Jankannu

I was invited to attend the Christmas show at a primary school I've been teaching at. I'm so glad I went because the kids were adorable and seemed very excited that I came. The schools has preschool through eighth grade and each class did a dance, a song, or a short skit. Near the end, four boys danced the Jankannu, a traditional Garifuna dance performed at Christmas. They wear masks and are suppose to represent the crazy white men. The tallest dancer isn't a student at the school but the others all are.

Settlement Day

November 19 is Settlement Day in Belize, one of the most popular and important holidays here and the biggest celebration is held in my town of Dangriga. First, I encourage everyone to read my blog about the Garifuna to understand the background on the ethnic group that this holiday celebrates.

The first group of Garifuna arrived in Belize in the town of Dangriga on November 19, 1832. They’ve been here ever since and have celebrated their ancestors arrival with a mix of tradition, culture, drinking, and partying. I’ve been hearing lots about this holiday since I arrived and everyone told me to be ready for a great time. I have to admit I kept my expectations low since I hadn’t been all that impressed with other holiday celebrations here but I was pleasantly surprised at the fun I had this past weekend.

Schools across the country celebrated Culture Week leading up to Settlement Day last weekend. Students were allowed to wear their traditional outfits instead of uniforms to school so throughout town it was fun to see all the students in their colorful clothes headed to school in the morning. They also did activities to learn about the many cultures that make up Belize. On Friday, all the primary schools in Dangriga came to the park across the street from my house to celebrate Settlement Day together. There was a re-enactment of the boat landing at the park and then a nice program organized by the district education center. They presented some information about the history of the Garifuna and then each school did a presentation they had prepared. Some had short plays, others sang, while others drummed and danced. Finally, two well known musicians performed for the students and talked to them about the importance of keeping their culture alive. They then had the afternoon off so were running around town excited for the festivities.

Thousands of people from around Belize, Central America, and the world descended on Dangriga last Thursday and Friday for the celebrations. Belizeans that have migrated to the United States often come back every year to celebrate Settlement Day. Hundreds of tourists also were in town. I’ve never seen so many people here and the entire town was transformed. Thursday night people were wandering the street and there were several different concerts and performances going on around the town on makeshift stages. We saw traditional drummers and dancers as well as well-known musicians from Dangriga that perform the more contemporary punta rock that is based off traditional Garifuna music. Most people stayed up all night partying. I only made it until 9 pm but I heard music blasting all night long. Roaming groups of drummers canvassed the town for two nights before Nov 19 stopping at many houses and performing with the expectation they’d receive a little money to help cover the cost of their costumes. You also are allowed to join these groups and continue roaming with them throughout the town. It’s a little like Christmas caroling.

After a full night of drinking and partying, everyone congregated at the river at 6 am for the official re-enactment of the Garifuna’s arrival. We got up early to go see this but of course it happened on Belizean time and didn’t arrive until after 7 am. While we were still half-asleep, it was entertaining to watch all the folks that were still partying from the night before. Finally a canoe with three men paddled up the river and then paddled back out into the ocean. We were confused and wondered if this was it but then realized these were scouts coming to check if Dangriga was an acceptable place to land. A little later, three larger boats (disappointedly they were motor boats) full of people, came up the river dressed in traditional clothes and singing and dancing. The Garifuna had arrived in Dangriga.

Later that morning, a program was held at the park by my house. Many community leaders spoke about the importance of preserving their culture and teaching the young about their traditions. They also had several performances. I enjoyed watching it from the balcony of my house but loved the people watching even more. Many people wore traditional outfits which you occasionally see around town throughout the year but were much more common for this holiday. Following the program, there was a parade down the main street. Many schools had bands and dance or flag troops that performed as well as different organizations from town that had floats. Local companies had floats and handed out samples including several rum companies that were throwing out small bottles! There were lots of dancers and several famous musicians singing on the top of semi trucks. Overall it was a fun parade.

The rest of the day and evening were spent wandering around town, talking to people that we ran into, drinking, watching different performers, and just enjoying the festivities. The town was transformed for a few days to celebrate the traditions and the work of their ancestors and also to have a great time partying and dancing into the future. It was a great mix of young and old, foreigners and locals, and the ancient and the modern. Nobody can say the Garifuna don’t know how to throw a good party!

I've posted some pictures from the weekend.

Love in the Peace Corps

Nope, this blog is not really about my love life though I have been lucky enough to find love in the Peace Corps. I recently returned from a trip to the U.S. where I attended a wedding of two RPCVs, visited with Dylan and his family, and thought a lot about my fast-approaching post-PC future. I spent about a week in DC before moving on to Atlanta for a weekend. In order to save hundreds of dollars, I flew out of Cancun which meant over 24 hours of travel to go a pretty short distance (well compared to Africa!). Lots of time on the bus and in the airport but a great final vacation before I finish the Peace Corps.

I met many of Dylan's friends and family and just enjoyed hanging around this fun city that I'm planning to soon call home. Thats right, I've decided to move to Washington DC after Peace Corps and start the next adventure of my life there. Dylan and I went to a bike sale one day and purchased matching year-old Trek hybrids for about half off. I have grown to love biking since joining the Peace Corps and knew I wanted a bike when I got home with the hopes that I will continue riding frequently. I'm so excited to have a bike waiting for me when I move to DC! Its been not so enjoyable returning to my crappy Beach Cruiser in Belize though! Dylan and I enjoyed biking around the Mall and while he was at work, I took several other nice bike rides along the Capital Crescent trail. I loved experiencing fall for the first time in years. It was at its peak in Washington (after surviving snow the week before I arrived) and the leaves were beautiful. The weather was crisp (yeah I still froze) and I enjoyed apple pies, jumping in the leaves, and wearing sweatshirts!

