HELP International - Belize

final post

2010-10-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

all of the remaining team members of the belize help 2010 arrived safely home august 25th

our final days in belize consisted of cleaning, paying bills, wrapping up all projects, cleaning, soaking up the sun, packing, shedding a tear or two, cleaning and saying good-bye to our friends: project associated and otherwise.

thank you everyone, within belize and back home, for your support and love. we could not have done all we did without your help. it was the experience of a lifetime and one we will not forget. thank you, thank you.

2010-08-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Taya, Kory and Steph no more :(

Last week we lost some more of our team to America and the luxuries thereof. Kory left on Sunday with Stefanie and NaTaya following the next day. We will miss them dearly, but there is still much to do. The best part of leaving is the delicious breakfast Sister Kay makes for you the morning of.

A handful of days left in Belize but more than a handful of workers to complete the job.

Adobe Stoves

Adobe Stoves this week was really an eye opener. Our first stove designed by Taya and Amanda was dry and ready for testing it with a fire. Well with much enthusiasm, we had little success. The fires were being smothered due to the lack of oxygen. So through trial and error, Krysta, Amanda, Bryant, and President Lemus worked hard to solve the problem. We had to redesign, tear down and build up the stove several times. On the bright side, this mud dries amazingly fast. With this to our benefit we were able to work and wait only an hour or so to continue. Finally, we came to a solution that worked. We decided to build another chimney for the larger stove to help prevent smoke back up. We also enlarged the openings to where more oxygen could funnel through. A few more adjustments need to be made but the good news is that it will be fully functional before we leave! This project would not have been possible without the help of many minds finding solutions and not just giving up! As for the stoves in Arenal, they are still drying and some of the team will be heading out there to check on it later this week.

The team also went back to Arenal and installed the chimneys on some houses. The stoves are not in use quite yet, but they are fully constructed.

Music class

Music class this week was a little smaller in size but great in the fact that the children got more one on one time. This week we introduced them to the piano keyboard and how the notes on the staff correlate. They now have all the knowledge on how to read and write music, all they need to do is practice. Each week before starting class we quiz them on what they remember from the previous week. It is so cool to see the kids shouting over one another to try to say what they learned. We have one more week to wrap up music basics and guaranteed it will be!

Computer Class

This week in computer class we taught about microsoft excel and created a variety of excel spreadsheets. Although the student was at points overwhelmed at the amount of things excel allows you to do, we assured him that remembering the basics is the most important part. We also worked on proper typing and how to use special tools, such as flow charting, in Microsoft word.

Nutrition

This week we had a lot of successful nutrition moments. A lot of home visits were made by Alyssa, Amanda, Nicki, Calvin, and Bryant. Amanda also gave a fabulous class in Spanish to the members of the Spanish Branch.

Hospital

This week we wrapped things up at the Hospital. Although the Dialysis Center is not entirely complete, it is only about two weeks from opening. This week we finished the insulation, tiling the ceiling, filling a sewer hole with rocks, and digging trenches for water pipes. It was a lot of work, but all for a good cause. For our last day, the fellows we have been working with, invited us to a lunch at their favorite restaurant, Benny’s Kitchen. It was delicious and it's where Amanda and Krysta got to try Cow Hoof Soup. They admitted to it not being that bad! This was the perfect reward for all of our hard work on this amazing project. We appreciate La Loma Luz for allowing us to be a part of their team.

Octavia Waight

Octavia waight has continued to be a place of comfort and learning. Each time we visit the residents feel more comfortable in talking, joking, and visiting with us. We have completely learned the tricks to getting residents to cooperate in exercising. Usually all it takes is a little bribing with a banana. Although some days are not good days for all the residents, most of them have shown improvement and endurance in their exercise routines. Checking blood pressure on the residents is always fun because we get to joke with them about eating too many sweets! Not only have our relations with the residents grown stronger, but with the staff as well. They are so appreciative of the work we do and they often offer us some of their delicious meals!

Leadership

This week in the leadership seminar volunteers taught about resumes, interviewing, and how to hold effective and efficient meetings. The last class we had a class discussion on the topic “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” In this discussion participants brought up problems that they see in their schools, community, country, and in the world as a whole. We talked about each problem that was brought up and then we talked about things that can be done to fight the problem. We then taught about the idea of “the power of one.” In this discussion we also talked about influential leaders who were able to create positive change in the world and common characteristics these leaders held to help these changes come about. It was an inspiring last class to end the leadership seminar. Volunteers and participants alike felt a stronger resolve to help fight the problems they see in the world.

Succotz summer school

This week was our second and final week at the Succotz summer school. In addition to working on Math, Literacy, and Art, we also worked on special presentations to present to the children’s parents on Thursday. The presentations went well and it was very fulfilling to see the children show their parents what they had been working on. After all of the children left, the village leaders had a huge lunch prepared for all of the volunteers and we were able to spend time talking to the leaders. It was the perfect end to a wonderful project!

Square Foot Gardening

No current updates

George Price Literacy and Conflict Resolution
We wrapped up the Literacy program and the Conflict Resolution camp last Friday. It was a good end to the programs as the parents came for presentations at the end of each. At conflict resolution, the parents watched a “news cast” that the students created. They each wrote a script for a piece of a news cast: sports, local news, world news and entertainment, involving a conflict. The HELP team edited the video and it turned out great. The literacy kids read poems, stories and sang songs for their parents. Raymon and Whitney were also interviewed for a local Belize news station concerning the literacy camp.

Weekend adventures!!

ATM

Raymon, Whitney, and Kayci had an adventure of their own at ATM. In this ancient cave used by Mayans for sacred ceremonies, they swam, hiked, and viewed skeletal remains. It was exciting!

Caye Caulker!!

This weekend Amanda, Steph, NaTaya, Alyssa, Krysta, Nicki, Shayna, and Bryant made the trek to the beautiful Caye Caulker! We spent two marvelous days in the sun and crystal clear water. We spent our time relaxing, snorkeling, and fishing! Krysta Nicki and Shayna even saw dolphins! Bry and Amanda got to go fly fishing while the rest of the group just soaked up the sun! Great friends and a Great time!

2010-08-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Two Weeks Left!! and here's what we're doing about it...

Teresa, a.k.a. T-Pain, Left this week (well last week now) and left us all in tears. It will be a quiet, lonley, less funny and abbreviated house without her. However, we will all be following her shortly. Peace out T-Pain.

Leadership Seminars

This week of leadership was very beneficial for the students. On Monday, Whitney and Raymon taught about communication skills and incorporated some conflict resolution into the lesson. They did a few activities where the students had to close their eyes, they couldn’t talk, and they had to create a square with string. They also had to line up in a certain order with no verbal communication. It was very beneficial and brought a lot of discussion the class. On Wednesday, Cydnee had NaTaya team teach with her. NaTaya taught an awesome lesson about resumes. The students were able to write up a draft of a resume and learn the purpose and benefits. Cydnee took over the last part of class and went into detail about the interview process. They did mock interviews with each student to give them some real life experience. It was a lot of fun and they all did excellent.

Octavia Waight

This week we had quite the experience at Octavia Waight. Of course we love all the residents, but here we just have a few updates from our favorites. Camilla, who is 102, surprises us each day with her willingness and determination to do her exercises. Every time when riding the stationary bike she tells us she is riding all the way to Guatemala! Another resident, Nicolas, also has quite the determination to walk every time we come to help him. We have shared some pretty interesting, ‘only at an old folks home’ situations together and sometimes all you can do is laugh it off. To end the week we visited with all the residents and checked the blood pressure. Its always fun to meet a new resident and rally everyone up to play BINGO!

Computer Class

The computer class is a project that a couple second waivers passed on to our current team. Calvin and Krysta are the leads and go every Thursday to Cornerstone to teach a couple students typing skills and programs like Excell and Microsoft Word. Calvin surprised us all with his overwhelming knowledge of Excel and made sure the children were well versed in the program. The children love learning from us and we enjoy teaching them more and more each time. It’s a good thing we are a computer savvy generation in America and it is also good to know we can use our skills and talents for more than Facebook or mundane schoolwork. Long live computer classes!!

George Price Center Literacy & Conflict Resolution

This week was the second and final week of the Literacy and Conflict Resolution camps. At the conflict resolution camp, the kids have been writing their own newscast on a conflict situation to be filmed and viewed at the end of the week. We discussed how to diffuse anger and introduced the process of mediation.

At literacy, the children have been working hard on spelling and reading. The smaller ones are pro at sounding out words and recognizing letters, and the older kids are cranking through the chapter books. They have also been practicing for their presentations on Friday for their parents. Some are drawing, some are singing, and some are reading from a book. For arts and crafts, we’ve drawn pictures, learned how to do origami, and played letter bingo. Today we did a picture scavenger hunt, and they loved that.

Rural Health

This week we only did the rural health campaign one day. We spent the day in San Antonio and were able to test blood pressure and glucose for quite a few people. The population is mostly Mayan and they seem to be pretty healthy. There were a few individuals with very high blood pressure or diabetes that we talked to about medication and ways to control it. We also learned a few Mayan phrases so it was really fun to get to know the people there. It was an incredibly hot day and we were more than happy to eat a few ideals while we were out.

Music Class

This week for music class was really exciting. The kids learn so fast and are so excited about everything we taught them. We focused on applying the ability to reading notes off a page to finding them on an actual keyboard. We were very surprised at how well they picked it up. For learning material we printed out a picture of a blank keyboard from the internet and had them learn each of the notes’ names and write them in. Their homework for this week is to memorize the 7 different musical notes and where they can be found on a keyboard.

