belize are encouraged to use breast feeding

for at least six months after birth.We had cookies made from Incaparina to give away at the end of the session, and they were a really big hit. The mothers were hesitant to try the cookies until they saw how popular they were with their kids. We were also able to convince the mothers that the food supplement provided by the nutrition project was a good thing, and we convinced them to accept samples to use in their cooking at home. It wasn't an automatic sell. Just as with the cookies, the moms didn't jump to take the Incaparina. So I stepped up to someone and said, "Would you like to take it home and try it?" She took it, and then others joined in. they all took one, then came back for more. "I have a sister. Maybe I could take one to her." "My neighbor could not come today, but I will take one to her." Some of the mothers took four packages. So we're confident that the program got off to a good start.

On Saturday I was invited to a work project in Hopkins village where a fellow volunteer is assisting a co-op of women to prepare the Sandy Beach Restaurant for re-opening. The women cooked a sit-down lunch for all of us. The meal tells me that the restaurant should do well.

I got to do some woodworking and use my tools! I helped one of their children attach a new brace to a broken picnic table, and I cut boards and helped the ladies put a new top on the table. One of the best parts was getting to speak Garifuna with the women who were all good and patient teachers.

This is Cathy here with my two-cents worth:

I spent the week at my computer working on the CHW manual. If I do this a lot, that's gonna be a sure-fire way to a BIG BUTT. I make myself get up every hour or so, but it's not enough! My brain gets pretty fried. OK, I'm through with the whining.

One thing I did for fun, was create some paintings for the Sandy Beach Restaurant. They are meant to be crude, rustic looking. I used rough cut board, and put latex wall paint as a background. Then used poster paint to paint in the simple pictures. Here are a couple. More on the way.

This one will get trimmed and put on the door

of the women's bathroom

Garifuna woman clappingLast blog entry, I mentioned that my Zumba class is doing well. Mondays we have more than 20, and we dance outside in the school yard. Thursday nights, there are fewer so we can workout/dance inside. Ava took some pictures of our last session. They are a fun bunch - really get into it.

I treated myself to a latte this morning, and paid for it with a couple of dollar bills. Pieces of paper with a picture of George Washington on one side and both sides of the great seal of the United...

Steve’s news

After Easter I had a quick visit to the US to see my adult children and the grandkids. It was a wonderful trip. I was there for my granddaughter Olivia’s birthday, and took cupcakes to her class at school, and went out for her birthday dinner. My daughter Laura took me to see my dentist, which was a real treat. It’s the small things ;-)

With Olivia, 9 years old

My sister Nancy took me to Huntersville to stay with my son Chris for the other half of my vacation. She and I caught up on stuff during the trip. With Chris, I got to see two of Jim’s baseball games. He was the team’s MVP for one of the games. Chris took me to get a real haircut before I got my driver’s license picture made. We also shopped for some things not available here.

Chris, Kaleigh, me, and Jim[From Cathy - When Steve got back, I asked him what the most striking thing about the visit was. He said, “It was cold – 58 degrees and I had to wear four layers.” Well, admittedly that was in part because he took only a very light jacket. But he needed three shirts under the jacket to be comfortable. Now that’s proof that he’s truly acclimated to Belize.]

Last week Cathy and I went to the Peace Corps office for two days of in-service training and got re-energized for the coming year. On the last evening we participated in a forum on “site challenges.” [From Cathy - The PCVs who have been disconnected from their original assignments participated. There were 15 of the remaining 35 in this forum who participated. Granted that’s a hefty percentage, and not typical of other Peace Corps installations. They are working hard to repair the situation so that we all can have a “true Peace Corps experience.”]

After the forum, were invited to a dinner event at the ambassador’s residence. He is a very impressive person. [From Cathy - His name is Vinai Thummalapally (rhymes with monopoly). He was Barack Obama's roommate at Occidental Collage one summer! He was SO charming. Went around serving wine and chatting with everyone.]

With the Ambassador (P.S. That's water I'm drinking.)After the dinner we were hosted overnight by Donna and Barry who are career foreign service people.[From Cathy - Donna is from Goldsboro, so we felt a connection with our home state. Barry, from Oklahoma, looked the part with his crisp black cowboy hat and boots. He is involved with law enforcement in his current assignment. He regaled us with funny, and scary, stories about the goings on in Belize. What a treat to be back in a beautifully furnished home, air conditioning, and – get ready for this – a real bathtub. I took my first real bath in a year. (Bucket baths don’t count.) For breakfast, we had individually-baked asparagus quiche that Barry whipped up. Well, shame on us for not getting a snapshot of them. Here are their Facebook pictures. Thank you, thank you, Donna and Barry!]

Donna and BarryNow we are back to work. The revision of the training manual for the community health workers is shaping up to be a big deal, and we are really enthused about this project.

Next month we are looking forward to a visit by Cathy’s dad and his wife.

The super big news is that Cathy’s son Jeff and his wife Stephanie have announced they are expecting a baby in October. So that means a trip to North Carolina for us. This will be the first grandchild on Cathy’s side of the family.

[From Cathy – Just a couple other things from me.

We felt our first earthquake on Sunday, April 22. It was such a little rocking sensation, just two separate tremors, but there was no mistaking what it was. One of the pictures hanging on the wall was barely swaying, but that’s about the only visible sign I saw. The next day I found a website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/) that pinpointed the epicenter in Guatemala. It was a 4.4 on the Richter scale. At first we doubted ourselves, but the next day when Steve went to the clinic, people were talking about it. I asked our downstairs neighbor Rafi if she had felt it. She showed me a new BIG crack in the wall next to the shower. People here just take it in stride.

Last Friday I gave a short presentation to our Business Organization sector PCVs. It was an hour of tips and shortcuts using Excel as a database. I was pretty skeptical that they would be receptive to such a topic. It had been requested by one of their group, but I assumed that most would be experienced on the topic. That wasn’t the case, however, and the presentation went very well. Some said it was the best of the two days. Go figure?!

I’m working on one of the modules of the CHW (Community Health Worker) training manual in anticipation of our first team meeting next Friday, May 4th (MAY? How did it get to be May?) So far we have Steve and me and another woman from the PC office on the PC side. From the Ministry of Health side there will be two HECOPAB educators, a public health nurse, and the Director of HECOPAB. Yes, I am nervous about how my work will be viewed. Oh, well, you have to start somewhere . . .

Oh, yeah. Last Monday my Zumba class had 30 people!

FuWe Dog is getting big!

A lot has happened the past couple months!

First, the Good:

I had my first birthday here in Belize, the big 27! Late twenties now…wow! It was a whole bunch of fun. Some of my friends came up from Belize City and down from Corozal and then I had some the girls from my volleyball team and teachers who I work with. So, we had a little get together at my house then we all went out a couple places in town for some drinks and celebrated into the wee hours of the night. It was a really, really good birthday! Couldn’t have asked for anything better! Thanks Loves who were all there! :)

The month of March was also the start of Women’s Month! So, I decided to hold a couple sessions at Muffles High School, where I coached the girls’ football team. I did two sessions with the first form girls (freshman) on self-esteem, self-confidence and body image. It went really well, the girls’ were very receptive to the information and totally engaged in the activities. I also did some sessions out at Santa Martha Gov’t School (my home away from home). I worked with the Std. 4-6 girls and decided to spread out the material over a couple months. So far we have covered self-esteem and self-confidence and in the next month the plan is to cover more material on puberty, hygiene and sexual reproductive health. These girls are a little shyer and it’s tougher to get them to participate but as the weeks went on they got more and more comfortable sharing their ideas and thoughts. I am really looking forward to the next few weeks and sharing more with these young girls.

In the spirit of Women’s Month I also wanted to do something for the mother’s in the village of Santa Martha, so I wanted to start a parenting class with mothers who were interested. And to my surprise there was a great response for them. I was able to get in touch with a wonderful woman, Ms. Cami Cahun from Human Services and she is helping with the classes and it’s a major plus because she can help with the Spanish translations. The 10-week course covers just about every topic from: how we learn to be parents, family communication, discipline, understanding adolescent behaviors/stages in child development, puberty development, anger management, self-esteem, values, conflict resolution and domestic violence. The classes are still going on and each week we get more and more participants!

Second, the Bad:

One morning in the past few weeks I woke up to feed the dog and went outside to find her vomiting everywhere. And not only just her food, saliva, there was blood in it. So, immediately I cancelled my day and took her to the vet. The prognosis was she had ingested a toxin…how? I have no idea. The thought is that she was able to squeeze her little body through the fence to the neighbor who lives behind me and go into something over there. After the vet gave her meds and vitamins, I took her home and was dog watch for the next 48 hrs. It took her about 2 weeks to fully recover and I can confidently say she is 100% back to her normal spunky self! That was a real scare for a while, but she pulled through.

Lastly, the Ugly:

So, finally after being in country for over a year I found a women’s football team to play on!! I was overjoyed to finally lace up the boots again and kick the ball around and just play. Our first couple games were great. So far we are undefeated! However, all the sports I played growing up (soccer, basketball, XC, track, running) finally caught up to me. We had an away game in Belize City and dominated, we won 4-0. After the game my knee was a little stiff and I just figured I banged knees with someone because I never fell wrong or felt a pull/twist/turn with my left knee. On the ride home, it got even more stiff and swollen. Getting home was a struggle as I hobbled home. But, I did the usual R.I.C.E. that evening, with no real change the next day. I went over to my host family’s home to see what they thought and immediately they called their doctor friend and took me to the hospital, they took x-rays (obviously no broken bones), so the doc set up another appointment the following day (Tuesday) to see the visiting Orthopedic. I finally was able to see Doc Jefferies from Guyana (he was great!) and he did all his testing of turning, pulling my knee and his prognosis was partially torn meniscus! DAMN IT!.. I thought (but at least it’s not an ACL tear, right?)