Last weekend, Dylan and I went to Atlanta to celebrate the marriage of some Peace Corps friends. Zach and Dylan had trained together in Guinea back in 2009 before they were evacuated and Dylan transferred to Burkina. Zach went home only to come to Burkina a year later where he met Christina in training. Their sites were in our region and during the violence in Burkina last spring, Dylan spent a lot of time with them. They decided to come home because of this violence and were engaged last summer. The wedding was held along the river in Atlanta with a beautiful outdoor ceremony and fun reception afterwards followed by an evening of bar hopping. Its a pretty well-known fact that many couples meet and fall in love in Peace Corps and PC marriages are not that unusual. This was my first PC wedding though I know of several other couples that married after meeting in the PC. We enjoyed celebrating with our friends and reminiscing about Burkina Faso together!

ATM or How I Celebrated Halloween

I had planned to write this blog for Halloween but never seemed to get around to it and now I'm weeks late but I still want to share my experiences with you. While in the U.S., many of you dressed up in silly costumes, went trick-or-treating and maybe visited a corn maze or haunted house, I spent my Halloween with the ghosts of the ancient Mayans in a pitch-black cave while climbing and swimming through a freezing cold river.

There are so many tourist spots to see in Belize and I've been fortunate to visit numerous interesting places during the past year but there was one place I hadn't been fortunate enough to see yet but I now can say I've crossed off everything on my Belize To-Do list. And I just happened to visit this otherworldly site at the perfect time of year when we all enjoy getting scared. Now that I've peaked your interest, let me tell you a little about this spectacular tour.

Actun Tunichil Muknal, called ATM by everyone here, is a cave system located in central Belize that was a sacred place for the Ancient Mayans. The name means Cave of the Stone Sepulcher in one of the Mayan languages. It has only been explored in the last decade by modern day Belizeans and is carefully protected to avoid looting and destruction of artifacts. Only a few guides are authorized to take groups in and visitors must remove their shoes while walking in the cave and avoid touching the walls in many sections. Its a mystical experience but also a little spooky as its pitch black, there are bats flying around, and ancient artifacts that haven't been moved in over a thousand years.

To reach the cave, we hiked for about an hour through the jungle along a path that crossed a river three times. There were no bridges though so we had to walk through the river with water that sometimes reached mid-thigh. When we finally reached the cave, there is a river flowing through it so in order to enter the cave, we had to jump in and swim into the entrance through deep water to a section that was more shallow and not usually over our heads. For the next hour, we continued to swim and walk through water as we went deeper and deeper in the cave. I think in total we traveled about three miles deep into the cave. The first half was mostly in the water and we had to squeeze through tight sections of rock at times to continue along. The cave was pitch black of course other than the light from our headlamps and the beams bounced off the uneven walls. We were warned to close our mouths when looking up to avoid any bat guano though it was hard not to stare at the beautiful stalagmites and stalagtites that covered the cave. In other parts, the walls were covered in crystals that had formed over thousands of years of dripping water.

After about an hour in the water, we climbed to a higher part of the cave where the river couldn't reach. Now that we were climbing and walking, we were asked to remove our shoes but keep on our socks in order to show respect to this Ancient Mayan sacred place. We climbed farther in the cave for another hour and enjoyed seeing pottery the Mayans had carried into the cave with food and drink to give to their ancestors or gods. They had to follow the same path that we had just come and it was amazing these small people were able to carry large pottery through the river and small crevices. If they happened to break or scratch a piece of pottery, it was no longer good enough for the gods and was discarded along the cave. Those pieces that made it farther in were displayed in specific positions, some facing up, some down, and others to the side to represent the underworld, the heavens, and the present. Some also was placed on pedestals in specific places so the light of torches bouncing off them created mystical shadows. Our guide explained that the ancient Mayans had different drugs and alcohol, some that may have caused hallucinations so they thought they saw their gods from the shadows made by stalagtites and their pottery.

We saw several skulls and other bones throughout the cave and we were told these were probably sacrifices to the gods. They may have been brought into the cave and sacrificed inside during intricate rituals. The final place we visited as we traveled deep into the cave was to a perfectly complete skeleton of a young woman. It was very spooky knowing that she was laying in the same position that she had been killed in a millennium ago.

Very few archaeologists have been in the cave and no excavation has been done so it is completely left like it was when re-discovered two decades ago. The pottery is laying in the same position that the ancient Mayans had set it and mounds of dirt were lying as they had been formed by their own hands. I've visited many ancient sites around the world but they've all been excavated and changed by archaeologists. It was fascinating to see this place that was left intact for over a thousand years. Who knows how long it will last though as more and more tourists come to Belize and want to visit. Luckily, its been protected to this point but I'm sure it will be difficult to prevent any looting or other destruction in the future.

At Halloween, we joke about being spooked by skeletons, ghosts, and bats. In Belize on Halloween, I spent a day climbing and swimming deep into a pitch black cave that was full of skeletons, bats, and probably the spirits of the ancient Mayans if you believe in that. It was exciting, it was mystical, and a little bit spooky but mostly just an amazing adventure that I am so happy I was able to see! I only have a few pictures since it was so dark and couldn't use my camera in the water but check them out on Picasa.

News from Belize

Here it is mid-October and I know I haven’t written a blog entry in weeks. I just feel like I haven’t had much to say and it seems like all the blogs I’ve been writing from Belize are about travels I’ve done. I did take a week vacation to Cancun in September, my first “real” vacation since arriving here but not a whole lot report. I know many of you think my life here sounds like a vacation and it times it does seem that way but it was great to actually get away for a few days. I was able to spend time with Dylan and relax on the beach. Otherwise, I’ve pretty much just been hanging out in Dangriga. I’m trying to get several things going but there hasn’t been much to report. I figure its time to share something with all my loyal, dedicated readers though.

