Taking a break

Early tomorrow morning I will fly from San Pedro to Belize City, then to Miami and finally to RDU. Holy Cross closes for 2 weeks for Easter vacation, so I am going home. Since this blog is called "Jan's Belize blog" I don't plan to post anything to it until I return to Belize the week after Easter. Easter joy and blessings to all.

Monday, Monday....

Another weekend of new experiences....

Saturday was quiet with some pool time, a little shopping for things to bring home and reading. The realtor brought someone else by to look at this place, and he seemed really interested. Today he came to stay in the upstairs apartment to check things out firsthand. I have been assured by the management company that even if he buys this place before June, he has to honor the previous rental agreement. I will not be sleeping out on the beach.

Yesterday was the monthly Family Worship service for Holy Cross. There was a larger crowd than the previous month. All the Standard VI students were there -- it is a requirement for their religion grade. Some visitors from the US also attended. Unfortunately, neither of the teachers who know how to set up the portable PA system came, so we had no sound system. We had to yell the liturgy and readings and even then I don't think most folks could hear what was said. God could hear us, though, I'm sure.

I came home from church -- about 3:30 -- with intentions of watching the Duke game, writing this post, and doing a variety of other things. The electricity, however, had gone off about 2:45 pm and didn't come back on until 8:15. It was a nation-wide outage, but it took longer to restore power out here on the island than in other parts of the country. Electricity in Belize comes from Mexico, and a "power arm" near Orange Walk had burned. It was a long, boring and dark evening. Thank goodness I had a flashlight. There have been outages at other times since I've been here, but they were all in daylight hours. I have now added candles to my list of things to bring back from home!

Today was the the day to renew my visa. I went this morning only to be told to return after 1:00 pm. The air conditioner had flooded the building over the weekend, and they were trying to dry out all sorts of documents and forms. I returned this afternoon and got everything taken care of. My visa is renewed for another 30 days, even though I will only be here for 3. Once I leave the country, it starts all over.

Only 3 days at Holy Cross for me this week since I'm going home on Thursday. They have moved the Thursday chapel services to Wednesday so that I can do the reflection/story time. We will quickly walk through the days of Holy Week. The children will be out of school during Holy Week, and after all our talk of Lent, we don't want to leave them hanging. There is a group of volunteers from Raleigh who will be here that week and will provide a Vacation Bible School in the mornings for any of the children who want to come. They will also conduct a Good Friday service at the school for teachers, families, etc. School will reopen on April 12. Everyone is looking forward to some time off. Just like in school at home, vacations come just when they are needed most.

TGIF!!!

Yes, even here it's TGIF. Weekends are good for rest and recovery as the week days at school are pretty intense. While the crisis with Destiny was certainly the major event this week, there were others too. One of the older girls had bruises all over her on Wednesday. At first she didn't want to talk about it but then finally opened up. Her mother left months ago to go to the US, leaving no contact number and having no intention of returning. She left Dora (not her real name) with her stepfather and 3 younger brothers. The stepfather expects Dora to do everything at home -- shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, getting the little boys up and dressed in the morning, seeing that their homework is done and, somewhere in there, doing her own schoolwork. And, when she doesn't do things to his satisfaction, he yells at her, hits her and threatens her. Is it any wonder she acts out in class? Oh, did I mention that she is only 13 years old? Dear Kim confronted Dora's stepfather and told him if he laid a hand on Dora again, the police would be called. He seemed to get it, but that probably won't keep him from berating and degrading her. She is a sweet, cute, bright girl. It was only realized this year that she can barely read. One of the ladies who stays here at Paradise Villas, a retired teacher who volunteers at the school each year, has been working 1-on-1 with her in reading. She goes home next week so I'm going to take up where she leaves off.

Work has finally begun on the self-composting toilet project at the school. With funding from a Episcopal Church Women's grant, the system will allow for the building of 20 new bathrooms for the school. The foundation will be Category 5 hurricane resistent and is made from blocks of styrofoam that will then have a cement-like polymer sprayed on.

Yesterday was the ground breaking for the San Mateo roads project. About 150 folks attended including some key local officials. They will begin bringing in rock and sand in the next few weeks. The residents of San Mateo are very excited. There has been great publicity. The San Pedro Sun reporter was at Holy Cross again today to interview some of the key folks. There is still a lot of money to be raised for this project to succeed. The Ole Miss students are hard at work on that part.

Francis left again today to meet Vernon in Miami. They are going on a cruise -- holistic, healthy and healing. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend with some time by the pool with a good book.