I finally contacted Peace Corps and told them the situation and immediately I was sent to Belize City for an MRI later that week. **Side note: I was able to get the swelling down significantly and able to get most of my ROM back and assumed it was nothing more than what the doc said, meniscus tear. So, Friday the MRI, this is the first time having one of those…gosh they are long! The following week Monday, our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) got the results from the MRI and drum roll please…..torn ACL!! I seriously could not believe it!! I tear my ACL here in Belize playing football…wow!! I’m not going to lie I was in a little bit of denial of all this…first thought was, “They are going to send me home!” But, after talking with some other PCVs, I think things are going to turn out alright. I had a good conversation with our PCMO about my options and the plan. Since this injury is not hindering me from working, I can get around still; I’m walking fine and still able to do my everyday tasks so there is no real reason to be medically separated. And since I have real no swelling at all anymore and no pain, I’m starting to do lite, lite jogging and going to finally purchase a bike and ride a lot more now. I probably will have to get surgery post-Peace Corps, but not thinking that far ahead now.

Considering all this!...there is still more Good than Bad and Ugly going on here in Belize! :) My Easter vacation was fantastic! A few friends and I went to Sarteneja up in the Corozal district and spent the Easter weekend up there camping! We had a tent and did the whole camp ground and everything. Sarteneja is a big fisherman village, so on Easter Sunday they hold a big Regatta out in the sea. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and plan on making our way back there next Easter!

Until next time…love you, miss you and see you all soon! xoxo

4.22.2002- Visited the school with Tamsin. Sad little room, but it’ll have to do. Tomorrow starts Jump Start. 4.24.2002-Busy busy. Jumpstart is going well. The kids are really great. 8 girls and 6 boys. Adorable! 4.25.2002- 7:30 am headed off to Jumpstart. Smooth day. Good art project: paper bag puppets 4.30.2002 10:40 am after Jumpstart, [...]

After celebrating for two weeks, Belize has settled back down to its regular routine. Kids are back in school, businesses are back to their regular schedules. A lot of people leave on holiday, but the majority have returned.

And Steve is BACK from the States. He returned Monday, the 16th (is that tax day back home?) from a fun visit with kids, grandkids, and his sister, Nancy. I asked him what he thought about the differences between here and there. He said it was cold (down to 58 degrees, and he was wearing four layers), and it was hard to find things in the store because there was so much in the stores.

Well, I felt like I worked a lot during the two Easter weeks. Dangriga Youth Alive (DYA) beach bash took a lot of effort and time. I also helped one of the DYA members apply for a training in cultural tourism (which she won!). DYA had a debriefing meeting to talk about what worked and didn't, how much money was spent and how much was earned. Ah, me, there wasn't a very large net - just a couple hundred dollars :-( But several to-dos (big ones) came out of the meeting, and I will have a role in helping them with all those things. I'll write about them as they come up.

What we're working on now is Thank You's to the sponsors and donors of the event. I wrote a message text that will be put on cable TV which included the names of them all. I think it's $16BZ to have a message played all day. There are one or two channels that run them - obits, job opportunities, happy birthdays, etc. I personally don't watch those channels, but some people keep their TVs on those stations most of the day, listening to the music and reading the messages. We are also going to make handwritten thank you notes for each sponsor. Steve brought back a PRINTER!!!! and I will make some nice note cards with the DYA logo (which I created for them). Yeah, that's the Drums of Our Fathers sculpture in the middle there, recognized easily by all Dangrigans.

On the day that Steve flew back, I was in Belmopan attending a meeting with the HECOPAB (Health Education and Community Participation Bureau) health educators. These are the people, like Mariza with whom Steve works, who train Community Health Workers. There are eight of them right now, with two more to be hired in the next few months. My purpose at the meeting was to meet them and discuss the training manual/training plan that is our current project. They are a very dedicated and enthusiastic group, and I feel that we'll get a lot of help from them.

The leader of this group is Arlette Sheppard. I am so impressed with this woman. She is new to the position as director of HECOPAB. I found out she was one of 10 nominees for Belize's Woman of the Year for 2012, an award sponsored by the US Embassy. Here's a little write-up I took from the awards speech made by Ambassador Vinai K. Thummalapally.

Arlette Sheppard serves as Director and Health Education Officer of the Health Education and Community Participation Bureau. Her work at the Ministry of Health consistently reflects her professionalism, enthusiasm and humanity. She oversees some 250 community health workers who provide health education, services and care to towns and villages which have little or no access and which otherwise would have to do without.

Well, this group has a very ambitious schedule for the project, and we're looking at just three months to produce the first four chapters, and do a trial run with a group of Community Health Workers (everybody here says "CHWs"). There are currently 247 CHWs in the country, all of whom they want to retrain. But the plan is to have one CHW for every 250 people in a village, and that's going to mean recruiting A LOT more people. For instance, the village Steve and I lived in during pre-service training, Camalote, has one CHW now. The population is about 1500, so theoretically they would add another five CHWs.

There is to be an inflow of funds from the World Bank and a Japanese NGO that will be focussed on children's health. To carry out the project, they need trained CHWs. That money starts flowing in September. Yikes!!

Needless to say, I'm writing, I'm editing, I'm working on graphics. Steve is the team leader. He is recruiting writers, short- and long-terms team members. Our big need is someone who can do the illustrations. HECOPAB members really want the pictures to be culturally appropriate, not just some random graphic from the Internet. And we don't have any money to pay an illustrator, so we need an altruistic illustrator. Please ask your friends. Anybody in the world (who has access to Internet) can do this job; it doesn't have to be someone in Belize.

New topic: I'm so glad to be back teaching Zumba after a two-week break. Feels so good, and the group still grows - routinely more than 20 at each class :-)

OK, I'm done wrote-out. Sorry we don't have art this time, not even any new puppy pictures. The next two weeks promise to be extremely busy with meetings in Belmopan, so it will probably be awhile till our next entry. Everybody take care.

Tiempo growls, “quiero mi cena” “Right now” they tell him- he continues to bark to remind the kids in the kitchen. Oooh tortillas. Where’s el pollo? hey?! Rex on his chain chokes down the very dry tortilla- not even a drop of chicken fat. Checks his wound, yup still there, less gnats. Goes in for [...]

Excerpts from journal entries…daily life ..trying to go to DuPlooy’s, to CCC instead then bus to Chaa Creek Junction. Dusty truck ride. had an ice tea then wrote a letter. Went up to meet with Mike. then caught a partial ride, then anothe ride with Sonny & Annette [from Placencia!], ran my errands: post office, [...]

My first year in the Peace Corps has been a year of tremendous personalgrowth for me. Yes, it has been a yearsince I arrived in Belize. Our 2011group of 35 Peace Corps Volunteers celebrated our one year anniversary on March24. There were days during this pastyear when I felt that time was moving so slowly, that it had almost stopped; when I felt boredom or loneliness orhomesickness that threatened to send me running back to the United States. But surviving those difficult times andimmerging on the other side has made me stronger, and as I begin my second yearhere, I am beginning to feel that I am actually helping a few teachers and kids. Teachers are beginning to ask me for help andsuggestions, and principals are requesting that I facilitate workshops fortheir teachers. It has taken a long timeto establish rapport in the schools and I have enjoyed getting to know theteachers and the children in their classes. I find myself applying ideas and methods that I learned as a young teacherso many years ago, and adapting games and techniques that I used when teachinghomeschoolers. It feels like so many ofmy previous experiences as a teacher, a mother and a human being are all comingtogether for me to draw upon for my work and my life here in Belize. I sometimes consider myself the luckiestPeace Corps Volunteer in the world. Leading a workshop on teaching reading for the teachers of Stann Creek District

The past two weeks have been Easter Vacation and school has beenclosed. I feel refreshed and reinvigorated to begin mywork again with teachers and students here in Belize. The first week of vacation I spent with twoof my wonderful Peace Corps Volunteer friends, Kathryn O’Leary and BarbaraLevy. They traveled from their sites tostay with me for a few days and we planned workshops together. We also took the opportunity to swim in theSea and hike the trails of Cockscomb Nature Preserve. It was marvelous to share ideas and inspirationwith two experienced teachers who work in the same area of literacy as I do.

During the second week of Easter Vacation my sister-in-law, Lynn Bryant,came to enjoy her own Belize adventure here with me. As soon as she arrived, we took a water taxiout to Caye Caulker, and spent Easter weekend there with many other Belizeansescaping the heat and enjoying the sea breezes. We feasted on fresh grilled fish and snorkeled in the Barrier Reef.Lynn and I ate grilled hogfish

Lynn experienced the real Belize while bouncing along the Western andHummingbird Highways in the hot, crowded bus for three hours on our way fromBelize City to Dangriga. We spent a fewdays in my little town and swam in the Sea at the Pelican. Relaxing at the Pelican

Then we ventured to the Cayo District to an Eco Lodge so that Lynncould experience the jungle of Belize. We went on a night-time nature walk and saw scorpions, tarantulas, afox, opossum and a bird called the blue-crowned mot mot. We took an early morning bird-watching walkand saw two kinds of toucans, woodpeckers, owls and many other birds indigenous toBelize. We also visited a butterfly farmand saw all the stages of the Blue Morpho butterfly, the national butterfly ofBelize. The Blue Morpho butterfly

These past two weeks with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers and mybeloved sister-in-law have renewed my energy and inspired me to continue my work here in Belize.

I hate it when I wait so long to write in the blog. I'm sure I'll leave our some "good" stuff. Here goes -

It's been a very busy two weeks. Steve spent a good amount of time working on plans for the Community Health Workers' training manual, and I put together an outline and gathered graphics for one of the first chapters. Mix that in with Peace Corps (Volunteer Advocacy Committee and WID/GAD - that a gender issues committee) and training manual meetings. Steve and I made four bus rides to Belmopan in five days! I also taught Zumba and some aerobics classes, HFLE classes, too. (See, right there in a couple sentences I covered a week's worth of activities. Details have flown from my head!)