Square Foot Gardening

No Updates

Adobe stoves

Teresa, Shayna, Katy, Cayci and Krysta had the pleasure to go to Arenal this past week where they were able to finish building the four-adobe stoves bult in that village. The mud used to make the stoves dries slowly, so we will not be here to see the finished product. However, in the upcoming week we will return to Arenal to check on the stoves and also to put in the most important part, the chimneys. It is always am amazing time in Arenal because the people share so much with us. They show their gratitude many ways but the most common form is in food, and we have no complaints there.

Amanda and NaTaya have taken up a new location for Adobe Stoves this week. While they were ordering their usual weekly tortillas they noticed that the hut the women cook in is continually filled with smoke. Due to the fact that they couldn’t even breathe while ordering they inquired to see if the women were interested in the Idea of an Adobe Stove. After translating and explaining everything to them, the women were eager to have one. Amanda and NaTaya set off that day to find materials to use such as grass, dirt, cinder blocks and tools. After much discussion, research, and many sketches we decided that this adobe stove would be different. Instead of using the traditional red dirt and cinderblock route, they decided to construct the stove out of new dirt that dries over night and to build onto an existing stove structure. Some doubt this method but they have already successfully laid the first two burners and inclines. Monday we will be going back to the site and seeing if the mud dried well enough, make a few adjustments and place a chimney on it. Monday will be a defining day for the stove and we will learn whether or not their efforts will be in vain.

Ballers for Life

Last week was the concluding chapter of Ballers for Life. Bryant and NaTaya were invited to attend the tournament for Ballers for Life in Belize City. The best 10 players were chosen from each age group to compete in the tournament. They rode on the bus with the team to Belize City and participated in the event with the team. Each district wore a different color to distinguish them. The first two, younger, teams lost in the last seconds, however the older team won and moved on to the second round. We were grateful to participate in an event that promotes children-teens physical activities and giving them something constructive to do with their time. Although camp has ended, we still see all the kids on the courts at night and they still bring their ‘game’.

Nutrition Education

In preparation for more home visits, Nicki and Alyssa created a more efficient lesson plan. Amanda and Alyssa had a successful day of home visits, changing peoples’ lives one vegetable at a time. They were also able to create visuals for said visits. Nicki joined the duo the next day for more home visits and a class that Amanda taught in Spanish to the Relief Society ladies.

Succotz School

Katie and Kayci started work at a new project in Succotz. No, it is not to late to start new projects especially with these project leads. A group of volunteers started on Monday and went into it with an open mind. The classes are every day from 9 am -11am and 1pm -2pm with two different age groups attending each session. The camp is running for two weeks and each day they teach a new subject. They are focusing on Math, Music, Reading, Crafts and Sports. We were amazed at how many children showed up, because the advertising for it was merely a piece of paper filled with information on the corner store's wall. The first day was kind of ruff with some confusion on age groups and placing the kids in their level of learning, but as the week went on the children settled and they came to grow to love the volunteers and the subjects we taught. We will finish up next week and we hope to memorize all 160 names of the children. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cerebral Palsy

While checking blood pressure and glucose levels in Georgeville, we ran into a boy who had Cerebral Palsy and a mother who did not know how to get him help. So one of our volunteers had his family send us some books on it so we could help them out. Below are some pictures of Bryant and Krysta taking the family the information on his condition. The mother was very grateful to have them come back and give her some information on how to help her child that she otherwise would have struggled to obtain.

Random Fun Times in our house are as follows:

sometimes you have to make due.I can't even explain this one..What we crave every night!! She found her best friend in Belize

NaTaya's Mother and sister came to visit for the weekend. They enjoyed the shops, hitch-hiking (Safely) and some Mayan ruins. It was a pleasant occasion.

Katie may have fallen in the gutter. We try to get her help , but you know what they say. You have to want to help yourself before others can help you. We are all here for you Katie, whenever you are ready.Raymons usual pass time: TacklingPlease ladies, keep the braids in. Raymon may or may not have cut his head open on barbed wire while going about his daily routine of walking. This picture is so strange, he is bleeding out of his head and he is still smiling.Our little man prince with his band-aid bow

Kory had to break into our house the other week, because we forgot the key. Turns out it was very easy... almost too easy...

Weekend get away at Hopkins beach. OH the joy of relaxation.

2010-08-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

We would like to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Country Director Calvin Tyler Skinner who is hanging in there!

This week in Belize...

Leadership Seminars

This week in the leadership seminars HELP volunteers taught about public speaking and creating “synergy” within team environments. Volunteers were very impressed with the speeches that participants prepared for the seminar classes and the desires expressed by participants to hold true to leadership values and principles. The meetings were very inspiring. The teamwork seminar was full of fun team building activities and reflective discussions. The confidence of participants appears to increase at each meeting. Volunteers feel that many participants are really breaking out of their shell and rising to meet the challenges of these seminar classes.

Octavia Waight

This week we continued to work with Dorthee , the nurse that runs the physical therapy at Octavia Waight. Help volunteers Krysta and Bryant have now pretty much mastered the routines of each resident. Dorthee has been kind enough to share with us the stories of each resident, which will help us work with each resident in a manner that is suitable and comfortable for them. Getting to know the old folks has been a blessing in disguise and we love to help them keep their strength. After long mornings of PT, we continue to visit and play games with the residents. This week we got a lot of the guys and gals to play with a beach ball and a parachute! Who said old folks cant still be kids at heart?

George Price Center Literacy & Conflict Resolution

This week we started two camps at the George Price Center. Conflict Resolution is for kids ages 12-15. The last few days we’ve been talking about what conflict is, different types of conflict (interpersonal, intragroup, etc…), and communication (such as body language). We do a lot of role-plays to help the kids understand and apply the concepts.

Literacy is for kids ages 5-9. We have 4 groups of children, each group at a different reading level. Some of the kids don’t know how to read at all, and are learning to recognize the letters and the sounds they make. Another group is quite advanced, and we do spelling tests with them. The other two groups are somewhere in between, and we practice sounding out words and reading short stories. They were all a little wild the first day, but they’ve gotten so much better—very attentive and willing to follow directions. We also play games to help with writing. We had each child make an acronym for their name so they could practice spelling and finding words that start with a certain letter.

Rural Health

This week in Rural Health a team went out to San Antonio. We ran out of sheets to give out to the people so we ended up writing it in someone’s diary. We made it through a couple more streets and walked up about 100 hills, but we found that most of the people in San Antonio are related and that high blood pressure runs in the family. We also had a nice treat from a lady in the village that made us the most delicious RICE AND BEANS ever made on the planet. We cannot stop raving about them. We are waiting to get a new booklet to write information down in and we will be back in San Antonio!

Music Class

Krysta and Amanda started a music class this week since many of the locals expressed high interest in the area. The majority of the class was youth, ranging in a variety of ages from 11 and up with a few women as well. The class was a great success for day one. The kids had a lot of fun as we used simple games and explanations to teach basic musical concepts. We used the chapel’s hymnbooks as textbooks and left them with their own copy of blank sheet music to fill in with the things that we had learned that day. They are excited to come back and show us what they’ve composed next week. Next week we are planning on going over the actual keyboard and how what they learned this week correlates with finding notes on the piano.

Square Foot Gardening

Square foot gardening this week consisted of checking the progress of the garden in Succotz, making a flip chart manual to take around to villages and construct a garden for our amazing cook Sister Kay. The garden is Succotz is coming along beautifully and sprouting little seedlings so we set off for Sister Kay’s. We scrounged up some wood at our very first square foot garden site and struggled to saw and nail the frame together. After that unexpected struggle we decided to dig the garden… but to our surprise that turned out to be harder than making the frame. We hit rocks, remote controls, ceramic butterflies and much more. It was strenuous, but worth it in the end. The last thing to do is put up the chicken wire. Let’s hope that we don’t underestimate the work that will take!

Adobe stoves

Katie, Kayci, Nataya, Amanda, Nicki, and Bryant went to Arenal today where we completed two of the four sadobe stoves. The process included laying out the cans and filling the stove with mud. We made walls, husked corn, mashed mud and now we have to wait for it to dry. We thought we would get all four filled today, but it turns out we ran out of mud. This is something we did not think would happen in a village surrounded by dirt. Teams of us are going back tomorrow to finish the remaining stoves. We will then have to wait for the cans to set and dry. We will be back in two weeks to remove the cans and put in chimneys. Now we have to find out where to get the chimneys.

Hospital

No updates

Ballers for Life

No updates- It rained all week.

Nutrition Education

HELP gave birth to a new program this week: Nutrition Education. Alyssa, Shayna, and Calvin created a survey to measure the locals’ interest in nutrition and then distributed it with Stephanie. After an overwhelming response of great interest, Alyssa, Shayna, and Nicki were pumped to create a class. Hours of research, a power point, and a brochure later, those three were prepared to teach their class. Many people helped spread the word, but when it came down to it the three teachers waiting…and waiting….and waiting….but no one came. Team morale was boosted later that night, though, when the three went to a karate class to teach the children about nutrition. Goals for the week are to put together a power point, brochure, and class.

Random Week and Weekend Adventures!!

Calvin and Taya may have jumped into a river with their clothes on this week in Belmopan. They do not regret this decision.

Some of the crew went to Mountain Pine Ridge this last weekend... or at least attempted to until our car broke down and we got lost. Oh well, made for great stories.

Jungle River Crew. They went to Orange Walk for the weekend and had a blast!

2010-07-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

UPDATES, UPDATES READ ALL ABOUT 'EM!!

We received the final addition to our team this week. Amanda flew in on Tuesday night and jumped right into the action. She will be the last addition to the third wave and we are loving her. She is ecstatic about her time here and said she felt like a little child looking out the bus window en route to our house. She has already had an amazing first work day building adobe stoves in rural villages! Welcome Amanda!