This time next week, I will be in Marshall, NC, reading Ruthie a night-night book. Can't wait.

Oh yes, God answers prayers

There is a little girl here -- Destiny --who used to attend Holy Cross School. For a number of reasons, she is not in school this year, but she comes by fairly often when she needs something -- food, medicine, a hug. A little history on Destiny -- she is 9 years old and has cystic fibrosis. There is no facility in Belize that can do the definitive test for CF, but any physician who has ever seen her is convinced that she has it. She only weighs 46 pounds and looks like a strong breeze would blow her over. She is quite bright and can be articulate and sometimes mature beyond her years. She is one of several children in the family but is the mother's target. She often refuses to feed Destiny, and as I have written before, frequently makes her sleep outside the house (which is built in the swamp) in San Mateo. Months ago Destiny had been placed at the Liberty Children's Home in Ladyville. While she was there, she was happy; she got medical attention and love; and she was the healthiest she had ever been. Then, for some unknown reason, she came home. Some of the adults who care about Destiny had remarked that they would be willing to help pay her expenses at Liberty if she could go back, knowing it had been such a good place for her.
This morning Destiny appeared in the office in tears, asking if she could just stay with us because if she went home, her mother was going to beat her in the head with a hammer. (It's going to take me awhile to get out of my head the sound of her sobbing "Please, Miss, no make me go home.") None of us doubted her for a second, but what could we do? There is virtually no foster care system in Belize and only a tiny handful of overworked social workers with no resources at their disposal. Francis, Linda and I stood in the office and prayed out loud that God would help us help Destiny. It was a fervent and somewhat frantic prayer. Then Francis went to work. To make a long story short, she made a series of phone calls and learned that the very person she needed to speak to about having Destiny returned to Liberty was actually IN San Pedro TODAY!!!!!! We sent the driver for her; she came to Holy Cross and met with Francis, Cath and Kim, our social worker friend from Mississippi, and within a few hours, Destiny was on her way to Belize City, accompanied by 2 of the volunteer social workers here this week. She will spend some time in the hospital getting some of her health issues under control and then hopefully to Liberty Children's Home. While it is extremely frustrating that things had to reach such a crisis in order for Destiny to get help, I truly believe that God put all those people right here today to rescue this child. It is sad when a child is taken away from her family and home, but in this case, it saved her life.
In the past, when there has been talk of taking Destiny away from her, the mother has said that she didn't want her child taken away. It is a serious humiliation in this culture to have your child removed from your care. She never said she wanted her; she only said she didn't want her sent away.
Thank you God for rescuing this child, for putting in place what was beyond our abilities so that Destiny could be safe and cared for. Keep her under your wing and watch over her in her new surroundings. Amen

Picture Time

A big happy sigh - aaahhhh-- for those of you beginning your Spring Break this weekend. A big moan --aawww-- for those of you ending yours. They just aren't ever long enough. Here's an idea -- try a sabattical in a tropical country. It's like one, long Spring Break that lasts a whole semester!!!

Fortunately the breeze has returned and temperatures are much more reasonable. The past 2 days have been sweltering. I even turned on my AC briefly last night to cool things down in my apartment. The fans weren't getting the job done.

This is a link http://ambergrisdaily.com/ambergris-caye-stories/a-far-cry-from-paradise/ to a really good article that came out this week about the community of San Mateo and their partnership with Ole Miss. A group of Ole Miss students and their professor, my friend Kim, arrive today. They will be at Holy Cross all week.

I haven't had many pictures to post recently, so I will catch up here today. No rhyme or reason to the choices...

The sea has been really rough this week, so quite a bit of seaweed was washed ashore. The local folks rake it up and use it as mulch.

This fishing boat was probably hand-carved. It is very narrow -- I'm not sure I would fit in it. Because the boat sits so low in the water, sometimes the fishermen fished by hand, just reaching into the water and grabbing a fish.

driftwood

early morning

fishing with a string and a hook

Mission Team from Duke Chapel

Making more solid land at Holy Cross -- sand/dirt will go over the cut branches

Some of the team in their new uniforms

My crispy coconut shrimp with citrus sauce at the Blue Water Grill. Yummmm...

Have a great weekend.

Clinic, Confirmation, & Craziness

Another busy week with new adventures! Yesterday I accompanied 2 boys from Holy Cross to the San Pedro Polyclinic.

