What you leave behind...

(Friday, 3/20/09) It really never fails—the last day of your trip always seems to be the worst one. After a week of unbelievable weather and perfect conditions, our luck finally ran out, as it was overcast and rainy for most of the day. We really can’t complain too much though, as this trip has been nearly perfect in every regard. Looking back at the work we did at Holy Cross, I realized that our group did indeed make an impact on these children’s lives. From reading to them, administering hearing and vision tests, and doing science experiments with them, I can only hope that the children learned as much from us as we learned from them. Seeing how unfortunate most of these kids’ lives are, it made us appreciate even more all that we have in our own lives. Moreover, it seemed to remind us that despite the problems our own country may have, there is no more fortunate or stable nation on Earth than the United States. I really do believe that it is our obligation to help those around the world in need as we have been blessed with so much, while others are forced to make do with so little.

It’s hard to say right now, and it still may be difficult to say as time goes on, but in some way this trip has probably changed all of us. Maybe it wasn’t a life-altering experience, but I’m willing to bet that it was enough to make us a little more aware of the world we live in and the global community that we’re all a part of. Getting outside of your comfort zone is the best way to grow as a person, and traveling the world is an incredible way to challenge yourself to look at your own life from another perspective. Eleanor Roosevelt once said “Do something every day that scares you”—and I really couldn’t agree more. At the end of the day, what you leave behind is always more important than what you take away, especially if even one person’s life is made better in the wake of you passing by.

It’s been a great week, but it’s finally come to end, as all fun trips tend to do. In my hotel room, there was a little note from the management, and what it says really sums up our week here:

“May the reason that brought you our way be pleasant. May everything you do and everyone you meet add to your joy. When you leave, may your journey be safe. We are all travelers. From “birth ‘til death” we travel between the eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful to those you meet and a joy to those who know and love you best.”

So until our next adventure,

Trev

The work is done but far from over...

Belize it or not (haha ok, stupid, unoriginal pun), today was our last day working at Holy Cross School. We finished up the hearing tests with the remaining students, and were lucky enough to be outside when the van pulled up that was carrying the kids that we’d referred to the free eye clinic. They had been evaluated by professionals, and most in the group were wearing new glasses that they had gotten for free. Seeing those kids that we had helped to identify as having problems finally being able to see was very emotional, and was possibly my favorite part of the trip. We ate our final lunch at the school and then bid farewell to Ms. Grace, the principal, as well as the rest of the staff. As we were leaving, Ms. Grace stopped us and told us how much our help had meant to the school and reiterated the fact of how important this school is to the community. She told us that she hoped we would return some day and promised that we would see even more progress the next time we were there. In some sense, the women that run this establishment are the strongest mother figures that some of these students have; and while they are firm with the students, they provide a truly loving and compassionate outlet that the kids know they can turn to when all is not well in their lives. It really is a thankless job, but by some act of God the administrators and staff return willingly day after day to serve the needs of these children. Everyone knows that the children’s lives are far from perfect, and that most of them don’t want to remember most of what has transpired in their childhoods. Yet the staff’s dedication and commitment to the kids is the best chance that these students have for a brighter tomorrow.

After we returned to the hotel, we boarded a boat that took us on a great trip to Caye Caulker, where we wandered the island for a while and enjoyed the beautiful beaches and spectacular flowers. The boat that took us there looked a little “if-fy” but it turned out to get us there and back safely. Everyone loved the change of scenery, and it was fun to see a different island. The boat ride was awesome, as any chance to see this gorgeous water is a welcome one.

Everyone is still doing very well and is excited to spend our last whole day tomorrow enjoying the sun and beach before we return home on Saturday.

Continuing our Work at Holy Cross

Back at Holy Cross today and the work continued, although most of us were trying new things with the students. Most of us want to be able to get opportunities to work in various capacities around the school, as it’s really turning out to be great to see every aspect that the school has to offer. Reading skills are still very important, so those in the group who’d been working with certain kids on their reading ability stayed on doing that; although Parker, Amanda and I started testing kids for hearing and vision problems. Working in the school’s dental lab (I was pretty impressed with the whole set-up), we tested kids throughout the morning and determined who needed to be referred to the community clinic based upon the results of these tests. It was challenging but rewarding at the same time, knowing that we were directly increasing these kids’ chances of improving their lives by helping them to hear and see better. The dental clinic is an amazing feat in and of itself—two exam chairs, an x-ray machine, and entire stock room filled to the brim with dental supplies. The school usually has a volunteer dentist in once a month to examine the kids for cavities and other oral ailments.

We have been joined by about 30 other volunteers from Texas and the University of Mississippi, all of which are helping the effort to make Holy Cross a better place for the children who learn there. It’s great to see so many different people all contributing to the same cause and helping to improve the lives of these kids.