Leadership Seminars

Help International’s leadership seminars received national attention this week! Belize National Television interviewed volunteers, recorded segments of the seminars, and created a five-minute news segment on help international’s creation and involvement in the leadership classes. The classes have received very strong attendance through out the week in both San Ignacio and Belmopan (combined attendance has been around 25-30). This week volunteers taught classes on how to develop important leadership characteristics, how to sculpt healthy perceptions within a person or organization, and public speaking training. This week we also had the opportunity to hear from a very special guest speaker by the name of Kaila who was Belize’s entrepreneur of the year award winner in 2009. The speech was both inspirational and motivational to all participants and volunteers involved.

Participants of the seminar have been very involved and excited about the skills they are learning. Volunteers have been very pleased with the eagerness of the participants and each meeting has been both very educational and motivating. Help Volunteers that were involved in the seminar classes this week were: Calvin, Cydnee, Whitney , Cory, and NaTaya.

George Price Center Literacy & Conflict Resolution

This week at the George Price Centre we had a training meeting to discuss the lesson plans and activities for the Conflict Resolution camp. We talked about the outline for the 2 weeks and divvied up responsibilities for teaching and facilitating activities. We also discussed ways to encourage participation and a reward system to reinforce principles learned during the camp. We are anticipating an amazing next two weeks working with the teens in Belmopan and will keep the updates coming.

Rural Health

This week the Rural Health team hit a few walls. At the beginning of the week we learned that we ran out of test strips for the blood glucose machine and had some trouble getting more so we spent a day looking around from pharmacy to pharmacy for strips that would fit our machine. With no luck, we ended up at a restaurant and were able to talk to the waitress about diabetes and she let us take her blood pressure and glucose levels. We were able to direct her to a doctors office that will be opening up in a week which is offering free prescriptions and check-ups opening day. Later on that day we made more phone calls to a contact in Belize City to get more strips to allow us to finish up Georgeville. We finally received more strips then we could have imagined, finished Georgeville and moved to a new location. This week we have been working in a town called San Antonio and it’s going really well. It’s interesting to see how each village is so different. San Antonio is more of a self-sustaining town where most families have their own gardens and exercise regularly. It is a pretty large town so we may be there for the next week or two, but the good thing is that we have enough strips!

Octavia Waight

This week we had an amazing opportunity to meet with a nurse who spends a few days a week doing physical therapy exercises with each individual resident. She encouraged us to come and help her, so on Wednesday, Bryant and Krysta spent the morning working with several of the residents on simple yet efficient exercises. Everything from assisting in walking, weight lifting, and muscle strengthening exercises. This new project will be a great help to the Octavia weight staff and plus the elderly love our encouragement. In accordance to the physical therapy project, we are still continuing our weekly visits just to bond with the residents. We often play bingo, read, and talk to them. They are a joy to be around and we look forward to helping out the staff and residents in anyway possible in the near future.

Square Foot Gardening

This last week we were able to finish all six frames for the Square Foot Gardening project at the school in Succotz, and recruited some eager little helpers along the way! We finished constructing and raising the chicken-wire fence and the plants look like they’ll be ready to produce around the time school starts up.

Adobe stoves

The adobe stoves project took off in Arenal this week! With six enthusiastic families, the first being the village leader, we were able to begin construction of the bases of four different stoves around the village! We received so much help from everyone, and by the end of our first day, some of the villagers were taking construction into their own hands. Self-sustaining! Goal met! Construction was a blast, and we got mighty muddy along the way…

Hospital

This week at the hospital we dug more trenches at the dialysis center for the sewage system. We also filled the 4-foot hole we dug with broken cinder blocks. We helped with electrical wiring, putting insulation in the ceiling and putting up the ceiling tiles. There was a lot of trash blown around the hospital grounds so we also cleaned that up. It is always a party at the dialysis center with Ignacio, DH & Wilhelm. Love it!

Ballers for Life

Bryant and Krysta are working on a new project down at the basketball courts! Who says you can’t have fun while working? They will be assisting in coaching a local basketball camp for the next two weeks. There are three different age group classes and it is taught in two-hour waves. Bryant and Krysta are having just as much fun as the children and Bryant ‘B’ was able to donate two Basketball nets to the court.

Weekend Adventures

This past weekend we all split up and took different adventures. A group of us went to Hopkins beach, another to Tobacco Reef and another group chilled here in San Ignacio.

The Tobacco Reef crew stayed for a night on the smallest island in the world, snorkeled, saw manatee's and Bryant caught two barracudas.

The Hopkins crew ran into some luck by running into Calv's high school friend. They ended up staying at his house for free and loving life on the beach.

The crew who stayed at home got some peace and rest while the crazy ones were away. They ended up going to a resort and the saturday market and indulging in some delicious Cayo Chocolate.

T-pain has the luxury this weekend of hanging out with her boyfriend! He flew in today from the states to pay a little visit!

Ray, Cyd, Kayci and Whit also left for a weekend break in Orange Walk on a Jungle River adventure. I bet we will have some amazing pics and stories from them when they return.

Until then, stay posted.

2010-07-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Our Goodbyes and Good Times

It has been quite a change since Second wave left us yesterday. The house is much quieter and some of us are walking around like zombies trying to find our place again. Although we miss Shawnee, Mary, Chris, Sarah, Kristin, Lisa, Melissa, Jake and Wendy, the projects must go on. Below is one of the last group photos we took together. Our final night we had Sister K over for dinner (that she cooked) and gave her a talent show. She has been a wonderful part of Belize and we wanted to show are gratitude toward her for taking care of us like her own children. She also made the most delicious 'last meal' for the ones going home and we all enjoyed Banana Cream Pie. We also enjoyed having the Dixon's come down and visit our projects with us. Below are some pictures from the talent show and some tearful goodbyes.

The HELP must go on!

Leadership Seminars

This week the leadership seminars kicked off with a well-attended orientation meeting. Young adults from San Ignacio, Belmopan, and Belize City attended the meeting. At the orientation meeting HELP volunteers and seminar participants had the opportunity to get to know one another, generate course expectations, and discuss course curriculum. Participants appeared to be very excited about the curriculum and look forward to learning important leadership tools to help them find better jobs and create movements for positive change within their community. Participants appeared to be very energetic, respectful, and dedicated to learning. This Friday we will hold another orientation for a different section of the Leadership Seminars that will take place in San Ignacio. We are very excited to continue to watch this project develop over the course of the next month. This next week we plan to have classes discussing Public Speaking, how to create healthy perceptions within an organization or business, and the development of important leadership qualities.

Octavia Waight

Bryant and Calvin took over as leads of Octavia Waight . This week volunteers who had free time from their projects enjoyed going to the local old folks home to play games, talk, sing songs, pass out water and cookies, and perform food drop offs to elderly through out the community. Volunteers love visiting Octavia Waight and have valued the relationships that have been formed with the elderly community. Every time volunteers go to visit, we are welcomed with great warmth and spend the mornings laughing and sharing stories from our lives.

George Price Center Literacy & Conflict Resolution

So the first chapter of the Conflict Resolution and Literacy camp has ended. We had a lot of fun working with the children in Belmopan and were sad to say goodbye. But we are very happy to begin working with an older age group for Conflict Resolution during the weeks of August. Stephanie has taken over as lead for Conflict and has a team of 3 people helping with the two-week camp. It will be interesting working with an older group and molding the lesson plans to fit their needs. The classes begin August 2^nd and run through the 13^th. Also, Whitney has taken over as lead for Literacy camp at the George Price Center. We are very fortunate to have such an awesome connection with the Georpge Price Centre and hope to continue enriching the relationship between the originations.

Rural Health

The new project leads for Rural Health are Bryant and Nikki. We are working with Health Care Partners Limited in Belize City and complete our projects under their direction. Last week a couple volunteers went door to door in rural villages to test peoples blood glucose and blood pressure and also advise people how to remain at healthy levels. Some good news for the locals is the promotion of a new family health care clinic that will be opening here in San Ignacio in the up coming week.The goals we have for this week are to finish testing the village of Georgeville. Once we finish Georgeville, we will have successfully completed work in two villages. We will then wait to receive our next village assignment and continue our work.

Square Foot Gardening

One project that has been moving forward is Square foot Gardening. Katy and Alyssa have taken over as leads on this project. This week their goals were to build a Square Foot Garden plot (with multiple frames) at the school in Succotz to help supplement their food program with extra veggies, increasing the health and balance in the diet of the students. Their hope in doing at a school is that the children will be educated on gardening so that they can take the method and apply it to a small family garden at their own homes. So far we have constructed all but one frame area for the gardens, and planted almost all of the tomato, cabbage, and pepper plants, and dug a trench around entire garden area to help drainage during the rainy season. As the week comes to a close we will finish construction of garden plots, raise chicken wire fence with supports, and begin work on educational flip chart for the school.

Also…after the long and exhausting construction of the first day, many of our group joined the locals for a friendly game of soccer in the rain!

Hospital

The last week and a half we have been helping build the dialysis center that should be finished by the end of August. We have been pouring cement and digging trenches for the sewer system and inside we have been scraping paint, painting and putting up the ceiling. We are going back more this week to finish up the sewer system. It is a blast and the workers are helping us learn Spanish! The lunches are good too.

Wrapping up...

As we rotate a new group of volunteers we are wrapping up and saying goodbye to some of our projects. We will no longer be working at Cornerstone teaching english and computer classes, and the camp for children ended today. We have also letting go of our beloved Soilet. We finished the one out in Duck Run 3 which brings us to a total of 3 running Soilets in the country of Belize. In the future Santair will be building a Soilet in Belize City after they make some changes to it. The orphanage is also something we will not be working on anymore. The children at King Henry will actually be transferring to a new facility in the next month or two. Maybe after the move we will continue to go there to teach and play with the children.

Last Weekend with second wave!

Some of the new wavers went to Xunantunich, which are Mayan ruins out in the village of Succotz. While they were there it started to down pour, but they said it was worth it!