One of the boys had stepped on a nail the day before and needed a tetanus shot; the other boy had bad cold and flu symptoms with fever. The clinic opens for the afternoon at 1:00. We arrived shortly after 1:00 and were given numbers -- ours were 14 & 15. At 2:45 our numbers were called -- we got excited, thinking that meant we were going in to see the doctor. Oh no. That was only to get name, birthdate, and description of the problem. We then waited another hour and a half to see the one very overworked doctor. He checked out the kids; we got one his tetanus shot; both got the antibiotics they needed and we were on our way. It was a long afternoon in a pretty crazy place (not unlike the ER at a US hospital), but the boys were taken care of.

Dr. Zuniga

The Duke students are doing a great job. Today they met with the older kids talking about respect for others, the importance of staying school and answered their questions about relationships. Good information and good conversations. Yesterday they did a lot of vision screenings. There is a volunteer group of optometrists from Texas at the church in San Mateo. They are doing checks and giving glasses, and we were able to take several of the children we had identified with real vision problems to them. Now to get the kids to wear those glasses. They say others pick on them when they wear glasses. Today the Duke folks also did some more vision screenings and shoveled a lot of sand too. They are really hard workers.

This afternoon my first Confirmation class met. Only 4 girls came although they said they knew of others who had said they were coming. We'll send reminders next week and see if others come. If not, we'll go forward with those girls as our group. We need to get a definite date for the service from the bishop. I hope to hear from him soon.

Tomorrow the younger children will have a 1/2 day because there is a big teachers' meeting in Belize City. It's a 1/2 day all over the country. The Standard IV and V students will stay at school, and the Duke kids will be organizing games and activities for them. The Standard VI students are having class because they begin their big state test on Monday.

Stay tuned. There's bound to be more excitement tomorrow.....

Baron Bliss Day

Tomorrow, March 9, is Baron Bliss Day in Belize. The day was commemorated today with national offices, banks and schools closed. Baron Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss left England in the early 1900s with the intention of living on the sea on his yacht, Sea King. He contracted polio about the time he left England. He made stops in the Bahamas, Trinidad and Jamaica before sailing into the harbor at Belize City. While he never actually came ashore because of the polio and the food poisoning he got in Trinidad, Bliss was very impressed by the climate and the hospitality of Belize. He died on March 9, 1926, leaving almost $2 million dollars to Belize in a trust fund. The fund is used for the benefit of Belizeans and has made possible the building of the Bliss Institute Library and Museum in Belize City, health clinics and markets around the country, and has helped with the Belize City water supply system. There is also the Baron Bliss Lighthouse in Belize City which is also his tomb. The Baron is considered Belize's greatest benefactor.

The weekend was quiet. I spent some time at the pool, visited with some of the neighbors and had dinner last night with another neighbor. The team of Duke students arrived Saturday afternoon. I met them at the water taxi, walked them down to Ruby's and later walked to Holy Cross with them. They started work today even though school wasn't in session. Vernon gave them the orientation and grand tour. I walked into San Mateo with them. I saw several of the kids from school so now I know where they live. The students painted and worked on the porch off the kitchen. Tomorrow we hope to get moving on finishing the vision screenings started by the St. Luke's volunteers.

Today is Ruthie's 2nd birthday. Happy Birthay, Sweetie. Wow, how time flies. I was sad to miss the family dinner yesterday, but will be there for her joint party with Ellie later in the month. I called today to wish her happy birthday. She still won't talk when we're on the phone, but she kissed the phone and smiled when she heard my voice. That's enough for me! I'm really looking forward to seeing her and the rest of my family in a couple of weeks. I'm glad I planned this little break while the school is closed for Easter.

Friday again -- already

This week has zipped by. I guess it comes from being very busy. There has been lots to do at Holy Cross.

On Wednesday, it was decided that the teachers at Holy Cross needed a Lenten retreat. Since we are well into Lent, time was short, so today was the day. Deacon Jan was given the task of planning and leading this retreat. Did I mention it was only decided to do this on Wednesday afternoon? The purpose of our day was two-fold -- to enhance the spiritual growth of the teachers as we move through the season of Lent and to provide them with informaton they can use as they teach their children about Lent. So, we learned, we worshiped, we laughed, we sang, and we prayed. Using our Books of Common Prayer and the liturgy of the Anglican church, we backed up to look at Lent from the beginning with Ash Wednesday and walked through Holy Week. We had a Palm Sunday procession as we moved to lunch. Mrs. Rosalia and her kitchen crew prepared a delicious lunch - a chicken dish with onion soup and flan for dessert. After lunch, we did a foot washing. I hope more of the teachers feel more comfortable with this Maundy Thursday ritual. It was a good day, I think. I learned about some really interesting Belizean Easter customs, most involved eggs and predicting the future. More on this later as I get clearer information.