Last week on Oct 13, I hit my three year mark in the Peace Corps. That’s right – I now have been serving for over three years. In many ways its impossible to believe this. The years have really flown by. It seems like just yesterday that I was still living in New Orleans, trying to get through my grad classes, and constantly wondering where the Peace Corps would send me. At that point, I never would have expected to be in Burkina Faso or Belize. I now have completed my first two years in West Africa and have just three months left in Central America. Its been quite the tour! I have to admit I’m ready for the future though and am excited to move onto the next adventure!

As for news from my current location, on Sept 21, Belize celebrated its 30^th birthday. It was just thirty years ago that Belize won its independence from Britain and became an independent country. People here were excited to celebrate and like most holidays in Belize, this meant a parade, loud music playing all day and night, and lots of beer. I guess its not all that different from the Fourth of July back home. Other recent holidays included St George’s Caye Day, also referred to as Baymen’s Day on Sept 10. This is a celebration of the Brits final defeat over the Spaniards and their claim to the land that is now Belize back in 1798. Columbus Day is also celebrated here but its called Pan-American Day. This year an extra holiday was declared at the end of September when the first prime minister of Belize, George Price, passed away. He was recognized for founding this country and a huge funeral and celebrations were planned in his honor.

In my personal life, one of my favorite activities for the last several months has been zumba and strength class. Another PCV in Dangriga was a fitness intstructor in the U.S. and started classes here after she arrived in June. There's a small group of women, both Belizean and other PCVs, that meets twice a week to dance away calories at zumba class. We also have a strength class twice a week that includes a variety of exercises. One of the more creative things we've done is fill liter water bottles with sand and then water to make weights. We're not sure how heavy they are but are guessing around 6 pounds. They're perfect for lots of different exercises. Our instructor and her husband also developed a system using cheap rope from the market, pvc pipe, and pipe insulation to do a variety of different exercise. She got the idea from TRX which is an expensive system of ropes people buy in the U.S. to work out. Her system cost only a few dollars and works great! The best part about our classes is location. We work out in the park across the street from my house in the bandstand. It sits right on the sea so we have an amazing breeze off the sea to keep up cool and a beautiful view. I doubt I'll ever have such an amazing workout experience when I get back to the States!

Anna's Visit

My amazing friend Anna came to visit me for a week at the end of August. We are great Peace Corps travel buddies. We met my freshmen year of college when she was my RA and lived across the hall. She served as a volunteer in Cape Verde and I visited her in 2007 and she visited me in Burkina Faso in 2009. I wonder where we'll meet up in 2013? She worked at Peace Corps headquarters in DC until recently so knew some of the staff here in Belize. Therefore our first stop after she arrived was at the PC office. We then travelled on to Cayo for a couple days.

The next day we took a tour to Caracol, the largest, most impressive Mayan ruins in Belize. This is considered one of the Big Four of Mayan ruins throughout Mexico and Central America. Not many people visit here though because until recently, it was nearly impossible to reach. A few years ago, the road was fixed up a bit and a part of it is paved due to the frequency of it being washed out. Even with the improved road, it was a three hour drive in a private vehicle to reach the site. It was a beautiful drive though that included going through the Mountain Pine Ridge National Reserve, one of the only areas in the region where you will find a pine forest. We also passed a few abandoned villages. It was strange because it looked like one day everyone just got up and left. The houses seemed in pretty good shape and were just left there. The guide explained that the villages were built when there were many loggers in the area and when this work was prohibited, everyone moved out of the reserve.

At the ruins, I was stunned at the size. Only a part of this ancient city has been excavated but they had a model showing what they believed was there. Even with only a part of the buildings visible, it was obviously much larger than any of the other sites I've visited. There were plenty of temples and other buildings to climb around on. I'm afraid to admit this is my favorite part of visiting ruins - the taller, the better and Caracol was the tallest I've seen in Belize! We took a long tour around the area to learn about the city that thrived here over a thousand years ago.

On the ride home from the ruins, we made several stops to visit natural wonders. This included a large cave that was more like a tunnel. We walked along the side to enter the huge cave and could see the large opening in the back. We also stopped at a series of natural pools and small waterfalls. Unfortunately it had been raining a lot so these were flooded and not nearly as beautiful as some of the pictures I've seen. Finally we stopped at a large sinkhole.

The following day I took Anna to Cahel Pech, a smaller Mayan ruins in San Ignacio so she could compare it to Caracol and understand just how impressive the first site was. We then travelled home to Dangriga for a couple days. Another day I took her to the Blue Hole, one of my favorite sites here. We walked into St Herman's Cave only to find it was flooded. I was very confused because all of the sudden the path was cut off by a river. Its pitch dark inside the cave and my flashlight wasn't very bright so I couldn't figure out where to go. Finally we realized it was flooded and we couldn't go any farther. We then hiked to the Blue Hole to find it flooded as well. On that day, Blue Hole was not an appropriate name. Instead of the gorgeous blue clear water thats usually there, it was several feet higher and green and murky. I've been here numerous times and never seen it like this so it was quite the shock.

For a final few days, we went out to Tobacco Caye which I had visited previously with my parents. This small island is just off the coast of Dangriga and is reached by an hour ride in a speed boat. We were the only guests there as its low season so had complete privacy. Unfortunately the snorkeling wasn't as great as I remember as there had been green algae blooms and the visibility wasn't great. We did enjoy laying in hammocks and relaxing all day.

I love having visitors here in Belize and showing my friends and family this beautiful country that I can call home. I think Anna was my last visitor before I leave unless any of you are still interested in coming. Let me know if you want to plan a trip before January! I'd love to host you!

Short Update

I know I haven't written in a long time. I feel like my life is pretty boring these days. I don't have much going on with work now and I've mostly just been hanging out.

I wrote a while back about the HFLE (Health & Family Life Education) training of trainers that I helped plan and facilitate. About a month ago we had the second part of this activity; the participants from the first training taught the material to other teachers in our district. It went pretty well and now another group of teachers is more prepared to teach this curriculum to their students. Schools started on Monday so hopefully they will begin using the materials and lesson plans we shared with them.