Just down the road from Succotz a couple of us decided to go to the Benque Fair. It turned out that none of the rides were open and all they were playing was loud disco/hip-hop music. It was interesting. On our walk back to the bus stop we got caught up in the same rain storm.

On the other side of Cayo, some of the group went to a natural water slide preserve called Mountain Pine Ridge. They had a blast hiking through the jungle down to the river. It turns out that they too got caught in the rain of Belize.

The Second Wave was a great time and we will miss everyone who was here very much. They changed many lives and moved many people. They made a significant contribution in Cayo District and in return they were changed to. Belize will miss you, and we will miss you everyday.

Our Family

More fun just Arrived!

2010-07-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Literacy

This week we were sad to see the last day of Literacy teaching. We all finished the week with our children reading an excerpt from the book they have been working on in front of their parents. Mary, NaTaya, Sarah and Shawny's children excelled beyond the expectation set for them and their reading skills, spelling and comprehension tremendously improved. This was a two week camp that was taught at the George Price Centre in Belize's capital, Belmopan. Although we will miss the children and the teaching, we will not miss the hour and a half bus ride in. It was amazing to see the transformation in the children, turning from shy readers into confident proud readers. If anything we taught them that if they trust in themselves they could do anything and that was proved when they presented their books today. Literacy will be missed.

Conflict Resolution

This was the last week of Conflict Resolution and it finished on a fabulous note! Sarah, Nataya, Shawney, Mary, and Chris all worked hard the past 2 weeks to make this a successful camp, and succeeded. This week, we continued to teach lessons on specific aspects that all relate to resolving conflict. The last day we had the parents come in and watch the children preform skits where they resolve conflicts and then finished the day with a slide show of the past 2 weeks as well as an award ceremony. All in all--it was a great couple weeks! and DEFINITELY a worth while project.

Rural Health Campaign

HELP volunteers have been partnering up with Belize Healthcare Partners Limited, a hospital in Belize City. The Hospital helps out a few health fairs that run in different cities all over Belize including Belize City, Orange Walk, and Punta Gorda. While in Punta Gorda, our contact with Belize Healthcare, Collet Montejo, trained a couple of volunteers to run a door to door campaign and test blood pressures and blood glucose levels in the rural areas where the large health fairs to not happen. After a few weeks of gathering supplies for us, Collet finally came to Cayo and took us to the village of Cristo Rey to work!

For the past week, Chris and Jake have led teams to Cristo Rey to work for the day testing people for high blood pressure and diabetes. We have also been educating on good health practices and hygiene to prevent disease, heart problems, and diabetes. Ray, Shayna, Cydnee, Kory, Nicki, Melissa, Bryant, Kacie, Whitney, Stephanie, and Katie are now well versed in testing blood pressure and blood glucose levels. On Thursday, we finished the village of Cristo Rey. Today, Friday the 16^th, Collet came back to Cayo and took a group to Georgeville where we will be working for the next couple of days.

Square Foot Gardens and Adobe Stoves

Katie, Stephanie, and Raymon all met with the head officer for the department of Rural Development in the Cayo District, Mr. Jimenez. They discussed the construction of square foot gardens and adobe stoves with him. He was very excited and explained that there is a huge need for both of them in some of the more rural communities. The next week Mr. Jimenez took all three volunteers out to Arenal and Succotz. Katie, Stephanie, and Raymon met with the village council leaders and discussed in-depth the possible projects. Both village councils were very excited and expressed interest in both projects. In the end, the volunteers agreed to work with Arenal on adobe stoves and Succotz in working with the square foot gardening project. The garden will begin construction next week and will be on the school compound. The goal is for the food to be used for the feeding program that they have for the children there.

Orphanage

At the orphanage this week we read stories with the kids and played games with them. The Dixons came and visited the Orphanage complete with a tour by the owner Leonie. They ended the day coloring pictures. We now go every Monday and Friday and do constructive crafts and games. We don’t know if we will be continuing to send volunteers to the Orphanage after next week because Second wave is leaving Belize. Next Monday may very well be the last week, but we have tried to make the most positive impact we can.

Cornerstone Summer Camp

The past couple weeks Melissa has been leading the team of Kristin, Steph, Lisa and Kayci at a summer camp for children. The camp was held down the street at an NGO named Corner Stone. The team played sports, taught life skills, made arts and crafts and taught music and dance. The team had a lot of fun this week at camp and it will continue for one more week.

The SOILET

The Soilet has been a big event this week. The documentary team came in and filmed/interview a few of the HELP volunteers on the Soilet. They talked about the construction and implementation of it here in Belize. Shawny Tagg ended up being a teacher in the documentary and explained to the children of Immaculate Conception School on Bullet tree, how the Soilet at their school works and what it is all about. Essentially talking to children about how worms digest poo. During the course of construction a couple of volunteers suffered some minor wounds, which goes to show the Soilet is not just digging up worms and dirt. It is indeed a dangerous one.

Sarah Joy came to talk to the team directly about the Soilet's need in the country of Belize and asked us if we were interested in making one last one in Belize City. We will be weighing out the options over the next few days to see if we have enough man power left to do so. This last one will be a big project and will need much thought and preparation.

ATM

Last Saturday a group of us all had the opportunity to do one of the most loved things to do here in Belize--ATM. (Actun Tunichil Muknal) ...We hiked and swam through this 5 mile long Cave, to go and see Ancient Mayan ruins and Skeletons in a part of the cave where they did human Sacrifices, and rituals way back when. It was incedible to be able to feel the presence in that cave. It was extremely sacred and you could just tell what type of things went on there. It was great! Here are some photos from the day :)

You betta Belize it.

2010-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks in BeLiZe

The New Crew

The first of the third wavers arrived on Wednesday this week, along with a surprise visit from NaTaya's sister Brieana. We have two sisters, Teresa and Shayna, and a handsome young gent named Kory. They are already fitting right in, except I think we need to feed Kory more! They have already started working on projects like Health Fair and the Orphanage. Welcome to Belize!

Soilet
This week, on the Soilet, we finished the construction at the school on Bullet tree and have started our third construction site out at Duck Run. The team really pulled through this week with offering manpower. We finished a month’s work of digging and building in three days. Next week Kweku and the documentary team come to start filming out at Parrots Nest. We are excited to have them here and hope to get just as much accomplished next week as we did this week.
Leadership Seminars
Calvin, Cyd and Whit spent the week recruiting participant’s and planning lessons for the leadership seminars that will begin this upcoming week. They also had a meeting with Kalai who was last year’s Belize Entrepreneur of the Year award. She will help us teach business classes and offer her expertise and insights in the leadership seminars. We are very excited to be working with her.

Conflict Resolution

This week we started a conflict resolution camp and it has been a really great experience so far. The camp runs from 9-12 Monday through Friday. Boys and Girls ages 8-11 come and learn and participate in different activities all relating to solving conflict. The first day, the main idea was peacemakers/conflict—t he difference between the two, as well as different ways that we can create the two. The second day we learned about setting a positive identity and belonging. How we view ourselves and how we want others to view us etc. The next day’s topic was fairness. How we can be fair in social situations as well in family and everyday life. We focused on being fair to both ourselves and those around us. Thursday we focused on Values. We watched the movie “The Emperor’s new groove” and would stop the movie at different parts to discuss the different values each of the characters held. Finally, we finished up the week on Friday discussing Goals and dreams. How we can turn our dreams into goals and what steps we need to take in order to achieve our goals. All in all, we have a great group of kids who are all hard workers and have the desire to learn and succeed both inside and outside the classroom.

Expressive arts camp

This past week Cydnee and Whitney taught singing while Melissa taught dance to a group of 40 students ages 5-10. WE taught in Belmopan at an Elementary school called Our Lady of Guadalupe Primary School. The kids rotated through five sessions: Recorder, Drama, Singing, Dance and Drums. Melissa taught the waka waka while Whitney and Cydnee taught a variety of songs. On Thursday the students had a performance where they sang “I just can’t wait to be king” and a “Popcorn Popping” . It was so exhausting but super rewarding in the end.

Orphanage

This week at the Orphanage we taught the kids how to make bracelets on Monday and then just played with the kids. The cutest story was how Chris and Dj fell asleep on Chris’s shoulder. Friday, Lisa, Mary, Shawney, Breanna, Kory, Shayna, Teresa, Chris and Kristin all went out and started reading with the kids. Some read to them. Then we did a craft with tissue paper which the kids loved!

Literacy

The George price Literacy camp is full swing! For 2 hours Monday through Friday, Sarah, Mary, Shawney, and Nataya read and practice spelling with a small group of 5-8 year olds. Each of us are so happy to see our students improving their reading already. Each of the students are involved and enthusiastic. We really feel like we are helping to eliminate poverty by teaching the vital and necessary skill of reading.

Dunford School

On Thursday morning Calvin, Lisa, Shawney and Kristin went to the Belize City chapel to help the Dunfords teach their Summer school. Calvin and Lisa had prepared string and Kristin, Calvin, and Lisa taught the 10-11 year olds to make bracelets. Shawney and Kristin taught about the solar system. The students represented the planets with the various fruits. They then made their own paper model of the solar system. We also played outside and read to the 5-6 year olds. At the end of our 2 ½ hours there, the children were so grateful for the things they had to learned that they didn’t know before. They were so happy to learn and to get an education even during the summer!

Night English Class

Shawney, Nataya, and Stephanie have all had experience in teaching English to Mirna. She is progressing quite nicely and now knows how to introduce herself in English. ( name, age, family, job, hobbies etc) She is also learning about negative how to give directions, the weather, and subject/verb agreement.

Another Week in Belizee :)

2010-06-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Updates!!

The hospital construction project: The last few days, we’ve been working on a painting project over at the Hospital. Right now we’ve only applied the primer; however we should be painting more within the next week or so.