The week before Easter really heated up. As I mentioned, the Dangriga Youth Alive group was planning a big carnival-type event on the beach at WhyNot Island for Easter Sunday and Monday. In Belize they observe Good Friday, often called Holy Friday. But THEN, I guess because Lent is over, they celebrate like it's New Year's Eve.

Steve launched into making some of the "money" games. Some of the wood he used was what we call Masonite. Belizeans call it beaverboard. We needed one board that was punched full of holes. Back in the States, we'd run over to Home Depot to buy some pegboard. Here he used his drill on the beaverboard to make punchboard. I painted it, drew swirls and a sign for the name. Aidra made the little rolled up pieces of paper which indicated what prize the kids would win. Voila!

He also used more beaverboard and the ever-present mahogany 2X4s to make a cornhole game (we called it Bean Bag Toss) and a mini-backboard for basketball. Aidra made beanbags. (Actually they were bags filled with with dried corn. She called me up to ask if we could use something besides beans because she liked the beans and wanted to eat them. Made sense to me! I like beans, too. Seems a shame to waste them for a game.) We used a laundry basket and colorful bouncy rubber balls for the basketballs. Remarkably all beanbags and balls made it through lots of use in two very active days.

Adding the name to the cornhole board

Note the T-shirt. It was supposed to look like

the graphic above.We were operating on NO budget. Uncle Harry's Hardware and everything else store donated paint (used for the games AND the T-shirts). Aidra's sister, Daytha, went all over town to get companies and individuals to donate prizes for all the non-money games. (They also donated money; this was, after all a fund-raising event.) And she got some GOOD stuff - night for two on one of the Cayes, cases of drinks (Guinness, Fanta, other), bottles of rum for the "carrot" at the top of the greasy pole, gift certificates for different services. BTL gave several cards worth $20 each for use on cell phones. What a go-getter.

Aaron Ferguson, the Community Liaison officer and leader of the Police Cadets, pulled together the sports games - Greasy Pole, Water Pyramid, Tug 'n War (Belizeans don't say Tug of War) Kayak races. He also arranged for the DJ, our only expense. I'm hoping they won't pay him the entire negotiated price since he was four hours late for the first 8-hour day !@#$#%#!$

Greasy Pole. Can you see the bottle of rum at the

top? Actually there are two! It took the 8 different

teams an hour and a half to finally retrieve the prizes.Two Girl Guides leaders, Tanisia and Paula, organized the kids' games, MORE Tug 'n War, watermelon eating contest, sack race, the ever-popular Lime and Spoon, among others!

Both days were very successful, with hundreds of people coming out for the festivities. Enterprising food and drink vendors provided snacks. Some of them paid a daily fee to sell at the beach bash. The beer distributor (who provided a huge tent for free, also gave us 20% of their profit. Yay, Bowen and Bowen, the distributor - and Belikin Beer!

I won't know what the take was until our debriefing meeting on Friday. Will report in the next blog entry.

Steve is in the States for a week, left on Monday. He's there visiting his kids and grandkids. Shout out to Chris, Jim and Kaleigh, and Laura, Jason, Jack and Olivia!

Here are a few pictures to give you a flavor of the Beach Bash.

Kids' gamesFergie. Nobody calls him Aaron - either Fergie or Ferguson.Steve worked ALL DAY Sunday. I'm such a lousy photographer,

it's a shame that the only picture I have of him he's sitting down.

Yes, that's Rafi and Anthony, our neighbors.Swimming at the mouth of the river, right beside WhyNot island,

where the Beach Bash was held.Best friends, Jada and Filippa, just got their faces painted :-)Aidra and Daytha, with Daytha's daughters, Shinoah and MalickaMeghan VanDeventer, another PCV, helped manage the

money games.At my post with the poster paints.

…rehung my hammock, rehung my clothesline now it is longer, more space. Doreen has the music turned loud, singing along. Goosies grumble not too pleased with the disturbance.   …saturday evening, rex is free, rolling in the grass. Bwais playing in the yard. Goosies on patrol. cloud covered sun. I hear: dogs barking, chicken’s cluck, [...]

It’s quiet out on a farm in a way it’s quiet nowhere else. I hear a clock ticking, the compressor on the refrigerator humming. Faint traces of sunlight cut a silhouette on the western horizon. My Mother, my sister and...

Took a trip to Placencia for Easter weekend, which fell on April fool’s day. …. Aaron and I broke up. “this vacation didn’t go as planned.” …packed up, walked the beach, went to the sidewalk’s end (or beginning?) walked down the road. red clay and yellow dirt road. Turned down a ride when the door [...]

excerpt from a letter never sent: end of march is bringing the dry season and hotter days. My productivity during the cooler days is becoming a distant memory. I’m knee deep in papers scribbled with botany and ecology notes for a teacher’s manual i’m compiling. (I yearn for a computer at home or just one [...]

thursday, march 28, 2002 Today I was goosed. After dumping out the compost, goosies came swarming up, pecking at the bucket then my foot and tugging at my pj bottoms! pretty funny. finally got to my broom and Rex by my side. together chased them off so i could wash out the bucket. it’s 10 [...]

Today is officially our due date. Two weeks ago while paying the bills I saw a chiwawa running around the post office parking lot. I almost ran him over. He was darting under cars. I jumped out of my car and chased him around behind the post office while he ran under one post office vehicle to another. I coaxed him with a yogurt lid. I looked ridiculous. 9.5 months pregnant crouching on the ground trying to catch him. In all the excitement, I left my car door open. After a while, I saw him run to my car, so I ran over and looked under it. Nothing. Then I looked in the car. There he was sitting in the back seat. I knew he secretly wanted my help. I hurried and shut the door. He rode on top of the baby all the way to the humane society.

That was on Monday. On Thursday, the Ides of March, I went to work. My back hurt. I went home for a break. I decided to take Tuk for a walk to see if it would be better. We hiked up behind our house. Then my water broke. I called Todd, he was out in the field. He made it to the hospital an hour later. I sent him out again to get berries and gum for our 24-labor time. He almost missed the whole thing. Two hours later, we had this little guy...

My adopted state of Florida is once again in the news for legislation on the use of firearms. I’m sure by this time you’re well aware of the case of Trayvon Martin, shot and killed by George Zimmerman. It has...

Fu We Dog says HELLOMarch 24 marked the one-year anniversary of our arrival in Belize. Bright-eyed with hope and wet behind the ears (even at our ages of 61 and 63), we stepped onto the tarmac at Goldston International Airport near Belize City.We had already spent a year and a half going through the application process, pushing, pushing, waiting, waiting for faster processing and admittance into the ranks of the elite few who are chosen for Peace Corps duty. I think that all of us in the group had high expectations and plans to save the world. Even though we had been told during orientation and through various emails, "You should not have expectations of what you can do in Belize," it is human nature for someone in our position to want to feel useful and needed.

One year later, here we are with a VERY different outlook. We have been through the "honeymoon" phase of service early on, and we've had some pretty deep low points, too. At the risk of jinxing our situation, I do believe that we are on a long-term upswing now, one that will last us our last 441 days of service (but who's counting?). We have integrated well into our community, with more than just a nodding acquaintance with many people, and a close relationship with a few special friends. Our neighbors treat us like . . . neighbors! We still get some folks who think we're tourists, but that's rare. As for our outlook on work in the Peace Corps, we have met with reality and survived.

Steve is such a disciplined and positive person that he just forced himself to carry on, even while we drifted in the doldrums of the PC seas. (Oh, I worry about my imagery here. Are you gagging yet?) I have always used the "One Day at a Time" philosophy when confronted by a bad situation. However, I did set myself a deadline for improvement in the work situation (as in - OK, I'm outta here), and would have acted upon it if there were no change. We are pleased to say that all the waiting has paid off!

Our project assignment is to update and revise the training manual for Community Health Workers, and to insure that they have an effective training methodology and workable delivery system. The Community Health Workers are essentially volunteers in the community, mostly women, who educate and serve as a local resource for residents in small villages. They are given a very small stipend, $100BZ per month, which is typically used for transportation. Training for these CHWs is provided by HECOPAB - The Health Education and Community Participation Bureau (of Belize) - and other NGOs, such as UNDP, World Bank, and MedicForce.

On the local level, they have been using a training manual that was created in the early 70s. Peace Corps management was approached by Ms. Arlette Sheppard, the director with the Ministry of Health of the Community Health Workers. She asked if PC could help to revise and update their training manual. With Steve as the team leader, and me as the primary writer/production person, we will have meaningful, important work that will carry on past our stay here in Belize. And it will have such a positive impact on the health of the people of Belize!

Planning has already begun, we are recruiting team members, and Ms. Sheppard will conduct a needs assessment. We have a rough outline that has been approved, so there's nothing to stop us from moving forward. Needless to say, we are both thrilled.

I will be thinking of this as my day job, with secondary projects teaching HFLE, and helping Dangriga Youth Alive with their fund-raiser event over the Easter holiday. There is also a possibility that I will help establish a girl's GLOW (Girls Lead Our World) club here in Dangriga. More about that in the next exciting installment!

Fu We Dog is getting BIG. Age 14 Weeks. I've expanded the collar twice.

My day began in a mosquito net as I dreamt of my bottom teeth falling out, and other wild sensations. Put on the coffee and tend to the house, it’s a mess. Rex tracks kitty litter around, dead spider, cat hair and road dust, swept out the door. Traffic down to market and back has [...]