Belize faced its first storm of the year a couple weeks ago. Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall in Dangriga Town, Belize though I never would have known it. Peace Corps was overly prepared for the approaching storm. We received frequent updates that it was coming days before it hit and all the volunteers on the coast or in the southern part of the country were consolidated in Belmopan the day before. The day of the storm, it rained all morning but wasn't too crazy. We were expecting it to hit mid-afternoon so when winds and rains picked up we thought it was the outer bands of the storm. It started to clear up and nobody knew what happened. We thought we were possibly in the eye of the storm. Well it stopped raining and the skies cleared. Turns out that was the whole storm. There was a lot of flooding in Belmopan including in the Peace Corps office but not much damage. Two tornadoes were spotted throughout the country which was all over the news here. Nobody remembers every seeing a tornado before in Belize, let alone two. When I returned to Dangriga the next afternoon, I was surprised to really not see any damage. I guess there were a few trees that fell and a couple shacks that were knocked down but nothing serious. I guess it was a good practice storm because we're all still expecting more for the year as September is usually the busiest time of the year.

September is also holiday season here. This Saturday is National Day and Sept 21 is Independence Day so everyone is in a festive mood and ready to party. I hear the days involve parades and lots of drinking.

That is about all thats been going on here. I'm down to about four months of service left and am starting to think about whats next. Will keep you all updated!

Dylan's Visit

After more than six months apart, my boyfriend Dylan and I were reunited in July. He recently completed his PC service in Burkina Faso and came to Belize for two weeks before settling into life back in the U.S. We had a wonderful time catching up and reconnecting but, of course, the visit was too short. We really enjoyed just hanging out, swimming in the ocean, and playing lots of backgammon but also took a few trips and I was able to show him some of the amazing places in this country.

We started off his visit with a weekend in Caye Caulker. He met a few other PCVs that were around and we enjoyed a full day sail and snorkel tour that included three stop. We didn't actual see much snorkeling at the first but as we got back in the boat, three manatees approached the area we had just been swimming in. At the second stop, we jumped in the water among dozens of nurse sharks and sting rays. It was a little scary but very cool to be so close to them. The final stop was in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve where we saw a lot more coral and fish including a huge grouper that was about three feet long and a turtle.

After our weekend of fun in the sun, we enjoyed a few days back in Dangriga just hanging out while I had to work. Two more visitors then arrived. My good friend from college, Maren, and her husband, Mike, came to Belize for a week. It was their first trip away from their 14 month old son and a chance to really relax. We enjoyed a day touring Dangriga followed by a trip into Toledo in southern Belize. We visited two ancient Mayan ruins: Lubaatan and Nim Li Punit and enjoyed driving around rural Belize where we could see many small Mayan villages that people currently live in. Our last stop was Blue Creek Cave where we were in for a surprise. We somehow had misunderstood and thought the cave was right off the road and easy to get to. I had been warned not to climb in the cave now since there is a risk of flash floods. After hiking through the woods and crossing a river, we finally could see the cave opening. It was humongous and water was rushing out of it. There was no way we would try to enter the cave with those rapids! Dylan did enjoy trying to climb closer to the opening though while the rest of us enjoyed the view that didn't involve quite as much climbing over slippery rocks!

A few days after Maren and Mike left, Dylan and I traveled to Placencia for the biggest adventure during his visit. We had been talking for months about going diving and I had tried to get lots of research beforehand and picked out a company to go with. I've never dived before so needed to get certified and Dylan wanted to do a refresher course since he had only done a few dives and it had been several years. I thought everything was planned and would be great but of course thats not how anything works in Belize! Turns out there has been a weird algae growth throughout a large area of the reef near Placencia that means there is no visibility. The first company said they couldn't take us anymore but thankfully we found another company, Splash Dive Shop, that would take us north where visibility was still good and wouldn't charge any more. I think we actually lucked out since this company was so great and I would recommend them to anybody wanting to dive in Belize. They even gave me a great discount as a Peace Corps Volunteer. My dive certification was three days with the first day full of watching videos and taking quizzes. Not very interesting but I liked the instructor and was able to calm some of my fears about diving.

The next day Dylan was able to complete the refresher while I did my first couple dives. We went with a group out to South Water Caye where we first practiced using the equipment and did our first dive from shore. I had to do a lot of different skills testing that is required for certification including taking my mask off and putting it back on underwater, sharing a regulator (what you use to breath with), having my air turned off to experience what its like to run out of air, practicing an ascent when you're out of air, and many other things. They were a little scary but I guess the idea is to get practice now so its not so scary if you actually have an emergency.

The final day we went out to Tobacco Caye and Dylan was able to enjoy an awesome dive down to 90 ft and saw lots of cool stuff. I had to spend the time doing lots more skills tests but it meant that I was certified by the end of the day. Our second dive was very cool though and we were able to go together. We were supposed to only go to 60 ft but at one point I realized I was down to 75 ft. We saw lots of coral and fish and even a turtle. It was very cool and made me realize I want to see more. The batteries on my underwater camera died which I guess means I do need to dive again to get some pictures. Now that I'm certified, I hope to be able to do a couple more dives (if I can afford it!) before I leave Belize to get some more experience. I'm excited that this is something we both enjoy and can experience on future vacations!

One other outing we did while Dylan was here was a day trip to Blue Hole and St Hermans Cave. I've been to the Blue Hole several times now but always love it. We started off the day at St Hermans Cave. They have a great, well-marked path that you can follow pretty far into the cave with flashlights. When we turned the lights off, it was completely dark! We then did a long hike through the area and were so hot and sweaty by the time we reached the Blue Hole that the cold water felt especially amazing!

Sharks & Sting Rays

I've been fortunate to do a lot of traveling and had several cool adventures in the last few weeks. Pictures are posted and blogs will be coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy this video of a few of the animals Dylan & I saw while snorkeling in Caye Caulker.