Octavia weight: Just the other day, Mary and Shawney had the opportunity to go over to Octavia Weight and coordinate arts and crafts for the folks there. They all seemed to really enjoy being creative and working on their painting and drawing skills. After, Mary and Shawney went with the Octavia Weight director and brought a bunch of food to elderly people who live in San Ignacio.

Orphanage: On Monday and Wednesday, Kristen, Sarah, Whitney, Shawney, Lisa, Nataya, Melissa and Chris all traveled to Belmopan to start our work with the Orphanage there. On Monday we all put together some games for the children in a park nearby. While some were playing a game of soccer with Chris, Sarah, and Whitney—others were playing “ red light green light” with the girls, or other fun games like “down by the banks” and the “human knot”. All the children there are just so sweet and loveable. There ages range anywhere from 4 months to 18 years, with such different interest. On Wednesday we only got to play a few games before our stay was cut short due to a 2 O’clock meeting most of us had to attend with the George Price Organization for some upcoming projects.

Conflict Resolution: Today, Sarah, Nataya, and Chris all met with 3 members of the Peace Corps who we will be working with on our new project of a conflict resolution camp that starts this coming Monday. We all were really impressed with the structure that the camp will have, as well as how it will be run, and the activities we will be doing in order to teach different ways to resolve conflict. The camp will run for 2 weeks, and we are anticipating a group of about 30 kids all between the ages of 8-11. Each day is planned out in which we focus on a certain part of resolving conflict. For example, day one is about “Creating a positive Identity” day two “Belonging and cooperation” Day three, “setting goals” etc. Our roles in helping on this project will be leading the certain activities, applying and teaching certain aspects we find useful in resolving conflict, and also just managing the class as a whole. All of us were really impressed with the layout that the Corps had already made, and have high hopes for this upcoming project.

Square Foot Gardens- A new project was proposed Sunday night at our project planning meeting, and we have all voted and decided on further pursuing this project of Square foot gardening. Steph stepped up as the team lead for this project and has already started her first “pilot garden” at a house here in San Ignacio. Their hope is to help improve the local’s health by making it more affordable and easier to access fresh vegetables, such as cabbage, tomatoes, radish and sweet peppers, etc. They hope to have one or more gardens underway in the next couple weeks.

Money Management and Business Skills

This week we were sad to see Ben and Marissa go home. However, in the short time they were here, they started a Money Management and Business Skills class. Calvin and Cydnee have taken over their positions as Project leads. It has been noted that there is a lack of money management skills among the people of Belize. Most of the citizens in the country are literate, most having graduated from high school and many attending college. There are many opportunities for employment in private business and public service. Many people have access to loans from banks and credit unions. However, with all of these opportunities many people are living day-to-day and do not have the training necessary to budget and to save. Due to this lack of training, many never accumulate wealth. There are many entrepreneurs, but many have little success due to lack of training on basic business skills. This week Calvin, Cydnee and Whitney were able to organize classes and logistics. We anticipate starting classes mid July at the George Price center.

Soilet: The Soilet has been taking off this last week. We have started construction at the new site on Bullet Tree at an Elementary School. We spent most of the week gathering supplies, cutting wood and digging for worms! We anticipate starting construction soon at our Duck Run location. Most exciting though is the use of our Pilot Soilet at Parrots nest. It currently houses 218 worms, waste and more to come!

Leadership Seminars

The future of tomorrow is in the hands of today’s youth. It is vitally important that we equip today’s youth with tools to help them become positive influences in the communities in which they live. Youth today face challenges unique to their generation. With the negative influences of the media, drugs corroding the communities in which they are introduced, and limited supervision at home; it has been necessary more than ever that youth learn principles to lead and create positive change in the world in which they live. Their futures can be bright if they are prepared and equipped with tools to help them achieve success. The aims of our project are to aid tomorrow’s future in acquiring leadership tools to help them obtain physical evidences of their great potential and help them lead positive initiatives in their communities. This week we were able to organize classes and organized logistics of how everything will run. The volunteers helping on the project are Calvin Skinner, Cydnee Haws, Whitney Fullwood and NaTaya Stewart

English Teaching:

Shawney and NaTaya volunteered to take over a nighttime English teaching class at Corner Stone. This week they have been working on teaching current students sentence structure and negatives. It is sometimes slow moving but the students say they really benefit from our teaching and even though it’s late, give it their all. We are excited to see their progress as the classes continue.

George Price Center Literacy

This week was our first big meeting at The George Price Center concerning the Literacy Class. Mary, Katie, Shawney and Sarah will be involved in team-teaching Literacy everyday for the next two weeks in the city of Belmopan. At the meeting today they were given their responsibilities and the break down of the lesson plan. The two-hour session will be broken down into spelling, reading fluency, reading comprehension, reading aloud, arts & crafts and games. They will be teaching high school students and 5-8 year olds reading skills. After the meeting we all are pumped and ready to start helping out in Belmopan.

School Painting

Along with our current projects, we sometimes offer to help those who have helped us. Richard, a partner who has been so kind to share his tools with us, needed help on painting a local elementary school. We worked on it for two days priming and painting. It is always nice to give something back and in this case it happened to be our labor.

Let the good times Roll....

Trying out new hair styles

2010-06-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on the past couple weeks down here in Belize. Our volunteers are working hard daily on a number of different projects to ensure success for the upcoming months. Some of the projects we are dealing with as of late are

The hospital construction project: The past couple weeks we have been working hard to complete our task of tearing tiles off of cardboard for the floor reconstruction. Also, we helped out with painting the walls, cleaning, drilling, and one day we spent helping to set up a tent in a local field for an upcoming Hospital-event. Since Dominique has left, Mary has taken over as team lead and all most all of our volunteers have had a chance to participate in this project. All in all, the hospital’s tasks are given to us on a daily basis.

Octavia weight: Jake has set up a new project where we have had the opportunity to send approx. 2 volunteers daily to an old folks home here in San Ignacio, called Octavia Weight. There, we do anything from coordinate games with the elderly ( like bingo, cards, or board games) as well as feed them lunch and assist wherever is needed. The plans for the upcoming week are to put together more structured activities each day.

Health Fair: 2 weekends ago, a few of our team members including Chris, Melissa, Jake, Cydnee, and Dominique had the opportunity to drive down to Punta Gorda to assist Collette (our heath fair contact) with a heath fair that consisted of going door to door in small villages and taking vitals for the people living there. After taking vitals (blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate etc) our volunteers offered insights on how to improve their heath. This upcoming weekend, Chris, Shawney and Sarah will be helping with another heath fair in Orange Walk, where similar things will be taking place.

Orphanage: Yesterday, Kristen, Sarah, Shawney, Lisa and Chris traveled to Belmopan to meet with Kings Children Orphanage, where we will be spending a lot of time in the upcoming month of July. The meeting we had there was simply to review plans with the Orphanage supervisor related to activities we are going to be doing with the children, as well as the days in which we should come. The children there range from ages 4 months to 18, with a ratio of about 3 girls to every boy. Some of the activities we have proposed are sports (namely, football, soccer, and basketball) Arts and crafts, street games ( sidewalk chalk, hopscotch, 4 square) story time, small games such as freeze tag, look down look up, do you love your neighbor? Etc. and also a few dance classes. We are all anxious to see where this project goes and are excited to have this opportunity to work with children.

Tutoring: Every night at 5pm Kristen and Stephanie tutor math for an hour to a young girl here in San Ignacio. Soon, they will be taking on a larger group of children once school gets out. The lesson plans right now entail order of operations, decimals, fractions and early algebra.

Computer Class: On Tuesday and Thursday Shawney has been teaching a computer class to a young girl. Lately, they have been working on learning how to navigate power point as well as typing skills. Shawney is focusing on these tasks in particular because she feels that they will be the most useful for future schooling and careers as well as useful skills to teach others. Currently, she is creating a power point about hip hop dancing.

Dunford Summer School: This past week Shawney has been teaming up with Kristen and Lisa in brainstorming ideas for an upcoming summer pre -school program. Help volunteers will only be actually attending the school for a couple days out of the month, however when we do go, Shawney will be teaching a lesson on the planets and space, while Kristen and Lisa will be teaching bracelet making.

Square Foot Gardens- A new project that is currently being researched is Square Foot Gardening. Stephanie is the project lead and spent a couple days this week researching places to put them around San Ignacio, materials needed and different ways of making compost. The volunteers helping her on the project are Calvin, NaTaya and Lisa. This week the team made great head way by finding a location to make a ‘pilot’ garden. They were also given many contacts and possible locations to make more gardens. They learned that many families want and need fresh vegetables, such as cabbage, tomatoes, radish and sweet peppers, but don’t have the knowledge or supplies to do so. They hope to have one or more gardens underway in the next couple weeks.

Business/Computer classes- Cydnee Haws has been working for a few weeks with a local NPO called Cornerstone. She is in charge of teaching Computer classes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to a few ladies in the community. Some of the women who come to the class expressed interest in learning how to make business cards and increase their accuracy in typing. Since the class has opened there has been a steady flow of students and their typing has greatly improved. During the week other volunteers help out when there is a need. Cydnee hopes the class will expand and the students will express interest in other areas.

Soilet: The Soilet is one of the first projects that the volunteers have started here in San Ignacio. Soilet is a eco-friendly waste management system. Wendy Lee, the project lead, and practically every volunteer has either worked construction or began negotiations with various partners. This week we finished overall construction of the Soilet and hope to begin use. We have a new site for a second Soilet at a site called Duck Run III. During negotiations with partners we are discussing a construction site at Bullet Tree. Overall this project has been time consuming and very beneficial.

