The Projects

I decided that I need to talk a little bit about some of the projects from the last few weeks.  Here we go!

Sacred Heart College

We just finished a garden project at the high school across the street from our house.  It is very expensive to go to the school, and a lot of the students don't have the money to get lunch.  The students in the feeding program can work in the garden and then get lunch paid for.  The project was done last year, but then the rain flooded it out.  We used cement and created permanent beds.  It was a lot of fun, and really hard work. 

Nazarine School

A few weeks ago, I met with the principal at a school down the street from our house.  She said that the teachers of the Infant 1 (Kindergarten Classes) were in need of help.  The Nazarine school apparently takes anyone--even the students that have been kicked out of other schools.  We brought 6 volunteers and were working in 3 classrooms.  I didn't go the first few days.  One of the parents in the PTA said that they really need rain gutters and a play ground.  I decided to go to the school to see the project the next day.  I was there in the morning, and was blown away by the difficulty of teaching.  A lot of the kids learn Spanish at home, and then they get to school and it is in English.  You can imagine the difficulty that 5-year-olds face in trying to understand.  We were trying to explain the difference between 'a' and 'an', but they couldn't understand--they didn’t understand what a vowel was and what a consonant was--many didn't even know the alphabet.  Then, the other half of the class is much more advanced.  Although it is super challenging and requires a lot of patience, I really enjoyed being in the school.  I also am less concerned about rain gutters and painting murals on the walls, and am more concerned about how we can help the students learn English and ABCs….  The teachers were really grateful for the extra help in the classroom. 

Health Classes

Today I went with the group to the health clinics.  When we were in the Cayes, we met Kendra who came down to Belize for the month to do medical clinics.  They go to schools and teach students about the health issues in the area.  They also take blood pressure and sugar levels.  There are a lot of diabetics here in Belize.  Since there was no school today, we went out to a tiny remote village and went door to door talking to everyone about health.  We showed the children how to brush their teeth and then showed everyone what to do if someone is choking.  We basically did mini health clinics.  One of the families said that volunteers could go stay with them for a few days if we wanted.  I'm still trying to figure out what the volunteers would do, but we are getting more information about it. 

Going around today was a lot of fun, though.  "Juice" picked us up and we were in the back of his pickup.  The view was incredible, and it was great to finally meet the infamous "Juice" as well as Colette.  Colette is a Senator for Belize, and he apparently worked with Help Intl. the first year that they were here coordinating health fairs throughout Belize, even down in Toledo.  It was kind of a dream for Hilary and I to get down and work in Toledo.  It would be super nice to get there and work more in that region.  It's so hard for us to reach the rural populations since we rely completely on the buses. 

George Price Center

We went and met with the George Price Center last week.  It was super wonderful.  I really like Elsie, the Director of the Center.  She is really wonderful to work with and said that she would be more than happy to collaborate on any projects that we are going to plan.  She said that we can plan the projects and the curriculum and she will provide the facilities and the publicity.  She also indicated that summer reading  projects and a computer project would be great.  Our volunteers are heading up both of the projects.  At the end of the summer, we will also be doing a peace camp with the volunteers.  :)

Mary Open Doors

This is going to be a little bit tricky.  Mary Open Doors is a great organization that provides relieve to women who have been battered and are looking for an escape.  Unfortunately, it is very expensive to house the families and they don't have a reliable source to fund.  <I honestly would love to work with them to get the costs down and devise a reliable income so that the center could be self-sustaining>  We talked to them and she said that she doesn't have time to do fundraising.  We are trying to put together a fundraiser for her, but it has been extremely difficult to pull in all the resources--specifically, we are American girls who don't know how to sell the tickets in this country.  We have a plan, and we are trying to go for it!  We got the resort to donate the venue, and are negotiating food prices. 

To promote the activity, we went to the Rotary Club meeting on Thursday morning.  It was funny to watch.  We met the guy from International House-hunters who bought his house here in Belize.  The funny thing is that I honestly saw the show the night before moving here.  My mom recorded it not knowing that it took place in the exact city where we are living! 

We have a few other projects in the pipeline.  I'm getting excited for the rest of the summer.  I just wish that we had more volunteers for the projects.  :(  Oh well, we can work with what we have, right!?! 

I realized that I have taken hardly any pictures.  I'll repent and try to be better.  It's really been an amazing month!  I can't believe I'm already 1/4th the way through the summer!