Training of Trainers

Peace Corps Volunteers in Belize have been focused for the past several years on a project to increase the use of Belize's health and family life education (HFLE) curriculum. This is a new curriculum from the Ministry of Education that all primary and secondary schools throughout the country are required to teach weekly. Basically it is a sex ed curriculum but it incorporates a variety of lessons that also include self-esteem, building relationships, communication, and good touch/bad touch. Volunteers and the Ministry have found that teachers aren't using it though and often refuse to teach many of the subjects. Last year a group of volunteers completed a study to learn why teachers weren't teaching HFLE in their classrooms. The results weren't surprising but did give them a starting point to work towards implementing the curriculum more widely. Teachers said they were embarrassed and uncomfortable teaching these topics to students, they think its the parents job to teach their children, they state its against their religion, and they say they don't have enough time during the day to teach this along with all the required subjects.

A group of volunteers that have since finished their service put together a manual of activities and ideas on how to teach these topics. The curriculum provided from the Ministry is huge and overwelming without any specific ideas and lessons plans so the hope was this Peace Corps manual would enable teachers. Last year volunteers organized a training for a small group of teachers that went well. This year, the group met with the Ministry and together they agreed to train all of the upper primary school teachers across the country in using this manual and teaching the curriculum in their classrooms.

I became involved in the project soon after arriving and have enjoyed getting to know other volunteers, meet with folks from the Ministry, plan the trainings, and write lesson plans. Belize recently (I believe) became a recipient of PEPFAR funding (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and Peace Corps is able to apply for grants for projects. The group received funding to carry out these trainings since they contain a large HIV/AIDS component. The plan was to hold two separate two-day trainings in the north and south of the country for 5-10 teachers from each district that were identified as leaders and comfortable teaching these subjects. After these trainings, these teachers will turn around and train all of the other upper primary school teachers in their district during two days in August (hence the title training of trainers). Every August all teachers throughout the country must participate in two weeks of training. We felt very fortunate that the Ministry was allowing Peace Corps to use two of these days to educate teachers on using the manual created by Peace Corps Volunteers.

Last week was the first of the trainings. Monday and Tuesday we led the training in Belize City and then repeated the training in Dangriga on Thursday and Friday. Myself and five other volunteers facilitated the entire training and led discussions with the participants on how to teach HFLE. We had about 30 participants in each training which also included staff from district education centers and new Peace Corps Volunteers that will also work with this curriculum. Topics covered during the training included: self-esteem, dealing with feelings, sexuality, puberty, sexual anatomy, STIs, HIV/AIDS, and stigma and discrimination. We had an HIV+ individual as a guest speaker. He shared his personal story and how he never had anyone that believed in him, built up his self-esteem, or taught him about his sexuality. He also discussed issues of stigma and discrimination in this country. The teachers were then broken into small groups where they had to prepare their own lessons using the manual and present to the group.

Overall the trainings were a huge success. Reading through the evaluations we were amazed to see the biggest complaint was they wished the training was longer. This is after we were concerned teachers would refuse to attend during their one month vacation. We felt the teachers really opened up and were excited and willing to discuss many difficult topics. Some participants had a good deal of background knowledge while we found others really had a lot to learn in order to be able to share with other teachers and their students. Along with knowledge, we tried to provide teachers with resources they can use in the classrooms and information to answer questions their students may pose.

Pictures from the week are posted on my Picasa page.

So You Want to Join Peace Corps

Hilarious video that really sums it all up!

Graduation on the Banana Farm

A month or so ago I wrote a blog entry about the work I had been doing at one of the banana farms here in Belize. I taught a series of six sex ed classes to the older primary school students at the school located here. I thoroughly enjoyed these sessions but worried that this work wasn't sustainable and didn't really fit into the project plan. Basically I liked what I was doing but wasn't sure it was really the work I should be focusing on. It was rewarding though because the principal, teacher, and students all seemed to appreciate me coming.

Last week I was reminded that we never really know the impact we are making on the people we work with even when it seems we're not doing much. I was extremely honored to be asked by the principal at this school to speak at their standard 6 graduation (similar to US 8th grade). He said the students had voted and chose me to be their guest speaker. Another volunteer told our PC Country Director that I would be a graduation speaker and she said she'd like to come see the ceremony and hear me speak.

I received a ride into the farm with the PC country director that morning and we arrived on Belizean time (a little late) but the ceremony was just getting started. There were 12 students graduating and they all sat on stage in their caps and gowns. The ceremony included speeches from several of the students and the group sang a song as well. At one point, all of the students presented gifts to their families in appreciation of the support of their education. It was very moving and everyone was tearing up.

I was asked to speak for about ten minutes on the theme for the graduation, "Let us be the agent of change with the power of education." I read Dr. Seuss' book "Oh the Places You'll Go" and talked about how their education will take them far. I was concerned that the students may not be able to understand me well since English isn't their first language. Our director said she watched them as I spoke and many were nodding and following along. Afterwards several teachers and students said they enjoyed the speech so I think it was a success. The students presented me with a beautiful necklace and earrings set with green stones. I was so surprised but touched at their kindness.

This day was very special for the students and their families and I was thrilled to be a part. Many of the parents don't speak English and probably have received very little education themselves so this is a very important day to watch their children's success. The principal also announced that all of the graduating class would be continuing their education with a majority going to high school and a few going to the technical school. When I had last talked to the students, only about half thought they would be able to go to high school so this was great news! I am so honored to be included in their day and appreciate the opportunity I had to congratulate them and encourage their future successes.

Catching up with Karla

I was fortunate enough to have another amazing visitor recently. Karla, my closest friend and neighbor during my first year in Burkina, spent a week with me in Belize. We were able to see a lot of the country and also hang out with other PCVs so she could see what Peace Corps is like here.