Before serving in Peace Corps, I wanted to know what a typical day was like, not realizing that there is really no typical day, but maybe some typical rituals or chores you do every day. The following journal entries record what was important to me at the moment of writing: Monday, March 4, 2002 Feverish [...]

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you know that Steve and I have been struggling with our time here - psychologically and emotionally, much more than any physical or financial hardship. Our original work assignments were not well-vetted, so we have been engaged in very little meaningful work. So many current and retired PCVs have told us that we would need to be here at least a year before things really shape up. Unfortunately, that's assuming that the work assignment is a good one. Nevertheless, Steve and I trudge ahead, routinely encouraging each other and looking for any glimmer of positive developments.

This past week was about the same for Steve. We make jokes about how early Steve gets back from work. He leaves in time to get to the clinic by 8:00, about a 20-minute bike ride,and seeks out his work partners to see what's going on. He's usually back before 10:00. Friday was a record; he made it back by 8:30.

Next week promises to be a big step up. Steve will head up a big new project - updating and restructuring the training manual for Community Health Workers. It's a great opportunity and so perfect for him. I will be involved, too, since I have lots of experience writing educational materials and training manuals, as well as a background in adult education. Our "get organized" meeting is Tuesday. A Peace Corps Program Manager from Honduras will kick start the project. You may recall that all PCVs were sent home from Honduras, so this guy is on loan to PC-Belize for a month or so.

For me, last week was pretty good. I taught my regular HFLE classes and they all went very well. The kids in my classes have told other kids in their schools and neighborhoods about me. It's pretty fun to be walking or riding around town and hear, "Miss Cat!" I don't necessarily know the name of who's hailing me, but it warms me up to hear the hello and exchange a smile. I also taught Zumba twice, both times with large attendance. Yay!

Kids across the street play most afternoons.

The Dangriga Youth Alive group met again. The Dangriga Town Council will join forces with DYA to create an even bigger and more diverse Easter celebration - a day longer (add Saturday), and a longer day (Sunday night concert/dance from 10-3). Yes, folks, I am helping to create my own worst complaint, the loudest, awfullest, all-night-keep-me-up musicfest :-( OK, it's for a good cause. The Town Council will pay for all the advertising (DYA had NO budget for that), build a shed for vendor booths, pay for the big tent, and provide some other games.

Aidra and I are planning how to cut and use this board

for some carnival gamesEverybody benefits! The Town Council benefits by promoting Dangriga as a fun place for Belizeans (most people from Dangriga would go somewhere else for the holiday weekend) and tourists, and DYA also promotes its name and goals while raising money for high school scholarships.

Dare I hope that something more permanent will work out for me with DYA? Fingers crossed. They are a newly-formed group that is just developing their organization and mission. Peace Corps and I disagree on a fundamental element of project assignment. PC management believes that work in Belize needs to be through the various ministries of government, and I think working through grass-roots efforts is best. I certainly understand the need for approval at high levels. Peace Corps can't just traipse in to a country and haphazardly try to help with development. But for the volunteers, it sure is easier to actually GET WORK DONE and feel useful working with very small groups. Just my two cents.

Finally, I thought I'd include an excerpt from a letter written by my friend, Alex. I knew her from when I volunteered at Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services in Pittsboro, NC. She was a paid staff counselor there. She and her husband came back last fall after their Peace Corps service in Vanuatu. She shared these words of wisdom with me. (P.S. If I have already included this in an earlier entry, I apologize. It's good advice two times.)

Thanks for the email--We are in the throes of readjusting to American life and I am so far behind on writing friends and even seeing friends in America.

The two most shocking things of being back in the states are how cold it is here and how stressed out everyone is. I am used to being the most high strung member of my community (along with Lucas), but compared to the average American, I am SO LAID BACK! Unbelievable! I really miss how chill the islands are (although at the time, I wish people had a little more fire under their asses to do ANYTHING at a faster rate).

Oh, Peace Corps. Towards the end of our service, Lucas laid down on our bamboo bench for a week and fell apart over how unsatisfying the job aspect of Peace Corps was for him. he was originally a business vol and really went into health because there was nothing for him to do that he would consider ethical as a business vol (he did lots of small business individual advising and was there long enough to see anyone who was doing something remotely innovative fail because of their family relationships). capitalism and a tribal community don't mix and the good things about the tribalism where we were outweigh the good things about capitalism...even if there was strong tribalism, people couldn't and wouldn't work together on community projects for various reasons: All of this caused my poor husband to have a breakdown for a really sad and ugly week...Lucas' hope of a meaningful project died and it was really hard to watch.

But, what we did take away from it all is that we caused no harm. We know volunteers that have done big projects that will surely fall apart when they leave (or soon after) and that did nothing to empower communities (in fact, having the opposite effect). They feel better about themselves, but I wonder about the unintended consequences they left behind.

we did do a whole lot of intentional nothing (we could have made ourselves very busy, but it didn't go with our value system of doing work with the community not for the community) and the only thing that I wish I would have done differently is offered more things like computer classes, adult literacy and English classes, reading classes with children, Spanish classes, anything like that. Lucas wishes he would have done PACA (I think it's a waste of time). Anyways, we did have periods of extreme busy and then absolutely mind-numbing nothing. I think most folks in the developing world are okay just taking care of the daily acts of living (which can be so time consuming), and all the other stuff isn't that important. Who knows.

Anyways, I'm sorry for you guys--it's a tricky spot to be in, I know.

When we were leaving Vanuatu, there were about seven of us leaving at around the same time--we all ended up going out to dinner one night and all of us had different periods of really hard times in our service.

This is what we could all agree upon:
1. Peace Corps kicked our asses in ways we had no idea was possible--a lot of us at the table were very used to being competent professionals that were used to some degree of mastery; we were all humbled as all of our expectations for what we could actually do were higher than what happened.


2. We had all grown: there were people at our table in their 70s and a 24 year old and we all felt stretched and challenged.

3. At some point in our service, we all HATED Vanuatu.

4. And we would all do it again (not take it back) and would recommend it to anyone who was interested.

So that's been our view from the end. All those stupid cliches are true about it being the hardest job you'll ever love.

I miss Vanuatu now being on the other side of it all and I even miss the laid-backness that would drive me so NUTS!!

*************************************************************

The requisite puppy pictures. FuWe Dog can SLEEP!

a version of this was published in the Toucan Times: Waiting By Alanna Randall While you’re sitting there, beside that dusty rutted road inhaling the smoke of burning plastic Crystal water bottles, you wonder if the bus will ever come to take you out of this miserably backward village. You suddenly, or leisurely depending upon [...]

A reflection by me...Kathryn

So our time in Peace Corps is rapidly coming to an end and in the last couple of months instead of feeling complete excitement for our return home I have started to feel a squeezing in my chest reminding me of how in love of Belize I have become. For a year in Peace Corps we struggled on a daily basis with our work, our relationships, and all the other changes surrounding us. There where many times in that year I could honestly say I did not like being in Belize. Then something happened and things started changing. Next thing I know it and my work is moving forward and not only are my work partners trusting my advice but they are becoming my friends. I suddenly didn't have to fight for every penny because I am white instead people either already know me or I can talk just enough Kriol for them to realize I have been here awhile. And one of the most helpful changes happened when a few boys in our neighborhood showed up to Cisco's ultimate frisbee game on Sunday and suddenly all the 19 year old boys that gave me trouble in my village were my best buddies. How is it possible that in the last three months of Peace Corps I suddenly feel completely at home, and now it is time to go? Well that being said I want to share something about Belize I will miss the most including the stories of when I have felt the most at home.

One of my favorite memories in Belize is when we just returned home from spending almost two weeks in Mexico, meeting Cisco's family, over Christmas break. The taxi pulls up in front of our gate at around 7 at night and we get out to pick up our baggage. As soon as we exit the car screaming children come from all over the place yelling our names and cheering that we are home. Immediately we are immersed in hugs! Then the kids all start grabbing our bags and helping us open the gate. They all walk us to our house and put our stuff inside as I look around to assess the damage. Since our homes are very open, the windows are barred shut, and there are just screens separating the inside from out. Our table was covered in dirt and I was started complaining about how dirty it was and the little boys started wiping the table down for me. I go to walk them all out because we need to get settle in and one of my favorite little boys, Tito, who was seven at the time stops me puts his hands on my shoulders, looks me straight in the eyes and says, Katarine, I am so glad you come back! Talk about the best way to come home from vacation. About a half hour later our neighbor Zoila sends some Escabache, onion soup, over because she knows we don't have any food in the house too. This is what it feels like to be part of a community.

Another story that is much shorter and completely random is to me a prime example of Belize. The other day I was staring out my front window, as I tend to do alot, and I saw a little girl on her bike. This girl was probably 5 riding a little kids bike, which she probably had been riding since she was 3. She was dressed in a very fancy strapless red gown, she looked like she was going to a wedding. She of course was barefoot and as she passed the house the chain on her bike slipped off. Well unlike any kid I know in the States, and I grew up in the country, she hopped off her bike leaned over it and fixed the chain in seconds. In her adorable little gown and bare feet she quickly hopped back on and went on her way. Love it!