English Teaching: English is a common language spoken in Belize. However, living in San Ignacio, practically at the border of Guatemala, there are many people who don’t speak English very well. Melissa Richardson and Sarah Foote have been offering an English class at Cornerstone from 2:30-5 daily. They teach English to 3 women Evelyn, Isabel and Patricia. This week they have been working on irregular verbs, telling stories in the past, vocabulary and prepositions. Each of the students are progressing well and now that there are more volunteers we are able to give more one-on-one attention to the students. It is always great to see the students progressing because we know it is a sacrifice for them to come to class. Some of the students have children at home and can only dedicate an hour or so to learning English, but they come because they say they’re learning a lot.

And on the Weekends...

River adventures

Snorkeling at Caye Caulker

Zip Lining in Guatemala

Climbing temples at Tikal

Monkeying around at Caye Caulker

And Calvin still at work...

2010-05-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!!

Sorry it has been so long since our last post! It has been a crazy last few weeks. We have been up to a lot of good here in Belize and finally want to share it with you. Here's an overview of all the projects we've been working on. After today, we promise to be better at posting more regularly. Enjoy! :)

The Soilet Project

Over the past few weeks, Wendy, Raymon, and Cydnee have been working diligently to find a village that could benefit from our Soilet. It has been difficult to find the right fit, but while searching for a village in need we came across a resort that wanted to help. A couple of weeks ago we started construction on the Soilet and have been working hard everyday to finish it. Now that Ben and Marissa are here, they have been able to help a lot too. Chris has also enjoyed helping out on the Soilet construction.

Health Fairs

Last weekend, Collet started running health fairs that will be held every Saturday all over the country. Because we helped Collet with the Kettering College health fairs a few weeks ago, he invited us to help him run these ones too. The health fairs will be held every from Saturday June 12 to July 3. This past weekend, several of us traveled down to Punta Gorda, a city at the southern tip of Belize in the Toledo district, to assist Collet in taking blood pressure and checking for diabetes in the villages. It’s really exciting to work with Collet in this way because many of the people we see have not been to the doctor for many years, if even at all. We were able to test everyone we visited for many common health concerns, including hypertension and diabetes, and we were also able to fit people with prescription glasses if they needed them.

La Loma Luz

One of the local hospitals, La Loma Luz, has been another one of our team’s targets lately. In the past few weeks, we have organized their medical supplies in order to make room for a new shipment of donations that is about to come in, scrubbed their indoor walls to prepare for painting, and performed other construction tasks that they have asked us to help with, including help with the construction of their new dialysis clinic that is being built on the hospital grounds. We are excited about the relationship we have built with them and look forward to working with them throughout the summer.

Volunteering in Hospitals

Last week, Collet Montejo came to Cayo and opened up a lot of great opportunities for us here. He is opening a health clinic here in San Ignacio at the end of the month and will need a lot of our help to get it ready. Also, once the clinic is open, there will be plenty of medical volunteer opportunities for our team.

While he was here he also introduced us to several of his health contacts at the local hospitals—La Loma Luz, San Ignacio Public Hospital, and Good Shepherd’s Hospital. Collet has plenty of volunteer work to do for anyone interested in the medical or health care fields.

Teaching English

Melissa teaches English every day at the Cornerstone Foundation for two hours. She has three students that come everyday—Patricia, Isabel, and Evelyn. Her students have very little background and experience with English, so Melissa has enjoyed teaching them the very basics of the English language. Every once in a while, her regular students will bring their friends to class, so it has been fun for her to work with lots of different people. Dominique, Jacob, Shawney, Sarah, Ray, Calvin, Lisa, Katie, and Lucy have all come on different days to help her in the classroom.

Tutoring Math

Dominique has been tutoring several community members in math for the past few weeks. Her students make up a wide range of ages, from little kids to grown adults. At a particularly crowded tutoring session Jake had to step in and play math teacher for the little children while Dominique taught two of the older boys. Now that the new wave is here and Dominique is leaving, Stephanie and Kristin will be taking over Dominque's tutoring project.

Women’s Group

Cydnee has been working with a woman’s group from Cornerstone. She meets with them every other week to teach them life skills or other useful skills, such as, making jewelry, cooking, holding bake sales, and whatever else the women want to do. The women expressed interest in learning computer skills, so Cydnee created a course to teach twice a week for fourteen weeks. She has been teaching basic computer skills, typing, and is currently doing an introduction to the program, Word. The women have very little experience with computers. Most of them struggled at the beginning with just controlling the mouse. The women love the computer class and are progressing so fast. Now that Shawney is here, she has also started a computer class that she will be teaching twice a week.

Octavia Waight

We just found an old folks home here in San Ignacio that is in need of volunteers. We have already sent several volunteers over to make a difference in the lives of the people there. Sarah, Shawney, Melissa, Katie, and Lucy have all had the chance to go so far. We plan to send at least two people over to the center for a couple of hours a few times a week.

Teaching Piano and Dance

Cydnee and Melissa have started teaching music and dance to community members here in San Ignacio. Cydnee is teaching piano lessons, and Melissa is teaching a latin dance fitness class. These classes are usually held at night after the working day is over.

AIDS

Jacob and Dominique attended an AIDS conference last week that went really well. The National AIDS Committee met with the Cayo district committee to discuss possible funding for outreach projects in the rural villages to raise HIV/AIDS awareness.

The Red Cross DEPECO Project

Jacob, Melissa, and Dominque worked with the Red Cross on their DEPECO project. The Red Cross distributed first-aid kits and taught classes in primary schools to implement emergency and response plans all over the Cayo district. They went and visited schools in Arenal, Spanish Lookout, and all over San Ignacio.

It's been a great few weeks. We've had only a few minor injuries (notice Cyd's eyepatch below) and have really enjoyed having the second-wavers here. We promise to be better at posting! Until then! :)

We have lots more pictures that we want to post but the Internet cafe is closing, so be sure to check back soon.

Our first week in Belize

2010-05-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos desde San Ignacio, Belize! We first-wave volunteers have made it through our first week and want to tell you all about it. Most of us arrived last Wednesday afternoon. Here are some of the highlights from our week:

Day One:

On the first day, Ray and Calvin picked us up at the airport and showed us around Belize City, where we stayed for a couple of days with a missionary couple from our church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was great getting to know them. They were SO good to us while we were here! For dinner we had our first belizean meal: rice and beans, with some chicken and fried plantain. Belizeans love their rice and beans. Most of them have it every day. It was fun meeting each other and spending the day together. That night we also went to go meet some students from Kettering College who we worked with for a few days at some of the health fairs that they had here in Belize. It was great meeting all of them.

Here we are at the Dunfords home right after they picked us up from the airport (from left to right: Dominique from Stenungsund, Sweden; Cydnee from Logan, Utah; Calvin from Purcellville, Virginia; Jacob from Rexburg, Idaho; Raymon from Charleston, Utah; and Melissa from Houston, Texas):

This is the Dunfords' home where we stayed our first night.

Day Two:

On our first full day in Belize we met up with our Kettering College friends at their health fair. Meet Collet Montejo, the public relations manager of Belize Healthcare Partners Limited who helped run the show. He’s the man! He’s helped us so much since we’ve been here, not only with setting us up with amazing opportunities to work in his hospital, but also with showing us around Belize City.

Our first day here in Belize City we met up with twenty-five students from Kettering College to assist them with their second health fair. It was great jumping right into a project on our first day. Here's a picture of Ray at the check-in table:

The health fair offered lots of different services to the people of Belize free of cost. The people were able to come and get their blood sugar and cholesterol levels checked, eye exams and prescription glasses, and ultrasounds. After making their way through these services, the people were educated on different health topics, including CPR and choking, dental hygiene, HIV, hand washing, and menopause. This picture was taken at the dental hygiene booth:

Melissa became an expert at taking blood pressure:

As you can see, we work hard, but we play hard! Here we took a break to dance to the electric slide. When we all couldn't remember how it went, a cute Belizean woman at the fair (with super high blood pressure ha!) jumped in to show us how it's done:

After the fair, Belize Healthcare Partners Limited treated us to dinner at Sumathi Indian Restaurant. It was delicious!

After dinner, Collet took all of us on a tour of the city. We drove by the south side of town to look at the poorest part of the city. It was really sad to drive through the neighborhoods and see how rundown some of the homes are here. It feels so good to be in a place where there is so much need. Collet also drove us to see St. John's Cathedral, the oldest Anglican church in Central America. It was built in 1812.

During our tour of the city, our van overheated. It was crazy being stranded in the middle of Belize City after dark. It’s a good thing we were in a large group. Here's a picture of Andy cooling it down for us.

Day Three:

First thing Friday morning we left the Dunfords’ for Cayo, the district of Belize where we'll be living this summer. Ray and Calvin had already bought our coral home before we got here. It’s not pink. And it’s not salmon. And it’s not orange. It’s coral. haha! We live on the bottom floor of this amazing house with wallpaper for carpet and cochroaches and lizards and possessed dogs that bark all night as pets. We are truly living the Belizean dream. (Second and third wavers: please still come. We promise you’ll love it!)

We spent most of the Friday walking around town buying supplies to get our house set up. We needed fans, foam mattresses, cleaning supplies, and water. Later that day Calvin and Ray introduced us to our Cook, Ms. Kay, and our neighbor, Mr. Kibb. This picture was taken on the way over to Mr. Kibb's:

Here we are taking the mattresses home from the Foam Depot. Ray had to ride with them in the back of Mr. Kibb's truck.

At the end of the day we decided to take a tour of our new hometown: San Ignacio.

The coolest part about this city is the huge river that runs right through the middle. The river is always filled with locals who are swimming or washing their clothes in it. It's awesome!

Here's a picture of all of us relaxing after a long hot day. We only lasted about a minute on the bank before we had to jump in.

The current was pretty strong. Calvin called it a natural swimming treadmill. Too funny!

After cooling off at the river, we went to go buy some fans! Here we are assembling these bad boys:

And here we are unassembling these bad boys. (Cause we did it wrong the first time. And the second.)

Here's a picture of the girls. We already love each other.