We spent a day hiking at Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Reserve along with PCVs Alyson & Clifton. We took a different trail than I had gone on last time I visited the park. It was challenging and we felt like we've never make it to the end but the view when we reached was well worth the hike. The trail stops at the base of a large waterfall with pool of water. There is a short trail leading to another waterfall above the first and you can look down on the clearing below. We enjoyed having our lunches here and cooling off in the water before hiking back.

The next day Karla and I had a very relaxing day on the beach in Placencia. Its such a beautiful area and we had fun just laying in the sand all day napping and reading.

Later in the week we went to Belmopan for the Swearing-In of the newest group of volunteers in Belize. It was similar to swear-ins in Burkina and brought back memories of when we swore-in more than two and a half years ago. PC Belize has a great tradition here that after the ceremony, the just sworn-in volunteers play soccer against the older PCVs. I also heard its a tradition to let the newbies win but not sure if that was said just because they did this year!

That night we traveled north to the town of Orange Walk with a group of other PCVs. That night we went out to this little hole-in-the-wall place for beer and ceviche. It was the best shrimp and conch ceviche I think I've ever had and at a great price. I enjoyed hanging out with some other PCVs that I hadn't spent much time with before as well.

Karla's last full day in Belize was spent on a great tour. We left from Orange Walk in a speed boat to travel down the New River to the Mayan Ruins of Lamanai. The boat trip took about two hours and seemed much more enjoyable than the several hours you can alternatively travel by bus on a dirt, pot-holed road. Along the way our guide pointed out all kinds of wildlife including lots of different birds and iguanas. We saw a couple splashes that he told us were crocodiles and just the top of one's head. I was a little disappointed not to see more crocodiles but I wasn't up to his suggestion of jumping in the water to attract them! In one tree, the guide pointed out toucans to us. They were smaller than I expected and he explained that there are several different varieties that live in this area and we were seeing the smallest type. We also saw spider monkeys that were in trees overlooking the water. We floated right up next to them and the guide gave them bananas. One even jumped in the boat with us. When we got to the ruins, we also saw howler monkeys.

Besides wildlife, we saw several other sites along the river. This included a large sugar refinery. Northern Belize is a huge grower of sugar cane and therefore producer of sugar. Lately there has been a sugar shortage throughout the country and our guide explained it was because of some changes in parts at the factory we saw and they had to cut production as they figured out how to fix their machines. He also pointed out the rum factory along the river. When you've got a lot of sugar cane, you can also have a lot of rum! Finally, he showed us a Mennonite community that is the most conservative in the country. It has about 2000 people and they have shunned all outside luxuries including even rubber for their buggy tires. This is a huge contrast to the Mennonites in Cayo that often drive cars and use cell phones! We also learned that it is impossible to join this community and everyone is required to marry within the population so there are concerns for future generations.

The ruins were also impressive to see but as I've said before, they all seem very similar to me. The last few times I've been to ruins, I've looked around on my own so it was different to have a guide this time explaining to us what we were seeing. Lamanai was one of the oldest Mayan cities but it also continued long after most of the other cities in the region collapsed. One reason for this, our guide explained, was because of the location on the river. The city was able to sustain a large population without decimating the land like happened at many of the other sites. This reminded me of the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond where he looks at ancient civilizations that reached their demise in a short period of time. He actually even looked at the ancient Mayans and discussed why the society fell apart before the Spaniards even arrived. Makes me wish I could re-read that chapter now that I'm living in the center of this civilization!

The tour ended with a return boat trip. Instead of enjoying the wildlife this time, we sat back and enjoyed rum punch! It was a fantastic end to the day and to Karla's visit. I had a great time catching up with her since it had been one and a half years since we hung out other than a short lunch at New Years. I also really appreciate the American goodies she brought me from home including shorts! I wasn't able to buy many new clothes when I was home in January since summer clothes weren't out then and its so hot here now that all I want to wear is shorts when I'm not at work!

Hurricane Season

As many of you may know, Peace Corps develops Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for each country that outlines what to do in a variety of safety and security situations. Last year while I was still in Burkina there were several terrorist threats and volunteers from several parts of the country had to be evacuated from their sites. I never worried or felt unsafe since I know my community was always watching out for me and Peace Corps had plans in place to take care of us and get us out of the country if needed. Since I left Burkina, there has been much greater safety and security concerns and many volunteers have been evacuated and/or put on standfast repeatedly since February. I don't want to go into the details about everything thats going on there but its basically been a lot of political instability with riots and protests against the government and current president. What I'm really trying to explain is that I was aware of potential problems in Burkina Faso and I felt very safe knowing that Peace Corps was taking care of us.

When I arrived in Belize five months ago, I had to go through a short training to inform me of differences between Burkina and Belize. One thing that really stuck out was my talk with the Belize Safety and Security Coordinator. We went through the EAP and I realized the biggest concern was hurricanes and floods. There was very low threat of terrorist activities or political instability like we faced in Burkina but a very high threat of natural disasters. I guess anywhere you go there are safety concerns; I find it interesting to see how different they can be!

June 1 is the official beginning of hurricane season and the day brought the first rain to Dangriga in a while with both morning and evening storms. For the next five months, Peace Corps Volunteers are supposed to be prepared for potential storms and the possibility of evacuation. Last year volunteers were consolidated (everyone brought together in Belmopan, away from the coast) five times I think because of potential storms. A category one hurricane did hit Belize and caused some damage but this was just a small storm. There is a lot of talk now about this hurricane season being a bad one. I've heard a couple different reasons. Someone told me this is an El Nino year meaning the weather patterns are set for potentially bad storms. Others have said that we should expect a larger number and more powerful storms. The most interesting reason I heard was that all of the worst hurricanes in Belize have hit in September of years ending in 1. It is 2011 so we'll see what happens this fall!

I heard the first potential storm is being watched near Jamaica already so I guess its time to pack my hurricane bucket. Thats right, Peace Corps Volunteers are required to prepare for any potential storms by putting together a hurricane bucket. We need to get a five gallon bucket called a pigtail bucket here since thats what usually comes in them! Pigtails are imported from the US where they are considered garbage but are a part of the traditional cuisine here. We're expected to have non-perishable foods, water, flashlight, clothes, money, and our passports ready to take with us when we get the call to consolidate.