Every Sunday at 3 pm Cisco has organized an Ultimate Frisbee game on a field about a mile from our house. He sends out flyers and texts to people all over Belmopan. The game has not surprisingly become one of our favorite times during the week. But to our surprise one day when we were playing a couple of older boys on bikes were watching and hanging around while we played. After we finished and Cisco and I were packing up they came over and asked to throw the disc around and we of course said yes and quickly realized these were our neighbors, the boys that lived directly around our home. Well in just a month or so three 19 year old boys, their 17, 15, and 14 year old siblings all regularly play Frisbee with us each week and have become our best pals on top of that. Now whenever there is a holiday we all go to the closer field right behind our house and play sports together. With the older boys we are always talking through the fence, playing games, and one has become my Spanish tutor. This has proved to be a monumental change for us, I no longer get harassed on our street because all of the boys know me, and for once we feel like we really have a Belizean family. A couple funny stories have come out of these games and interactions as well…

Probably the third time we played Frisbee the three 19 year olds wanted to play against Cisco, myself, and my friend Bart. Cisco and I are the best and most experienced players and we tried to explain to them that the teams weren’t very fair, but they insisted. At about the same time I was picking on one of the boys about how I’d like to see him cook because I was sure he couldn’t. This was just one of many “discussions” I have had with these boys about gender roles. He insisted he could and said he was going to make me dinner and blah blah blah. Well these two conversations ended up molding into a bet that the losing team had to cook a barbeque for the winning team. Well of course Cisco and my team won and the three boys promised to cook for us the next Friday. Well the BBQ was meant to start at 5:30, I was coming late from an event at 6, and the food was supposed to be ready when I got there. Each boy had their own responsibility making tortillas, cabbage salad, beans, and most importantly the chicken. I arrived at 6 and nobody was even around except Cisco. Needless to say we didn’t eat until 8:30 and there were two trips to the shop for beans and charcoal during the process but I have to admit it was some of the best chicken I have ever eaten.

One of my other favorite moments in Belize happened just a few weeks ago right after Cisco’s sister arrived. Cisco and I had been away for a conference and only had the morning of Alicia’s arrival to clean up the house and get prepared. I was doing chores and grocery shopping all morning when I heard the guys hail me from the fence. I had been having trouble with my bike tire for weeks, Cisco kept patching the inner tube but it still kept going flat and I had to go everywhere with a pump. We were gone for a few days and I hadn’t had time to fix it again and this time it was flat flat! Anyway the boys called for me and told me pull my bike up front to the gate to fix it for me. I did as I was told and they told me my whole tire was no bueno. The one boy Victor told me to give him $20 and he would go buy me a new tire and replace the old one. He went halfway across town and fixed my bike for me, and gave me change. A month ago these boys wouldn’t even talk to me and now they are taking care of me like a sister. I have never felt so appreciative of something so simple.

Other random things I will miss…

The constant sounds of nature, I don’t know if I can sleep without chickens, geese, dogs, and blaring reggae tone.

Food being the greatest offering of friendship and love. It seems every day now someone gives us an orange, banana, sweet bread, or soup just because that is what they do. I made 60 cookies the other day and distributed them out around the neighborhood and it is the best feeling in the world.

Riding my bike everywhere, the exercise, the opportunity to see things, to feel the sun, it’s a blessing.

Watching out my window and seeing a carnival every second of every day. Snotty geese bullying all the other animals and chasing down poor bicyclists, hardworking guard dogs barking at everything that moves and the smaller the dog the louder the bark, chickens just scavenging for anything edible, children making use of every movable object to create some kind of game or entertainment for themselves, gossiping ladies, men working hard and drinking hard, domesticated turkeys (which I will never get used to), one annoyed pig, an occasional free roaming cow, 5 minor bicycle accidents a day, a women carrying 3 kids home on her bike, a man carrying a weed eater, can of gas, and other equipment on his bike, a 5 year old using a machete to cut the grass, the ladies washing their laundry every day in the outdoor sink, rain or shine, and of course the kids incessantly throwing rocks at each other despite our frequent warnings.

Everyone singing and dancing all the time unapologetically and without fear that they look or sound bad. I love that music is constantly flowing through their daily lives.

Hammocks

Fighting to get on the bus like a herd of cattle and all easily finding a seat

The snacks... ideals, cold cups, wagon wheels, fruit in bags, fruit with lime and salt in bags, ketchup on everything, nachos with cheese, meat, and hot pepper, tacos, panades, and believe it or not rice and beans!

Kriol and its beautiful rhythm. Spanish and everything about it!

Hearing fireworks at 4 am and knowing its somebody’s birthday.

Quinciñeras

Churches in session at 10 pm with the worst singing I have ever heard in my life!

Walking into a classroom and watching all the kids stand and say together Good Morning Miss Kathryn and welcome to Standard 6.

School Uniforms... it's nice to know where the kids go to school, it's a conversation starter.

Waking at 6 am, running, coffee, reading, eating, getting ready to go to work. Yes 3 hours to prepare myself for the day is just the right amount of time.

Hour long lunches at home.

Buying dvds from the market a week after they come out.

The weather, sweating 9 months a year is really a beautiful thing.

The landscape and fauna, green, pink, purple, red, blues everywhere it is just beautiful.

Going to the beach whenever we want.

Taxis, water taxis, sailing, buses... I guess I love public transportation.

Things I will not miss...

Wearing a helmet when nobody else does, lol

Fire ants... little bastards.

I guess all in all somehow in the last year Belize and I have become friends and I am going to miss her.

Steve here again. Last week Cathy and I took a $5 BZ bus ridesouth to work at an information fair for elderly people. It was sponsored byVOICE, which is an advocacy group for the elderly. One of the Peace Corps volunteers works with that group and asked us to help. It was a 1-day gathering in a predominantlyMayan village at the edge of the rainforest.

At Cathy’s table, she talked about healthy lifestyles andnutrition. She emphasized the benefit of regular exercise to minimize theeffects of aging. She also did a Zumba exercise session and had one or twopeople who actually did part of the session with her.

Sharing the table with Cathy was a woman from CARE Belize. Don't confuse this group with CARE, the international humanitarian organization. In this case, CARE stands for Community Agency for Rehabilitation and Education, focussing on helping persons with disabilities. They help in many ways, including providing wheelchairs and other orthopedic devices.

Cathy and Andrea Coc from Care BelizeI worked at a table near a physical therapist volunteer, and weanswered health questions and explained what medical practice had to offer forcertain conditions. Several of the people allowed me to photograph theircondition to get more information for them from other doctors.

Standing is Shaz Davison, PCV assigned to VOICEWe also had a chance to meet the village chairman and thecommunity health worker. I plan to get information back to people through him.

There is a “health post” in their village that is staffed by adoctor from Hopkins satellite clinic and a visiting nurse. They are there forhalf a day every two weeks. People complained repeatedly that they can see thedoctor, but they still have to go to Dangriga to get the prescription filled ata government pharmacy. The bus fare and loss of work time is too high a pricefor most of the villagers. For the most part, these are proud, self-sufficientpeople who are sometimes turned off by a careless comment from a receptionistor nurse at the clinic who makes them feel that they are begging for a hand-outrather than seeking access to basic health care that is free to all Belizeans.

People gathered to hear information from the

Social Security BoardThe event was held at the dining “thatch” of local tourist cottagesand was very nice. We were provided with coffee, juice, water, and even a lunchof vegetarian tamales.

All the puppies have found new homes. FuWe Dog is settling inwith us. She is playful and loves attention.

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Hi, this is Cathy. Just thought I'd mention that my Zumba classes have started up again. We are now meeting twice a week in a classroom at one of the schools where I teach. A Belizean woman was teaching aerobics classes there Monday through Friday. I will take over Monday and Thursday nights with Zumba. My first night teaching, there were four people. The second night there were fourteen! And they are all Belizean except for Ava. Oh, I have missed those classes.

On another note, at Mayan Center I towered over every single person there (except the Americans, of course). Most were under 5 feet tall.

Well, they finally did it. Our goosies attacked a tourist mobile and got photographed as a result. these two male geese are aggresive patrolers of the yard, which seems to include the road and the yard across the way.

from my journal: Saturday, March 10, 2002 I dropped out of chasing the race.* Wanting my house! But the first day was fun. Lots of laughs. Left Banana Bank after the reace began, hitchin-a delay at Young bank ferry to Belmopan. Decided to head west. Grabbed my pack, hat, goodbye. Walking, hot dusty road. Taxi [...]

Since we’re still in election season, and no matter which party is in power someone is always displeased, scurrilous emails about the current resident of the White House often crowd my inbox. As I voted for the current resident, I...

After Christmas break it was right back into the swing of things as usual...Its been awhile since I updated this but a lot has been going on up here Orange Walk! All Good Of Course! :) I believe I mentioned last time that I was coaching a girls high school football (soccer) team here in town at Muffles High School. The season was fun, the girls worked hard and I know I learned a lot more about teenage Belizean girls! I also coached the First and Second Form team (Frosh/Soph) in a tournament one of the weekends in February. All I'm going to say is that we should have done way better than we did! (Spoken like a real coach, right?) We were the best team out there, we just tied too many games to get out of our bracket. Through this team I was able to get some football gear donated to the entire team, and it was a great benefit for many of the girls! They loved it! Major shout out to Sportsgift!! A thousand Thanks!!

Muffles Varsity team

Trying on gear.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

1st/2nd Form team

So here in Orange Walk Town I have been playing on Women's Volleyball team...I know what your thinking, Volleyball!? I know, I know, not my forte at all! I am so out of my element there, the whole hand-eye coordination does not bode well for me what so ever. But, it is still loads of fun! I've met some really great people that I can truly call my friends. Overall, the team is a work in progress, were not bad just need to practice a lot more! :) We go and play in some tournaments down in Belmopan and up North. Our men's team is kick ass though! They just got 2nd in Nationals behind Belize City. Our guys team, BadNews!I couldn't find the pictures of our girls team. Next time!

The latest at Santa Martha Government School...are things are still going great! I love that village, the teachers, the students, the parents, everyone is just so welcoming and appreciative of everything and willing to help in anyway they can. Its really a beautiful thing! So, the computer classes are still going strong there with the upper division students and started working with a handful of students to improve their reading. Because the village is predominantly Spanish speaking, the only English they get in school and its so easy for the teachers and students to revert back to Spanish in school. So, another PCV, Barbara, who goes out once a week are trying to really improve the reading at that school. We also started the World Map Project!! It is still a work in progress but so far it looks great. The students still have to finish the school logo on the left and the country of Belize on the right. The students, teachers and even community are all getting involved with it. I am also working with the Principal and Ministry to possibly get a Pre-school built in the village. We've talked a lot about this and it would just hands down benefit the students in the school. This is very, very early in the process, so wish me luck! :) Computer classes.