That night we met up with some members of our church here. They had a mother's day activity and invited us. It was super fun. We ended up having a dance party afterward with all of them. Here's a picture of us in the back of Mr. Kibb's car on our way home. One of our favorite things about the Belizean culture is that we get to ride in the back of everyone's trucks.

Friday was a great day!

Day Four:

Saturday morning, we woke up at 4:30AM to get ready to catch our bus to Orange Walk for another health fair with our Kettering College friends. This picture was taken on our walk to the bus stop:

After a five hour bus ride (where most of our time was spent learning Spanish from Jake and Calvin) we made it to the Orange Walk health fair. It was packed. There was plenty for us to do when we arrived, so we went straight to work.

Melissa and Dominique manned the intake table for most of the day. Five hundred and sixty people came through while we were there. It was great to be able to serve so many people in one day.

Here is a picture of all of us with Collet. (Ray stayed home because he was feeling too sick to join us. We sure did miss him!)

At the end of the fair, Kettering College thanked us with some t-shirts and hats from their school. It was great working with them. We all became such good friends.

Here is a picture of Andy giving eye exams to his patients:

Once the fair was over, a lot of us played football outside with the kids. Here's another picture of Andy with all of them:

After the fair, Collet drove us to the home of one of the doctors that helped out at the fair. Her house is part of an alcoholic rehabilitation center that's on a jungle resort. This resort was amazing. It had a ton of cool stuff: RVs, gyms, monkeys, horses, a carpentry shop, kinup (a fruit that Calvin refers to as nature’s jolly ranchers) trees, water buffalo, and a cool river. Check out these pictures of the river: We get to live here!

Here's a picture of Mandy the wild monkey.

It was such a great day!

Day Five:

Sunday morning we woke up to go to church. Our church has two different branches in the area—a Spanish branch and an English branch. Ray and Cydnee went to represent our group at the English branch, while Jacob, Calvin, Dominique, and Melissa attended the Spanish branch. After church we dropped by Mr. Kibb’s house to e-mail our families and call home to wish our moms a happy Mother’s Day.

Jacob and Melissa spent some quality time playing some intense freeze tag with the neighborhood kids. Little did we know that this innocent game of fun would lead to the injury of both of the girls in this picture. First, Jacob came around the corner and saw poor little purple-shirt girl lying on the ground. He picked her up and kept running around with her and playing the game. When he came around the corner the second time, still holding cute little purple-shirt girl, he found poor little Melissa lying on the ground with all of the neighborhood kids standing around her trying to get her up. She had jumped up to tag someone on the balcony, landed on the steps weird, and sprained her ankle. We learned later that in Creole, “Bliggity blam boom, boff” is a much more expressive way to say “She slipped and fell.” Here's a picture before "she jrop."

Jacob and Ray were nice enough to help her walk home:

And nice enough to take care of her once they got there:

Day Six:

Monday was spent going to meet with several different non-profit organizations (NGOs) in the area. Ray and Cydnee traveled to Belmopan to meet with Galen University to discuss our Soilet project. Calvin, Jacob, Dominque, and Melissa met with Cornerstone Foundation and CARE Belize in the morning and then met up with Ray and Cydnee to visit ProBelize, the Red Cross, and Sacred Heart College. It was great meeting all of the non-profit leaders in the area to talk about opportunities to help eliminate poverty here in San Ignacio. We look forward to working with these organizations this summer. We already have opportunities to help this week.

We spent some time in the afternoon shopping for our microwave, fridge, and washing machine that we plan to buy later this week. We also stopped by a few fun gift shops. Here’s Jacob rockin’ his sweet dread hat. The owner of the shop turned to correct us when he said, “That’s a dreadlock rasta, maan” Who do you think looks more legit? Jacob in his dreadlock rasta or this sweet Belizean that’s been rockin’ dreads since Belize won her independence in 1981?

Here’s another Creole phrase for ya. Can you guess what it means?

Here's a picture of us doing what we do best:

Here’s a picture that was taken as we were walking to meet with the Red Cross.

Here we’re talking to Jorge Aldana at the Sacred Heart College. He had lots of great ideas for projects that we can do while we’re here. We’re most excited about the river cleanup project they have next month and their willingness to work with us on our Soilet project. We’re also going to help him come up with solutions to the problems they have on their campus.

Jacob had an accident checking the water line to check if we could hook up our washing machine to it. Ray was lucky enough to witness the incident:

We were really happy that we were able to accomplish so much on Monday.

Day Seven:

HELP International allows volunteers to spend their Saturdays traveling the country to sightsee. Since we worked in Orange Walk last Saturday, we decided to take Tuesday as our holiday. A friend from church, Efrain Medina, took us to Hopkins Bay where he had to work for the day. Enjoy these beautiful pictures of our first visit to the beach:

We finished the night off right with some Chinese food. This city is full of tons of awesome Chinese places to eat. It’s been a great first week. We’re excited for the weeks and months we have ahead of us to do as much good as we can for the people here in Belize.

Until next week!

Week 1

2010-05-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know us, we are part of a non-profit organization called Help-International. Every year Help-International sends teams of young adults to impoverished areas such as Uganda Africa, India, Thailand, Fiji, El Salvador, and Belize with the goal of empowering people and fighting poverty. Volunteers come with a variety of experiences, skills, and knowledge and use these tools to locate needs of an area through direct communication and work with partner organizations to help create projects of sustainable impact. We are the Belize Team. Twenty two individuals from various backgrounds with one common goal. We are excited for the adventure and experiences that await us as we use our skills to help strengthen the world around us.

My name is Calvin Skinner. Raymon Burton and I are the country directors for the Help Belize 2010 team. As country directors we handle administrative duties such as living arrangements, aligning partnerships with local NGOS, financial affairs, and act as a source of communication between the organization and individual volunteers. As country directors we have had the opportunity to be the first two of our group to travel to Belize in order to meet with partner organizations and locate housing.

First Impressions of the start of an Amazing Journey

The first three days of our stay in Belize were in Belize City. We have found housing with an American Couple (the Dunfords)serving as senior missionaries for the LDS church. They have been so nice to us and have really treated us like we were their own family. We have had a lot of fun getting to know this couple and are extremely grateful for all the generosity and support they have offered us through out the week.

In the first 3 days of Belize City we looked for housing, met with 5 different non-profit organizations, and met friends of the Dunfords. From these experiences we have learned the following:

1. "Exemplifying the principle of service"

One of the first non-profit organizations that we met with was the local hospital in Belize. We were very impressed with the facilities at this hospital, but what impressed us more than anything was the attitude of the public relations officer, Collete Montejo, that met with us. Before coming to Belize we had emailed various hospitals letting them know that our organization was coming to Belize. Many of them never responded to our requests. This particular hospital responded quickly and the meeting we had with this man was nothing short of inspiring.

We sat down and told him that our organization consisted of a group of students with a variety of skills and talents that wanted to work with their organization to help develop projects to fulfill the objectives their organization has set up to give improved health care to the Belize people. Collet was very excited. He told us that when he was younger, he was presented with a similar opportunity to give service in a foreign place and told us it was what sparked his interest in the medical field. He said he was excited to give volunteers a similar opportunity that was given to him earlier in his life.

He talked to us how he has tried to design his life in a way where he could serve people. The hospital he works with manufactures it's core principles and processes around that value. In the conversation he asked us where we were staying, and soon realized we did not have a place to stay. He looked pensive for a moment, and then made a phone call to another worker in the hospital. He hung up the phone and said, "I think I can help you." We traveled together to a building the hospital used to use for office space. It was full of files and medical information. He told us, "if worse comes to worse, we can move these materials and you can live here with your group." We were very impressed with the kindness and the sacrifice that Collette was willing to make, to help us strangers get our footing here in Belize. We did not need to take him up on his offer, but our conversation with him strengthened our understanding of the principle of true service to our fellow man.

2. Exemplifying the principle of Hope: Dorthy Menzies orphanage, Mrs Augustine and Dorthy Menzies

The second organization we met with was equally inspiring. The conversation was interesting, engaging, educational, and unforgettably uplifting.

We asked Dorothy and Mrs. Augustine, "What do you feel are some of the major problems facing Belize people?"

Mrs. Augustine and Dorothy's response gave us an insight of Belize City's history. Dorothy (a very young energetic 70 year old woman) said that she remembered a time when she could leave her house with her doors unlocked, when people didn't feel nervousness when walking into heavy crowds. When she wasn't afraid to leave her house at night. "Things have changed here" she told us. She told us that the major change started a generation ago when there was a growing hype about the "opportunity" that was available in the United States. Many parents left their children with their parents (grandparents) and headed off to the United States with big dreams of fortune. The children were left to be raised by single moms or elderly couples that didn't have the energy to raise and teach their children. This generation also began to grow up during a time where drug trafficking from Columbia to the United States began to increase. Many youth with inadequate supervision and means began to get tangled up with drugs. Drop outs from schools increased, and the beautiful culture that Dorothy remembered began to mold into something different and scary.

You can feel it in the atmosphere in Belize City. As you walk down the streets, you feel a strong sense of "caution." You can't help but to double check your back pocket to make sure it is buttoned, hold your bag extra close, or feel a need to look like you know where you are going. Even the locals feel it here as they walk into the center of town, making sure not to wear any excess jewelry that can be torn off as people bike past them.

Mrs. Augustine told us her views of how important the unit of a family is in the development of a culture and society. To have a father and mother that work together to instill values and principles within their children. "The family is where culture and society are made," she said. She then talked about her work in the orphanage and her role as a caretaker. She told us that a lot of the children we take care of have grown up without parents. I hope that I can have adequate influence upon them where they learn correct principles. I know that here in Belize City, the statistics are against me, but I know that every time I have seen an orphan leave here and become some one, my job, my life, my work, it has all been worth it. I never give up hope, and I just keep on working to create a better tomorrow for these kids."