I'm not sharing this with all of you because I'm really scared or to make you nervous; Peace Corps will get us out way before a storm gets close. I just find it fascinating and want to share what my life is like here in Belize. It seems that hurricanes are a big part of life here and there are lots of plans in place in case the big one hits. Every town throughout the country has developed a hurricane plan and most have hurricane shelters. Families know where they will evacuate to and are prepared to do this a few times each year.

Besides hurricanes, there are other big concerns during the rainy season. Flash floods are common and many rivers become impassable after a storm. A bridge on the main road south was washed out several years and now there is no way to travel north when the river becomes swollen. Travel becomes much more difficult from now until November. We faced many of these same issues in Burkina but I think they get a lot more rain here so the problems are multiplied.

I, of course, will update all of you of the situation in Belize. We'll see what the season brings. I'm looking forward to the rains putting out the many forest fires raging currently and cutting down on the dust on the road. Its also nice to get a break from the heat when a storm rolls through. Welcome to life in the tropics!

Exploring Belize with the Amazing Ms Allison

This past week I enjoyed a great visit with my grad school pal Allison. Her vacation started out with a few bumps but turned out amazing. The morning she was arriving just as I was walking out my door, I received a call that all Peace Corps Volunteers were on standfast meaning we couldn't leave out sites because of a bus strike. I never quite understood what happened but there was some disagreements between the government and one of the major bus companies. I think the government had made some promises and then changed their minds. All the bus companies agreed to strike in solidarity so there was no transport. The government was able to work something out and buses were running by noon but PC wouldn't let us travel the rest of the day. I fortunately reached Allison just before her plane left so she wouldn't be worried that I wasn't waiting for her at the airport.

She was able to take a short flight to San Pedro, the largest tourist town in Belize located on a northern island. I took a 5 am bus the next day and was able to meet up with her and enjoy most of the day on the beach. San Pedro was beautiful and we stayed in this amazing resort north of town. We had our own little cabana right on the beach. It seemed very romantic and felt like a honeymoon destination so we decided the week was our honeymoon together. Of course it made us both miss our boyfriends but we definitely enjoyed our girls time too! We enjoyed some great food and drinks there including these amazing basil lime vodka drinks.

We took the water taxi from San Pedro back to Belize City and bus to San Igancio in the west. I had visited this town with my dad and think its great. It has a very different feel than the coast so was glad she could see another side of the country. We did a tour here that included an activity for each of us. She really wanted to go ziplining so we did that. I had gone before in Costa Rica and it was similar but still a blast. I'm scared of heights so it always takes a little personal pep talk to get me to jump off a high ledge but its exciting to fly through the jungle. After a traditional Belizean lunch of rice and beans, stew chicken, coleslaw and plantain, we moved on to the next adventure - cave tubing. I think I read that Belize has one of the highest concentration of caves in the world and many were used by the ancient Mayans as sacred places for ceremonies and burials. We walked a ways through the jungle to reach the beginning of our route where we got into our tubes and paddled to the entrance of our first cave. We continued down the river through a total of three caves. Most of the time the water was deep and river slow-moving so we had to paddle along. The last cave was very shallow though and in several places we had to really raise our butts and the water moved us along swiftly. It hadn't rained in weeks which is why the river was so low but we only had to get up and walk in one area. I can't imagine what it would be like when the river is swollen. Inside the caves it was pitch black in some areas but most of the time you could see a little light from the entrance or exit. We had headlamps to look at the stalactites (are those the ones coming down from the ceiling?) and see where we were going. Allison didn't enjoy this as much but I loved it!

The last part of the trip was spent at home in Dangriga. I think she enjoyed seeing where I am living and what my life is like here. We enjoyed the market and the beach here and I even took her to work and she got to experience more of what Belize is like with lots of informal planning and nothing starting on time! All in all, I think it was a fabulous week with a fabulous friend!

Allison was so amazing treating me the whole week since she understands how little we make on a Peace Corps stipend. Its hard to enjoy all that Belize has to offer sometimes because all of the tourist activities charge American prices but I only get enough money to live at a normal Belizean standard of living. Thanks Allison for really spoiling me and coming to enjoy Belize with me!

Sex Ed on the Banana Farm

For the past few months I've had one activity that has really excited me and I've enjoyed. I was asked by the principal of a very small school to come teach sex ed to his older students. I really wasn't sure what I was getting into since I had never heard of the place and its a Catholic school so was uncertain what I would be allowed to discuss. The first time I went I planned a lesson on sex and gender most of which comes from some Peace Corps curriculum and I had used in Burkina. I wanted the students to get to know me first before we got into the fun stuff and also to have a chance to really discuss with the principal and teacher what they wanted me to cover. They basically gave me freedom to cover anything that I thought was important and the only limit was to not give condom demonstrations. This was 5th and 6th grade though so I completely understand that.

This small school has about 100 kids in eight grades though most of the classes are combined so 5th and 6th grade which I was working with had about 13 students. The school is located in the middle of a very large banana farm. Most of the families that live here are migrant workers that come from other parts of Central America so English is a second language for the students. There is no transportation unless they walk from the farm out to the highway so most people are pretty isolated. The kids and teachers were so appreciative of me coming out to their school which makes it much more enjoyable for me. Getting to the school is a challenge but definitely worth it when I feel appreciated. Every time I went to the school I caught a teachers bus at 6 am in Dangriga which takes teachers to several different schools south of here. I'd ride the bus for about an hour and then get off at a junction. In the meantime I'd meet up with a teacher from the school and we'd wait on the side of the road here for about forty-five minutes. Eventually the mechanic from the farm would come get us with the pick-up truck and everyone would pile in with several people jumping in the back. It was about a 20 minute ride to the school. I usually started teaching around 9 am but it felt like I'd been working for hours by that point!