Barb teaching away! :)

The World Map...so far!

And the eating program slowly getting started at SMGS still going strong!The Project hopefully to get done...a Pre-School!

Recently, we just had a visit from Prince Harry this past week for the 60th Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. There was a street renamed after the queen in Belmopan and there was a big celebration for his visit. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it down there. But, I heard it was a raving success from the people who attended...check out the link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3R2J5iQgLA&sns=fb

Also, this country had its elections at the National and District level. There has been a ton of campaigning the past couple months and the past few weeks they have been really pumping it on. The elections were held March 7 and it all went very smoothly. Rallies and Banners.

I also recently went down to Placencia to go scuba diving again to laughing bird caye. Absolutely gorgeous!

This month of March is Women's Month and I'm going to be doing some sessions at Muffles HS and SMGS on self-esteem/self-confidence and puberty. So looking forward to those sessions. And also going to be starting some parenting classes at SMGS with the ministry of human services. So hopefully March runs smoothly! :) And its also my BIRTHDAY MONTH!! Having a little bash with some friends and pcv this coming weekend. And of course March 12 is a Holiday here! AWESOME!! :)

HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAV PICS THE PAST MONTHS...

Sugar Cane!

Well I hope that caught you up to the latest of the happenings here in Orange Walk! Miss you all, Love you all, and I'll See you all soon! xoxo

It's been a quite a year, and there's just no way to make this short and sweet, so let me just begin. I started working at the Bliss Theater a year ago, and couldn't wait to go to work every day in that wonderful, artistic, creative atmosphere. I enjoyed working there more than I can say, but a big reason was the people I worked with! Every single person who works there is wonderful, especially my boss Karen. They work hard and make it lots of fun while they do it. I would have enjoyed staying there throughout the remainder of my Peace Corps service, as every day was new and different. One of the highlights was working with Aurelio Martinez, a singer, song writer and musician who blends the Caribbean and West African roots of the Garifuna culture into punta rock. He played several concerts throughout the country, and a free concert for 600 kids at the Bliss, exciting and inspiring them through his music.But, in December I was offered a wonderful opportunity to work at Heritage Point Condominium. It is a brand new development that was built by my "good friend" Mark Miller. Mark and I met in the Cancun airport when we were both returning to Belize after the Christmas holidays last year. He is a builder, also from Florida, and came to Belize the same month that I did in March of 2010. He was brought here as a consultant for Heritage Bank to finish a development that they assumed through foreclosure. Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love construction, so I tagged along with Mark as much as possible in the last year, taking in the smell of freshly poured concrete and watching as the building was completed (and throwing in my two cents whenever I could, of course). We also adventured to a lot of really neat places in Belize, and had a wonderful vacation with Tom & Joan Heinz last November.As the construction began to come to an end, the owners of the bank, Richard & Julie Sutton, offered Mark an opportunity to move to St. Martin to work on another one of their projects. So, Heritage Point needed someone to oversee the finishing touches and convert a few of the units into furnished condos/hotel rooms. I was offered the job (after much groveling and begging), and went to Cancun right after the holidays for two weeks of training at one of the Sutton's beautiful time share resorts. I had a blast and felt like I finally found my calling, OK, so it's when most people my age are thinking of retiring! I did everything from working with housekeepers, outside maintenance, front desk staff, bellboys, sales, and even spent time in the wonderful,crazy chaos of Richard & Julie's days. But trying to always surprise the resort guests and make their experience even better than they imagined is so much fun.So, I've been furnishing and decorating five of the units, applying for a hotel license, designing signage so people can find their way here, showing the units to potential buyers, washing about 50 sets of sheets and towels, scraping paint off the floors, maintaining the pool, and everything in between!I've got my hands full, trying to sell condos, and accomodate vacationers and guests who stay in the hotel, but I'm looking forward to tackling each challenge and making Heritage Point a success. So, come see me in Belize!!

Hello everyone, So you must be wondering….what ever happened to Nate and Michelle? Are they ever coming home?! Well the answer is NO, we decided to stay and live in Belize. Nah, I am just kidding. We are scheduled to head home at the end of the May! Hope I didn’t give anyone a heart attack! Haha. Okay, so when I left off, we just finished celebrating New Years and we were getting ready to have Mama Michelle come and visit us in Belize. As some of you already know, 2012 started with a bang! The PC doctor thought I had Dengue due to severe headaches for a week and not being able to eat, plus the whole high temperature and getting sick. But guess what…it wasn’t! Nate and I (thanks of the help of my sister Janice) are pretty sure it was either Malaria or a really weird virus. Luckily we had medicine and we both took it. All in all it was a Peace Corps experience! Well besides that cool experience, we got our first family visitor. (Michele and Karen were our first friends!) Mama Michelle came in January and we spent several days on a little island on vacation. Needless to say, we had a great time with Mama Michelle. The days were spent relaxing by a pool or the sea. Michelle even got a massage and I rescued a dog from a rip current. Haha. Oh the memories! I wouldn’t forget the time Michelle and I hung out in the clear ocean laughing hysterically from the events from that day, while Nate relaxed on the beach eating a meat pie. Man that lobster pie was good too. It was probably one of my favorite days in Belize. We took her to our house in PG for a few days and she had the chance to meet the students and teachers at my school, as well as Nate’s coworkers, and our host family. We went shopping and had dinner with one of our close friend, Dorris and her family. It was great. It was also hard to see her leave. A few weeks after that, Mel and Janice came to visit. It’s been ages since I saw my sisters. They looked great. I was so happy to them here. Of course after having Mama Michelle here, we knew all the ropes to making sure they had a great time. Melissa never went snorkeling before, so we took her to an island for three days. During that time, we went snorkeling with nurse sharks and sting rays. Melissa and Janice took advantage of the beautiful weather by sun bathing. Nate got burned from snorkeling. We enjoyed the Jacuzzi and the pool. We made delicious breakfast and lunches together. And Janice’s assorted drinks were great touch. Mel and Janice got to meet a couple of our Peace Corps friends, as well as our host family too. Unfortunately they didn’t get the chance to take the express down to PG so they ended up traveling on a bus for 7 hours. They didn’t do so bad considering it was their first time. It was so hard to see them leave. The only reassurance I had was that I knew I would see them in a few months. Shortly after they left, Nate and I had our big COS (Close of Service) Conference with the rest of swearing in class. We started out with 38 and were blessed to have 22 people to COS with. We were delighted that two of our friends were able to return to Belize for the conference. They had made our service special for us for the last 2 years and they made it even more special for us when they were back. The COS conference was held at a classy resort/hotel in the Cayo District. I was actually really nervous to see everyone. I don’t think we were ready for the amount of information the staff prepared for us. We reviewed countless things related to the close of our PC service here (documents we needed to fill out, things to sign, etc.,) as well ways to get us prepared to for the next journey in our lives, including job interviews and updating resumes. We weren’t also prepared to say good bye to our friends either. Granted we would see one or two before we leave, but most likely, we wouldn’t see most of the group again. So here it is….the beginning to the end of this chapter in our lives. We will have time to start the process of closure here in Belize. I don’t think we have started it yet, well at least not consciously. We talk about leaving in May, but ultimately, I don’t it has hit us yet. So many experiences. Some real amazing, life altering experiences. Some high highs, and some low lows. I don’t think we would change it for a second. I think it will take us some time to process what we will take from this as a couple and individually. But as I mentioned, we aren’t ready to wrap up our service yet. Nate did an amazing job as a part of the COS committee. If anyone is interested in seeing the slideshow (of pictures of us and other people from our group), please email one of us and we will send you the link. He is gifted. Everyone was in awe of Nate and Nate’s talented work. Since the COS conference (well to be fair, for the last 7 months) Nate has been working on the Interactive Language Training (ILT) for the Belize Languages. He is hoping to finish it in the next two weeks. I cannot wait for everyone to see it. It’s like the Rosetta Stone for Belizean languages. It is going to change language barriers in Belize. He is also helping his organization to prepare for the annual Cocoa Festival held in PG. He will be starting the process of wrapping up services in the next month and applying for jobs. Me on the other hand, have not even thought about jobs. Okay, that’s not true. It is definitely in the back of my mind, but really, who has time to apply for jobs? I am in the middle of planning a Toledo District wide Women’s Health Fair, in celebration of March 8th, the International Women’s Day. Honoring women across the world. Well this fair is to honor the women in Belize, especially Toledo. The goal of the fair is to provide awareness and information about a number of health issues affecting Toledo female (youth and adults). So I have been working with another Belizean to get every organization in town (that works with these issues) together to provide resources. Holy Cow it’s a lot of work. So far about 15 (and most of the orgs) and about 30 different topics will be presented. I will let you know how it goes. I am busy at school with the afterschool programs and fundraising to get 5 girls to go to a free summer camp. But, what I am most excited about right now is that I am training to run a 5 mile race. Okay, who am I kidding! It is more like a 5 mile run or jog! Haha. April 21st baby! Stay tune to find out how it goes!

So I am sure you guys are wondering where are we going to live or when will you be seeing us? That’s a great question. I will fill you in hopefully next time. Definitely before we leave Belize. I hope! Oh and remind me to tell you about the national and town elections!