Raymon and I left this meeting with a great deal of awe and admiration for these two ladies we met in the orphanage. We talked about our feelings of gratitude for growing up in the families that we did and talked about the examples of the "fighters" here in Belize City that have found a way to overcome the obstacles and create lives for themselves that bless all those that come into contact with them. The conversation lit a desire within both of us to be fighters through out our lives in our own culture.

We have met around 5 organizations in the first two in a half days of being in Belize City. We have been so impressed by the desires and determination that directors of these have showed to us and their friendliness and flexibility in wanting to work with us. Unfortunately, we have found Belize City to be a place that is fairly unsafe for our volunteers, so Raymon and I made a trip to Belmopan and San Ignacio to look for more organizations and houses in these areas.

BELMOPAN-

Our one night and one day trip to Belmopan was exciting. We met with two orphanages and an organization called "George Price's center for peace and development." This particular organization has a museum that was attached to it that talked about the life of a famous person in Belize's history: George Price. Without getting into to much detail for the sake of time, I just wanted to say that I was very impressed by the life that this man lived. One of my favorite quotes that I saw while looking through the museum said, "Always write down what you promise people, never leave something so important to your own memory." He was a leader that stressed service and charity, and was one of the major fighters of Belize as the country was gaining its independence to become is own separate entity.

Belmopan was drastically different from Belize City. It was very peaceful, and we saw joggers running in the street as the sun was going down, and a few kids riding their bikes home from school. It was a totally different atmosphere than what Raymon and I felt while in the City. Belmopan is the capital of Belize and home to most of the country's administrative body. As we walked around, it was very very quiet. The only part of the day that seemed to demonstrate that the city had life was during rush hour when employees would be leaving or coming home from work.

While in Belmopan, I talked to our inn keeper for about an hour about her life. I found out that she was a single mother raising her daughter because her husband had gone to the states and never came back. She was very kind to me and I could tell she was a very strong lady with a very pure and determined heart. She told me her husband went back to the states to find "more opportunity and happiness". She talked to me about how she has been able to find a great deal of happiness through raising her daughter and that how she feels bad for her daughter's father for not realizing what truly brings happiness. It strengthened my idea of the importance of family and the role a loving family can play in our happiness as we develop very special relationships of love and trust with each other. A lot of people leave their family for a "better" or "more free life", not realizing at the time; they are leaving behind a very special gift that God has given for our ultimate happiness.

Changing topics, while in Belmopan I had the chance to get a hair cut. The barber shop was called "celebrity cutz" and was run by two teenagers. The hair cut was probably one of the best I have ever gotten. The boy gave me a "fade" and took a razor blade out and cut the edges of all the hair around my head. The boys in Belize do all sorts of crazy designs in their hair, from step "side burns" to "ant trails" going around their heads. I didn't get a crazy haircut although there was a part of me that wanted too. I do not mention this experience just to tell about a sweet hair cut I got, but also of the uncomfortable conversation I had with the boy as he cut my hair and the thoughts it provoked in my head. I started off the conversation talking about Lebron James and Basket ball, but the conversation changed as a pretty young woman entered and left the barber shop. The boy then started saying things that were inappropriate talking about the girls in Belize and perverted thoughts of how he felt about them. I didn't smile or laugh at anything he said, where as earlier in the conversation I was smiling and laughing a lot with him. I believe he could sense that I wasn't like him in that regard, I changed the subject, and the subject was dropped. When Raymon and I walked out, Raymon said "I have grown up in a family that values and respects women, it makes me sick the attitude that is often prevalent in many societies (including our own) where men treat and think of girls as toys. It upsets me when men don't treat girls with respect for who and what they really are." I agreed with Raymon and was grateful that he verbally expressed his feelings as I walked with him. The conversation I had with him caused me to think through out the day at the negative effects that such attitudes have caused upon the world. I believe that perverted attitude that is prevalent in many societies is the cause of much sadness in the world we live in today. Its sad to see the pornography industry flourish as it perverts and pollutes the minds of millions everyday. Self esteem and self identity of men and women are being thrashed as a result of men not being true men. Let us not ever catch ourselves doing, saying, or thinking things that diminishes our perspective of the beautiful identity and potential that all women and men have.
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In Belmopan, we also looked at some houses. We met a lady that was willing to rent us a room, and told us she would be our cook too if we chose to stay with her. We ate lunch with her and the food was AMAZING! It was sooo good! Maybe it was because Raymon and I were starving at the time, but the meal hit the spot! Unfortunatly, she was driving a rough bargain. We were deciding to make a decision between the two houses we found in Belmopan, when Raymon and I just had a feeling that we should go to San Ignacio before making a final decision.

San Ignacio

If glory was compared to the brilliance of the stars, the moon, and the sun.... Belize City would be the stars, Belmopan the moon, and San Ignacio.... beauty beyond description... would undoubtedly be the sun! Riding on the buss through the beautiful green mountains was quite the experience. We finally got to San Ignacio and found a town that felt very a live with energy and culture. Unlike Belmopan and Belize City, San Ignacio is found in the very foresty/jungle like atmosphere; home of a large population of spanish/english speakers. Upon getting off the bus, I said to myself "man it would be soooo cool to live here!" But thoughts of not having a house or non profit organizations to work with, made the idea feel very unrealistic. We had worked so hard early in the week and had made many amazing contacts with very cool opportunities to serve... and we had the choice of several houses to choose from. It just didn't seem realistic that we would ever be able to turn down those opportunities for a place that we had not yet researched... with the dead line of volunteers coming in just 5 days. Miracles began to happen.

A woman by the name of Mrs. Kay came to pick us up with a man name Mr. Gibs. Mr. Kay and Mr. Gibbs were contacts that were given to Raymon from other members of the LDS church. I have been amazed at the hospitality that has been given to us by the Dunfords, Mrs. Kay, Mr. Gibs, and other members of the LDS church. Although HELP International is non-denominational organization and has no focuses dedicated to the spreading of any particular religion, Raymon and I and many of the volunteers are members of the LDS (The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints) and we have relied heavily on members of the church for help in finding non profit organizations to work with, rides, and lodging. It's been amazing how we can be complete strangers to an area, but have been welcomed like family where ever we have gone by the members of the church.

Mrs Kay, Mr. Gibs, Raymon and I talked for a quite a while getting to know each other and then Raymon and I asked if they knew of any non profit organizations we could contact and organize a meeting with. Mrs. Kay told me to call a friend named Omar Rodriguez. We called Omar that night and met with him right away. Omar is a police officer, but before his job he served for various NGO's through out San Ignacio. In some way or another, he was connected with about 12-14 organizations that he felt would be desirous to work with Help International and our volunteers. We told him we needed to find housing, and he told us that we could rent his upstairs... four bed rooms, large living area, and a shower in every room for just 200 dollars a month!!! That was far cheaper than any other option. Raymon and I were very grateful that we were guided to Omar and grateful we had not made any living decisions before entering San Ignacio. It's a beautiful, friendly, safe place in need. A perfect place for our volunteers to have an unforgettable experience.

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It's getting late, but Saturday and Sunday have been spent organizing, writing emails, updating this blog, communicating with volunteers, and hanging out with the coolest young hip elderly couple on the block, the Dunfords. We went to church on Sunday with the Dunfords and it was quite the experience. It was a meeting where people could share their feelings about various beliefs they hold. I had the opportunity to speak, and spoke a lot about the opportunities I have written on this blog. Sister Dunford also shared some of her thoughts on her missionary service out here with her husband. They are such good people, we have really been blessed by their example, kindness, and generosity towards us.

The funniest part about church was when men of the church got together in a meeting to discuss a mothers day dinner the next week. It was absolutely hysterical. The leader stood up and was like "ok what do we want to cook for our wives and the mothers of this branch?" "beans chicken and rice" ".... and cake" "Does any one know how to bake a cake?" (no one raises their hands) ... (eventually a man raises his hand) "I can have my wife make the cake!" ... "we can't have your wife make a cake... we have to make the cake!! its mothers day!" "oh, your right" ... "does any one know how many servings a turkey provides for "..... (again the group goes silent)... hahaha eventually the leader brought in his mother and she trained all of us on how to pull off a mothers day dinner for the women in the branch. hahah you really had to be there. It was hilarious. We also got to ride in the back of a truck with some of the kids from church. We all sung Bob Marley's "everything is going to be alright" at the top of or lungs. It was pretty funny.

That was week one... Other volunteers will probably start updating this blog once they get here. I'm excited for the adventures to be had, the service that will be given, and the life lessons that will be learned. I'll try to update the blog with pictures once I'm not afraid of looking like a tourist that is begging to get robbed. :)

Belize in all its glory!

2010-05-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

Well, the team of Calvin and Raymon is still alive down here in Belize. We have been here for almost five days exactly. We have seen and experienced so much in those five days. We have met with dozens of potential partners in Belize city, Belmopan, and San Ignacio. We have been working very very hard and have been sweating more than we could have even imagined. After all of our hard work in Belize city and Belmopan, we have decided to station our team in San Ignacio. Here are some of our highlights so far:

1. The first night here we ate alligator. Tastes like chicken...no really, it does.
2. SUN BURNS!
3. Calvin's Belizean hair cut.
4. Climbing onto a bus through the emergency exit to "sneak" onto the bus so that we could get home to Belize city. Don't worry, we paid.
5. One day it rained...and it felt like heaven.
6. We have had many many amazing experiences with selfless and dedicated people in Belize who are trying to make a difference.

All in all, our experience has be wrought with kind people constantly rescuing us, trying not to get mugged in Belize city (yes...it is that bad), and hot hot hot hot HOT weather. And large lizards. Our first wave of volunteers comes on May 5th and we are very excited to pick them up so that we have friends here in our new country.