After heading back to the hotel after working today, most of the group headed to beach to enjoy the unbelievable weather (I’m honestly not sure that I’ve seen a cloud the entire time I’ve been here) while I headed to the boat to explore what Belize has to offer beneath the waves. Katie and I donned our scuba gear and headed out with about eight others to the Belize barrier reef, were we spent nearly an hour underwater at a depth of 60 feet exploring the reef and taking in all of the magnificent sea life that this island has to offer. Enormous, free-swimming moray eels, giant prickly crabs, and an unimaginable array of vibrantly-colored tropical fished entertained us and piqued our imagination as to what else the sea has to offer. It was really impressive getting to see such a diverse assortment of sea creatures in such an incredible setting.

We’re excited to continue our work tomorrow at Holy Cross Anglican School, and we’re anxious to see how much more we can accomplish there as we will be leaving the students and staff tomorrow afternoon. Everyone in the group is still faring well, as each day brings new discoveries and revelations about our abilities to help others and succeed in an environment that is new and foreign to all of us.

PARKER WATT WINS CHICKEN DROP

Ambergris Caye, Belize—AFC trip member and 19 year-old college student Parker Watt won the first round of Wednesday night’s chicken drop, a “world-famous” game of chance witnessed by over a hundred onlookers at the Pier Lounge and Bar in San Pedro. The game, where participants pay $1 to draw a number in hopes that the chosen chicken “drops” on their corresponding number on the giant, 100-square game board, is a cultural institution on the island of Ambergris.
“I’m usually pretty unlucky, so I didn’t think I was going to win,” said Watt. However, lady luck was with him when he drew his numbers.
“I picked numbers 34, 48, and 81,” said Watt “and they were all away from the center of the board, which I thought gave me less of a chance to win.”
However, Watt’s fears turned out to be completely unfounded.
“I realized I’d won when the chicken crapped on number 81,” said Watt, his face beaming with glee, “I never thought in a million years I’d win the chicken drop!”
Despite his luck, Watt still had to overcome one obstacle before he claimed his winnings.
“I was told I had to clean up the chicken feces,” said Watt, who was disgusted at first, but then realized that the money was worth picking up a piece of chicken poop.
Yet Watt was not alone in his happiness about winning.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes or ears,” said Sara Kaufman, another member of the AFC trip to Belize, “it really took a while for it to sink in.” Kaufman had a difficult time holding back the tears, as she congratulated Watt while holding her bright pink rum punch.
“Maybe he’ll buy me another cocktail with his winnings!” slurred Kaufman.
After judges verified Watt’s ticket and winning number, he was awarded the grand prize of $100 in Belizean currency, the equivalent of fifty U.S. dollars.

This Should Have Been Posted Yesterday...Sorry!

(3/17/08, Tueday)

The work at Holy Cross continued today, and we’ve been mostly staying in the classrooms with the students. The staff needs all the help they can get assisting the children with reading so that’s what most of us have been doing. Three or four from our group have been helping the librarian organize the library, carding books and establishing a reference catalog (the library has TONS of books, mostly up-to-date materials that the students are really excited about!). I worked with the Standard VI class (the equivalent of grade 8 in the United States) as they are working on the mechanics of writing in preparation for next week’s high school entrance exam, a standardized test created and administered by Belize’s Ministry of Education.

Despite the homes that these students come from, it’s remarkable to see how positive and upbeat they are during the day. All of them seem excited to learn and eager to share their progress with the other students and ourselves. It’s funny how similar they are to students their age in the U.S.—chatting during class, passing notes, and giving the teachers light-hearted grief. It’s interesting that only one of the teachers at the school has a formal university degree, as every one else there has only a high school education, as required by the Ministry of Education. The teachers seem to be so patient with the kids, and really appear to have a vested interest in seeing them succeed. I still continue to see every day how the school is an integral part of the community, as these children are reliant upon the school to provide what they cannot receive at home, especially since there is no formal system of welfare in Belize. We’ve seen kids that are getting vitamins every day, new shoes when they need them, free dental screenings multiple times a year, hygiene supplies, and even free uniforms (yes, every student is even in a uniform). It’s so impressive to see the dedication of the administrators and support staff that all keep coming back day after day because they realize the impact that they’re actions are having on these kids’ lives.

Everyone in the group is still doing well—the work in the morning is tiring but the afternoons are a welcome relief from the heat and humidity as we all head back to the beach and lounge around in the sun after lunch. A few of the girls went snorkeling today and said it was absolutely amazing. I’m thinking about going scuba diving tomorrow, so that should be fun too. Last night we all got pizzas and brought them back to the hotel where we ate on the beach and shared stories and laughed about the day late into the night.

What Lies Beneath...

It’s easy to be swept up in all that’s right with Belize—the glassy cerulean water, breezy island winds, endless sunshine and a setting so laid-back and unassuming it’d make Jimmy Buffett jealous (rumor has it he does stop here from time to time). But take a stroll off the beaten path, away from the resorts and pools, and before long you’ll come face to face with the darker underbelly of this country, the part the government doesn’t want you to see: the slums of San Mateo. Today was our first day at Holy Cross Anglican School, and we were given a tour of the area where most of the students live—San Mateo, a forgotten expanse of nearly uninhabitable swampland, pockmarked by toxic bogs festering with raw sewage and errant garbage. The only way to get around is by following a narrow dirt path that winds itself around this destitute shantytown, a community of nearly two hundred makeshift dwellings, some of which house up to nine people. The smell that permeates the air is ungodly—a mixture of melted plastic, sulfur and sewage. There isn’t a whole lot that makes me uncomfortable or that I think I can’t handle, but this is one of the few places I’ve ever been to that I’ve really wanted to run away from and never see again. To think that the children we’d seen earlier at the school live in this deplorable wasteland, you start to see that these conditions are truly an abomination of the human condition.