We love you all and miss you. Oh boy…less than 3 months! Email us and let us know how you are doing too. Okay? Love, Michelle (and Nate)

Belize, the "Jewel of Central America," is rich in resources. At the top of the list is its natural beauty, including the coral reef situated off the coast, the second longest reef in the world. Every year thousands of tourists come from all over the world to explore the reef and enjoy the hospitality of Belize. Tourism is one of the country's largest industries. As the country's infrastructure improves and grows, tourism will continue to grow in importance.

Pumping station at Spanish LookoutAnother resource, although not so plentiful, is petroleum. One company, Belize Natural Energy, began exploring in the Spanish Lookout area in 2002, and now produces about 5,000 barrels a day. Before that, many companies had unsuccessfully explored for 50 years. The crude is processed here, but all of the oil is exported. None of the owners of the company are Belizean and they hire very few Belizeans. The sole benefit of BNE (other than some small grants to various local groups, such as POWA) to the country are the corporate revenue taxes.

According to an article on Belize.com, "Most of Belize’s 8,867 square miles of territory and much of the waters offshore have been allocated out in petroleum concessions to 18 different companies with a range of foreign shareholders from as close as the USA and as far off as Taiwan and even a local gambling den," and "Princess Petroleum Limited, belonging to the owners of the Princess Casino, has a contract to explore 1 million plus acres of Belize for oil. The license is mostly offshore, but also some inland exploration. The company is allegedly well connected with local politicians of the ruling United Democratic Party." (Read the entire article.)

So now to get to the focus of this blog entry - offshore drilling. The government is promoting offshore exploration and drilling "for the benefit of the people of Belize." Enter Oceana, an international organization dedicated to protecting the oceans and natural oceanic resources of the earth. They have been present in Belize for a long time, focussing on overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. Barrier reef protection is at the top of the list. More than 20% of the Belizean population derive revenues because of the barrier reef. Regarding offshore drilling, Oceana, in partnership with the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage, has been advertising vigorously since before Steve and I arrived in Belize last March via posters, radio and TV commercials, newspaper articles and canvassing to spread the word about the issue, and the dangers to the barrier reef. (Read Oceana's overview.)

In 2008, the Belize legislature passed a law allowing people to bring issues to a referendum. The petitioners for a referendum must collect signatures from at least 10% of the registered voters (about 18,000 people) for the issue to be allowed on the government ballot. This is the first time the new law has been tested. Oceana turned in close to 21,000 signatures. When the signatures were reviewed by the ministry in charge of elections, more than 8,000 signatures were rejected.

This was, of course, a big setback. They were expecting some problems with duplicates or some whose voter registration was in doubt, perhaps up to 1,000, but not with almost 40% of the names. The group is following up by requesting documentation on why each signature was rejected. In the meantime, Oceana's next step was to announce that a People's Referendum would be held on Wednesday, February 29. The vote would be funded completely by Oceana and the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage.

One of the polling locations in Dangriga. More than 3700 people

voted from Stann Creek District.The turnout was impressive (more than 29,000 voters), and the vote, not surprisingly, was against the offshore drilling by about 96%. Of course, it was an unofficial vote, and so holds no weight with the government. However, Prime Minister Dean Barrow went on record yesterday to say that he can't ignore the fact that so many people made the extra effort to voice their opinion. He said that if re-elected, he "personally would be prepared to support the Government sponsoring the referendum to be held at an appropriate time after we would have allowed for a full-throttle debate during which people will not just hear from one side."

I have met NO one here who is in favor of offshore drilling. Of course, I live here on the coast of Belize, so that's not surprising. I have read some articles quoting some who support the drilling initiative.

General elections will be held this Wednesday, March 7. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we do not get involved in politics. For our safety, we will be in a status of Alert and Stand Fast for March 6-8. Focus this week will be on the politicians, not the barrier reef. But I'll keep you updated on this important issue.

February was for me a month of relatively consistent work inthe schools with only a few interruptions to my schedule. Interruptions are actually quite common herein Belize. It seems there are frequentfairs, fund-raising events, parades, festivals, contests or teachers gone fromclasses due to workshops or retreats. But this past month I only really experienced two interruptions to myregularly scheduled sessions with students and teachers. One was a spelling bee which I was asked tohelp judge, and another was a Festival of the Arts for high schoolers which Iwas asked to help decorate and run. Thespelling bee was held in several locations throughout the Stann Creek District,to determine the winner who would then compete in April in order to be the representativeof the Stann Creek District overall in the national spelling bee held in BelizeCity. The Festival of the Arts is alsoan elimination contest to determine the best in the Stann Creek District whowill eventually complete in the national festival in June. What a privilege it as for me to be not onlyan observer of the Belizean students’ talent, but also an active participant inorganizing these contests. Here are somephotos of a few high school performers. High School students dancing the traditional Garifuna dance, JankunuBelizean rappersTraditional Garifuna danceThe winning dance competitorsAs I continue to work with small groups of students,teaching them how to read, and as I attempt to give teachers ideas for workingwith these underachieving students, we are all beginning to see some progressin their development. As the teachersnotice their students’ progress in reading and their developing confidence,they are encouraged to work with these small groups of students on a regularbasis. The traditional mode ofinstruction in Belize has always been whole-class, regardless of whether or notindividual students are progressing, so the notion of working with small groups(known as differentiating instruction in educational parlance) is a relativelynew concept. It is also very difficultto implement in the schools, because there is little physical space inside the classroomto group students according to ability level. I have taken to pulling small groups of kids outside to work a half hourat a time, or to working with teachers before or after school with these smallgroups. We have seen the studentsprogress in their reading abilities just since November. That is very encouraging to teachers.

Teaching a small group of Standard I (second grade) students at Light of the Valley Primary School

Every Wednesday I also continue with the Family Literacyworkshops in the Spanish-speaking village of Bella Vista. Two of the mothers have learned to writetheir own names for the first time and are beginning to learn to read inSpanish. I love working with thesewomen, who dutifully complete their homework and show up each week eager tobecome literate.

On Saturday, March 3rd I did some hiking with two friends, Evaand Linda at the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve. This unique sanctuary in southern Belizecovers an area of about 150 square miles of tropical forest, and is the world'sonly jaguar preserve. The jaguar islargely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator atthe top of the food chain (an apex predator)and it is a keystone species, playing an important role instabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of the animalsit hunts. Belize declared theCockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary a preserve in 1984, and the jaguars withinits boundaries have been protected ever since. We did not encounter any jaguars, since they arenocturnal. We did, however, glimpse a grey fox, a jaguarundi,a guinea fowl and two snakes.

After a rather strenuous climb, we were rewardedwith two waterfalls and a pool of water in which to cool. We were also treated to a view of theCockscomb Mountain Range, and Victoria Peak, the second highest mountain inBelize, at 3,688 ft. I am so blessed tobe able to witness this tropical, Central American beauty.along the trail

from my journal: 5:30 am on Saturday. Dressed, packed and ready for my day. My ride will come at 6 for DuPlooy’s where I’m off to work. Eight hours of sleep, but who wants out of bed in this misty darkness of cool daybreak? rooster crows, bird cries from the river bank. Kahzy helped me [...]

from my journal: 8:40 pm 3-1-2002 My  night winding down with hot tea and honey, Kahzy crying for a late night dinner. I had a evening shower after a delicious dinner of limas and rice with green pepper, tomato and garlic mixed in. Threw in some spices and mango tango sauce. Voila, a one pot, [...]

Journal entry: Friday morning, 6:30 am 1st of March 2002 Watch the birds; bus blows its whistle, passes by. river mist on the hill, parrots flutter past as Tiempo howls out in aggravated hunger, I suppose, seeing his family in the kitchen, his breakfast surely being eaten. He sniffs the air determining the cause of [...]

It's Steve again. We learned that parents in Sagitun, a nearby village, were alarmed about head lice among the school children. It was my privilege to work with theresponse by teachers, parents, and Ministry of Health. My work partner fromHECOPAB (Health Education and Community Participation Bureau) and I got a ride tothe village with a public health inspector who was collecting water samples inthe region. We were packing three cases of shampoo bottles laced with 1%permethrin as well as a ten-minute slide show on lice infestation.

I gave the presentation starting with Infant I (kindergarten) class. It was morepictures than science, and I walked through the rows of desks showing thelaptop picture to each student as I spoke. The teacher (who is an angel) repeatedthe message with each slide, and then she lined them up and led them to theplayground for the “activity part”.

The treatment plan was a shampoo, then a ten-minute wait with lather inthe scalp, followed by clean-water rinse and fine-tooth combing to remove moreeggs attached to the hair. Repeat treatment after 3 days is recommended.

At first, the three of us worked on each child. Several motherswere recruited by texting, and they brought towels, buckets, and morefine-tooth combs. While I moved on to address Infant 2 class, the assembly linekicked into high gear, and in less than four hours, we had taught and shampooedover 100 students.

We left two cases of shampoo for a follow-up treatments.

from my journal, 2002: Last day of February already! This week was kind of low with today heading back up high. Felt productive today. working on resolving the issue with Maria…have to have solutions before Ken comes on Monday. I think the root of the problem was that I never established a connection with Maria [...]

The email read “Ray and Carol Miller passed away February 22.” That was about it, other than an apology for the mass mailing, and a link to a Lincoln news report on the deaths. It was from Ray and Carol’s...

Hi, Steve here. One of my primary work partners is a young man who is a socialworker by training. He is in charge of the district’s child nutrition project.It is a national project to identify undernourished children up to two years ofage and provide food supplement to bring them back up on the growth chart.

The network includes satellite clinics, rural health posts, andcommunity health workers who function much like nurse practitioners. Babieshave their weight and length measured when they come in for check-ups andimmunizations. If their growth is not progressing or if they fall below thesecond standard deviation for age, they are are given supplements. If they are at minusthree standard deviations, they are referred to the regional doctors, sincethey may also have parasites or other illness in addition to not eating enoughcalories.