I've done more in the last couple of days than prepare for this retreat, although it took a lot of time. A couple of days ago, I judged a writing contest for students in Standard III. They were asked to write a good paragraph or 2 about what they like about the school library or about their favorite book. It was a tough assignment for me. It was hard to narrow it down from the submissions. I wish I had copied them so I could include some of them here. One girl, who I have known since my first visit at Holy Cross, said her favorite book was North Carolina Health Care Careers because she wants to be a nurse, and this book showed her the different kinds of patients she would have to take care of. Let's hear it for those books we have been hauling down here in our suitcases!

Yesterday after school we celebrated 2 birthdays - Mr. Edwin the security guard and Mrs. Godoy, one of the teachers. That meant cake, of course. These cakes were huge, 2 layers with cream filling between them.

This has been the week when it seems like every child needs new shoes. I hope some more are on the way in donors' suitcases. In order to get new shoes, a child's old pair must be either too small or worn out. Children have to bring a note from their parents saying they can't afford to buy new shoes. One day this week, a dad came in with his son. The boy was probably 10. We found him a really cool pair of black, silver and red tennis shoes. He was beaming when he put them on. With that big smile on his face, he said "thank you" about a dozen times, waved to us and headed off to class, a very happy kid. He dad also said "thank you" about a dozen times and hugged Ms. Linda, the secretary, before he left. It makes my heart happy.

I've met more of the neighbors in Paradise Villas. Two of the ladies, both of them retired teachers, have set up a schedule to volunteer at Holy Cross. A group of 3 couples who came together to snorkel, dive and vacation, had a tragedy on Monday. They were out on a boat diving and snorkeling when one of the men apparently had a heart attack and died. They are still waiting for his body to be released from Belize City so that his wife can take him home to St. Louis. It has been very hard for his friends in the group. Such a sad end to their vacation.

It sounds like spring may be creeping through the snow and cold for most of you. I hope that makes for a great weekend. I don't have any particular plans, but I'm sure it won't be dull.

Odds and Ends

I had a pretty quiet weekend. By most standards, it was a lazy weekend. I read a lot, sat out by the pool, browsed the used book store, had a lovely lunch at a neighboring resort, chatted with neighbors, and didn't accomplish a thing. On the weekends, I feel like I'm living a double life. During the week, I'm absorbed by the work, the children, the needs at Holy Cross. Then on the weekend, I feel more like a tourist.

It's been interesting to be where there are lots of American and Canadian tourists and vacationers when I don't consider myself one of them. So many of them are really arrogant and rude. It's is like any local is automatically their servant. They are loud and demanding in the stores and critical of anything that isn't "like we do it". I'm sure they are tolerated because their money is the ticket to survival here, but it's really obnoxious and it's embarrassing. No wonder so much of the world hates Americans.

Francis and Vernon returned to school today and were welcomed with open arms. It was a whirlwind as they tried to catch up. I sincerely hope they don't leave again any time soon, and if they do that it is only for a short trip.

Lionel came by this afternoon to show his jewelry to the ladies who are staying around me. He did pretty well. They each bought something, and a couple placed orders. I should get a commission for being his agent.

The birds were everywhere when we were outside this afternoon. My hummingbird perched long enough to have his (her?) picture taken. There were all sorts of bright colored birds.

All of Belize, especially San Pedro, is in mourning following the death of Sir Barry Bowen in a plane crash on Friday. He was on his way into San Pedro, his home, for a fund raiser for Island Academy. Sir Barry, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Belize, headed the company that does all the bottling in Belize -- Belikin beer, Coca-Cola products, Fanta, and Crystal water. From all I can read, Sir Barry was a fine man who loved Belize and contributed to its growth in many ways. There were four others also killed in the crash. The loss will be felt throughout the country.

It appears all of those I know and love still have miserable winter weather, with some of you getting more snow. So sorry. I might as well be on another planet when it comes to thinking about what that is like. I certainly hope all of that has gone when I get home in late March. Spring will be most welcomed this year!

Last night was a "no internet" night here. I had written a long piece for this blog, then the
internet went away, and I had nothing. Of course a whole day later, I can't remember most of what I had written. I will quit while I'm ahead tonight