But what we soon realized as we were led around by the school’s social worker is that Holy Cross Anglican has become much more than a school for this community—it’s a staple institution that the parents of these kids have come to rely upon nearly as much as the children themselves. Holy Cross is the only school in the country which offers a free, comprehensive feeding program where the children are assured two meals every day as well as a snack. Most of these students come from homes in the slums where domestic abuse and violence is rampant and food can often be considered a luxury. The majority of the “houses” in San Mateo lack running water or electricity, not to mention furniture or other accoutrements.

What we saw today brought home the whole reason of why we’re here: to hopefully make some kind of positive impact on the children’s lives. I’ll admit, before this morning I believed our mission was noble but idealistic nonetheless. Yet having seen the forces that we and others like us are working against, I realized the attention and urgency that a problem like this requires. I can only hope that during the rest of our time here we’re able to give these children the help they deserve and so desperately need, because at the end of the day I truly believe that they’re good kids with a lot of potential who really have the deck stacked against them.

As a general update, everyone in the group is doing well and we’re excited that we’ve got four more days here. The internet connection is extremely slow, so the hope of getting pictures on the blog is dwindling by the day. However, I will certainly add them as soon as I get home for everyone to see.

Sunday's the Fun Day

Well, the whole group arrived yesterday afternoon/early evening and all arrived without any major glitches. Everyone is blown away by how incredibly beautiful the water is and how gorgeous the weather is. Once everybody had composed themselves after their flights and arrivals, we set out into town and had a great welcome dinner at Caramba's, a fabulous local eatery with stellar service. Today (Sunday) is our first free day, so everyone seems to be taking their time and getting a feel for the area. Everyone is out on the beach right now, laying out or swimming in the crystal clear water. I'm still working on getting pictures up, the connection isn't great but hopefully I'll have some up soon.

Last Night I Dreamt of San Pedro...

Is this really the San Pedro Madonna was singing about?? I can't imagine that Madonna would be caught dead here. Actually, it was more like I wandered around San Pedro semi-aimlessly until I found a bar that looked good. I'd eaten a late lunch at Ramon's so I wasn't really hungry, but when I came across Caliente on the beach (no Claire, it wasn't THAT Caliente) at around 9:00, something about it really beckoned to me. After an hour, two Belikins and a plate of guacamole, I was ready to call it a day. Having been up for almost 20 hours straight, I needed to head to bed. The beach here really comes alive at night though--all of the outdoor bars and restaurants open up with fun lights and decorations, live music, and plenty of local rum; but if you're looking for nightlife like Cancun or Alcapulco (minus the drug cartels shooting at you), then you should really go to Cancun or Acapulco. Nothing here is overly fancy of pretentious (although there is a tapas bar I came across that looks like it might (big emphasis on the might) fit in on South Beach. Everyone seems to be having a good time here, and that's how the locals seem to want to keep it.

When I woke up this morning I just assumed I'd caught up on all the sleep I'd needed and figured it was 10:30 or so in the morning. My watch said 7:00. Damn. So I went into town to find something to eat, and came a across a lovely bakery where I got some kind of funky local juice and a cinnamon role the size of a dinner plate. All together, it set me back $1.75. I was happy. I roamed around the town some more and found some places for the group to eat, so I think we're covered on that front. Every one else gets here later today and the volunteer work starts bright and early Monday---fixing shutters, organizing the library, building a tool shed, and painting.

Weather's still unbelievable here--mid to upper 80's, breezy and not a single cloud in the sky.

Finally Here in Belize!!!!

Its seems like today is the first time in about a month that I was able to remember what silence sounded like. And as an added bonus, it came with soft breaking waves and a cool island breeze. Yep, I'm back in Belize. I'm sitting on the beach as I write this, so yeah, it's okay to be a little jealous (unless you're one of the other 13 people who will be joinging me tomorrow, then you've only got a few more hours to wait!!!). My day started at 3:30 this morning and well, not sure what time it will end, but probably fairly soon, I'm exhausted. The flights weren't bad, but as soon as I touched down (for the third time in seven hours) and checked into the hotel, I set out to rediscover the island of Ambergris. Nothing much has changed, and I guess that's for the better--if it ain't broke, don't fix it (although there's a decent amount here that could stand to be fixed). I visited Holy Cross Anglican school where we'll be working this week and...wow, it was an eye-opener. The work they do is clearly benefitting tons of kids, and it's a thankless job for the dedicated people who run it. They definitely need all the help they can get, and hopefully that's what we'll be able to give them. Found some places that look good to eat, so hopefully we'll be back there later this week. Pictures to come soon, but for now I probably need to go find something to eat...or at least to drink. It's been a long day...