Children are supplemented up to the age of two since that is thecritical time of development that cannot be corrected by feeding later in life.The cut-off at age two is not a hard end point, and there is some flexibility.

The supplement used is Incaparina and comes dry and packaged inplastic. It looks like corn meal but is mostly soy protein and has vitaminsupplements. Each serving (corn and soy flours) ofIncaparina contains 379 calories and has 21.75 grams of protein, no sugar, 5.58grams of fat, 9.9 grams of fiber and zero cholesterol. The brochuresdescribe many ways to prepare it. It keeps for up to four days withrefrigeration once it is prepared.

I think the program is a wonderful one and is pretty successful.The weak point may be the number of community health workers who are on thefront lines of the campaign. They work extremely hard and are underpaid. Ithink they need more help. The payoff will be the next generation of youth whowill start life without the deficit of malnutrition.

**************************************Last week our blog passed 10,000 views! We began writing in October 2009, the time when we applied to join the Peace Corps. Thanks to all of you who read and comment on our entries. We enjoy keeping folks back home informed of our work and play here.

Fu We Dog's first bath

Vacations are great, but we ARE here for a purpose, right?

Steve continues to go to the Polyclinic every day. Sometimes he goes with the social worker or the community health care workers to teach about hygiene or other topics. Yesterday he went to Hopkins door-to-door to warn about their water source. Fecal matter had been found in the water, and everyone needed to be taught about boiling water or using "purified" (bottled) water for drinking, cooking, washing hands and brushing teeth.

Steve is a great teacher. He's helping the neighbor boy downstairs with his homework several days a week. He also helped one of the POWA women with her high school homework recently. It was a marathon session to prepare her for a big-time math exam. She said he really helped her to understand all the different types of math. Kudos to Steve!

I am still teaching HFLE (sex ed) and life skills to elementary schools. Just got "fired" from one school yesterday. I guess I stepped over the line when I showed them how to put on a condom. The kids are 12 and 13 years old, and already know A LOT about puberty and other sexual health and reproduction topics. They have a very healthy sexual curiosity, too. But the parents felt that I was teaching them too much, that impregnation and safe sex were too much in depth. Here are some of the quotes: "They know more than I do." "They shouldn't be learning these topics until 6th Form (Junior college)." "They don't need to know about safe sex because they will wait until they are married to have sex." One parent threatened that if I kept teaching there, that she would keep her child out of school on those days. The book the teacher had been using before I started teaching was a Bible-based text called Love, Romance, and Marriage.

OK, so I learned my lesson, and will tread lightly at my other schools. I HAVE been teaching these same topics in the same way to other youth groups, but they were a little older. Anyway, I am a little worried that this could cause trouble for Peace Corps and reinforce some Belizeans' opinion that the US is trying to corrupt the people.

My Belizean friends sided with me and said the kids NEED to have the information, maybe even younger. The other classes are going along fine, but I'm scared now, so I may not continue teaching the young ones after I meet my commitment through May.

I was officially put on a Pause status with POWA, meaning that I would not work them until things could be ironed out regarding my role and my relationship with my work partner. In the meantime, I certainly do not want to lose my friendships with the POWA members, so I have been visiting with them socially. In one case, I learned about an additional work project.

A little logo I made for their eventA small group of citizens (two of whom are POWA members) has formed Dangriga Youth Alive. Their focus is on raising funds for high school scholarships. They will hold a beach bash over the Easter weekend toward that end. Members of the organizing committee include the Community Relations Officer of the Police Department. He runs a group of kids called Police Cadets. There is another guy who runs the BDF (Belize Defense Force) Cadets. There is a woman who is a Girl Guides leader, and three parents. I will help them, and have done a few things already.

For one thing, they did a great job of keeping expenses down by getting contributions of supplies and prizes, but they needed more ideas for raising cash. Other than a fee from the food/snack vendors, and a percentage of the beer sales, they were basically providing free music and games for everybody for the gate admission of $1BZ.

I suggested some additional games that will appeal to kids and adults. They will pay to play them and have a chance to win prizes. The ever-popular CornHole, Fishing for Treasure, and others. We may have face painting for a shilling - $.25 BZ. That event is scheduled for April 8 and 9, Easter and Easter Monday.

Steve and I both will work at a health fair in Maya Center Village on March 9. It's an all-day fair focussed on senior citizens.

We need some pictures, right? How about puppies?! By this Friday I should have all them adopted out. Thank goodness. They are a LOT of work, and feeding them is expensive!

from my journal: It’s 8am and the day has started. chores I should do, dishes, make coffee, sweep, litter. And I might go into Cayo today at some point…Radio in a nearby house, a plane overhead, Susanne hitches past, yells out she’ll see me this afternoon. .. 1:05 pm Saving my Cayo chores for tomorrow [...]

from my journal, 2002: Dust filtered sunlight in evening’s quiet solitude, the red sheen of wooden floors, rays of sun’s last shinings on my house, to slip west past my hill, past Chaa Creek Valley over Guatemala to the Pacific sea, ocean blue to Japan and beyond eventually warming Colette in Cameroon and  back to [...]

At the PelicanThe week leading up to our family's visit and the visit itself was emotionally exhausting for me (in a good way), so I'm way behind in writing the blog! Here's a quick rundown of our vacation week. Those of you who regularly read our blog will recognize a lot of similarities to the activities we had when Steve's sisters visited.

Arrival! A boring picture for most people, but I really like it!My son, Jeff, and his wife, Stephanie, and her mother, Susan, arrived late morning of Saturday the 4th. Steve and I took the bus from home to Belize and then to the airport to meet them.

We had a rental car for the whole week. That's like an extra vacation treat for Steve and me, because of the freedom it affords us. We learned that we ARE allowed to drive in Belize if we are on vacation, so we took advantage of that. It was fun to drive the roads we've been travelling on the bus, watching out for the myriad speed bumps (they call it the Highway Patrol) along the way.

Our first full day of vacation we lazed around Dangriga, taking the pretty walk north of town to the Pelican Resort. They have hammocks out on a pier where you can read, sip a drink, nap or just look at the sea. Beautiful.

Monday morning we hit the road bound for Succotz, the village closest to Xunantunich and El Castillo, a large Mayan ruin. Along the way we stopped at Marie Sharp's "pepper" plant. Her company produces hot sauces, jams and jellies, and a few other products. The people of Dangriga are very proud of her success. Heading north along the beautiful Hummingbird Highway, we enjoyed the orange groves and rain forest-covered mountains. On to Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite village that is different from anywhere else in Belize. It has large fenced pastures, huge barns and storage buildings, and American-style homes and shops. We stopped for a pizza slice and some ice cream.

Susan and Marie SharpThe Sleeping Giant, seen along the Hummingbird Highway.

You can see his face in profile, and his body lying to the left.Xunantunich was just as magnificent this time as when we went with Steve's sisters. Two differences this time - I did NOT go up to the top; the other four did. And we had extra time to go over to the see the howling monkeys, the ones living in the wild. That roar is truly frightening. Should be used for a monster sound in a horror movie!

Four crazy people at the top. I just couldn't bring myself to go back

up there again. Too many bad dreams after the last time I did it.

Another shot of El CastilloTuesday we headed to Placencia for a nice overnight stay. The Sea Spray Hotel was right on the beach, had good amenities for not much money. Most of us took a jog or power walk while we were there. Placencia is a great place to visit if you come to Belize - but it's not very Belizean there. Touristy. Tuesday night was time for Karaoke, with everyone getting in on the act except the official photographer, Steve.

We checked out Wednesday morning and headed to the Coxcomb Basin Wildlife Refuge, what a lot of people call the Jaguar Preserve. Everybody was gung-ho for a good hike. Boy, did we get what we asked for. Straight up and down to get to a double waterfall, and then retrace to get back. It was beautiful, and worth the work. At some point, I admitted that I needed some assistance and Steve made me a good walking stick. I have no trouble going up, but going down steep grades scares me. That stick gave me the extra balance I needed. The best part was swimming at the foot of the waterfall!

Cold as it was, everybody eventually got used to the water and felt

invigorated. Susan and Jeff kept talking about the water's magical

qualities. I thought they felt better because of all the negative ions

generated by the waterfall. Maybe it was magic.Thursday everybody went snorkeling (and napping and reading) at Tobacco Caye. Sorry to say we don't have a single picture, because nobody wanted to risk taking their camera. Brought back SEVEN lobsters for Friday's dinner.

Friday was another easy day in Dangriga, just lazing around, shopping, reading, doing some fix-em-up projects at the house. And Friday night was lobster dinner with Miss Patsy and her sister, Bernice. Patsy always makes me feel so good when she comes to eat. She compliments my meal, says, "You can cook for me every Friday, Cathy." It's extra flattering since she is a professional cook!

Saturday was my birthday (62!!) and we had a great time at the Belize Zoo and dinner at the Pelican.

Well, I've left out a few things for sure (especially the absolutely miserable Wednesday night watching the Duke-Carolina basketball game), but I hit the high spots.

Although I do a fairly good job when I'm angry or indignant, I've never been good at expressing my sentimental feelings. It was tough for me to say goodbye on Sunday. I had already had several tearful moments in anticipation of their leaving, but I still had a lot of boo-hoos left. Great memories, though.

from my journal: Today started with a kitcat helping me out of bed. 6am. feed the cat and wash the dishes. Brush my teeth and use the toilet, there’s no time for coffee this a.m. bummer, missed the 6:30 bus by twenty seconds, surely, but grapped my stuff and ran. But nope, instead a glorious [...]

from my journal, 2002: Sunday in the village sleeping late the tourists drive by a cuppa java-breakfast blend last night, I was out in the community, went to the school fundraiser party. Played the games, chalupa-I won twice, winning money, which i shared with the kids. won a notebook, two fake bugs and 3 hair [...]