I developed six different lessons for the students that I felt covered the most important information for students. Like I said, the first was on sex and gender and we discussed the difference between our biological sex (male or female) and our gender based on society (masculine or feminine). We also talked about gender roles and how society tells us to behave. They said that only women are supposed to cook but they realized that men could cook. Same goes for driving and many other roles that in the US we think our gender neutral but not the case here. The other topics I covered were: puberty, insemination and pregnancy, reproductive anatomy, HIV/AIDS, and other STIs

For the first session they decided to have me work with grades 3-6 since there were some older kids in the lower grades. This meant I was working with students that ranged in age from 8-15. I found this very challenging since their understanding is so different and I wasn't comfortable about teaching some of the other topics to kids so young. From then on, we agreed to just pull the older kids from the lower grades so I only worked with students ranging from age 12-15. Most of the information was completely new to the students and I know they struggled to understand my English and what I was saying. I was very surprised how much they had learned by the end though.

Peace Corps Belize has been working on an initiative to train teachers in how to use the sex ed curriculum written by the Ministry of Health. I am helping with this project and will have more updates later. I realize that my teaching these classes is not sustainable, one of Peace Corps' main objectives. I did share my lesson plans with the teacher and principal though and discussed ways to teach these topics. I hope in the future they will feel more comfortable teaching it.

Even though I know this wasn't a sustainable project, I enjoyed it very much and sometimes I think its important to have an activity that just feels worthwhile and makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something even if its just with those individual students. I loved having the opportunity to get out in a village and work hands-on with youth since I miss doing that in Burkina!

Bingo Hits Belize

I'm not sure if I've just been way out of the loop or what but it seems like Bingo has just taken off in Belize. Over the past month, I have heard so much talk about playing bingo that I feel like I need to let you all in on the excitement. I think its fascinating how they play bingo here - its a nationwide game played twice a week!

Bingo in Belize is a lot like playing the lottery. Anyone interested in playing buys a ticket for $2 at one of the local shops. Every Wednesday and Saturday night at 8:30 pm everybody sits down in front of their tvs and waits for a pretty lady to come on and start calling numbers. If you have the number called, you mark it off on your card at home. The computer system can tell when somebody has won and the pretty lady will announce that there was a winner. Prizes range from $500 for a row to $200,000 for the jackpot which is all the numbers on your card called in less than 49 numbers. Once somebody has won a prize (like a row), nobody else can win it. If nobody wins the jackpot, the amount continues to increase each game which is why its gotten so high and probably why there has been a lot more talk about bingo.

I can think of a lot of other events that can bring a nation together but there is something that seems so innocent over a nationwide obsession with bingo!

Belize Zoo

Last week I visited the Belize Zoo with my friend KC. We had talked about going for a while but finally had a free afternoon when we were together in Belmopan so decided to grab a bus there. The zoo was formed almost thirty years ago by an American woman. A crew had come to Belize to film a nature documentary and afterwards they were unsure of what to do with all the animals they now had capture and domesticated. It was decided they couldn’t be released so this woman decided to open a zoo to share Belize’s many exotic animals with everyone. I read this is the best zoo in the Americas south of the United States and was definitely impressed. The zoo only has animals found in Belize and all the inhabitants were either born in captivity, orphaned, or confiscated as illegal pets. Most of the exhibits feel like they are in the middle of the jungle with lots of trees and greenery both inside and outside the large enclosures. We were even amazed by some of the animals outside of the cages just wandering around in nature including some huge iguanas and an armadillo. There also are monkeys loose but we never saw them. Other animals include the tapir (called a mountain cow here), scarlet macaws, the largest eagles in the world, all kind of different cats, crocodiles, and something that looked like a wart hog. Most of the animals I had never heard of but they were all fascinating. One of the most amazing was the jaguars. If you’ve been religiously reading my blogs, you’ll remember that KC and I went on a jaguar hunt in the world’s first jaguar reserve but only found scratch marks on a tree and paths made by some type of animal. This was our chance to see a jaguar and boy did he pose for us. They have three jaguars at the zoo but there was one that seemed especially friendly and photogenic. He was in a large enclosure but came to the fence and was only a few feet away from us. I posted some pictures from the zoo including our favorite jaguar.

Parents' Visit

My first visitors in Belize recently left. My parents came for the Easter weekend and although my mom had to return to work, my dad stayed for two weeks. All of us enjoyed spending the weekend on Tobacco Caye. All the small islands just off Belize’s coast are called cayes (pronounced keys). Tobacco Caye is located about twelve miles off the coast of Dangriga. This island is small - just four and a half acres - and its only a few minutes walk from one end to the other or about a fifteen minute kayak around the island. We stayed in a small cabana with a porch and a hammock hanging over the water. The second-largest coral reef in the world is located along the coastline of Belize and is known for its great snorkeling and diving. Tobacco Caye, unlike many of the islands, is located right on the reef so we snorkeled right off the beach. We saw all kinds of colorful and exotic fish and coral and even a turtle. My mom and I also enjoyed kayaking around the island though my mom did struggle to stay out of the water!

After my mom had to return to Wisconsin, my dad and I continued the vacation. We enjoyed a day trip to Blue Hole National Park. The blue hole is a deep sinkhole that is connected to an underground river. The water here is freezing cold so very refreshing after the heat of Belize.

We also took a trip to the Cayo region in western Belize. This was the only area I hadn’t visited yet so I can now say I’ve travelled to all six regions of the country. We rented a car that allowed us to stop in lots of little places we wouldn’t have seen on the bus. One of these was Spanish Lookout, the largest Mennonite settlement in Belize. Like I previously stated, there is a large Mennonite population in Belize that are successful farmers and entrepreneurs. Many of the largest businesses are owned by the Mennonites including a poultry company and a dairy. They also are known as great mechanics and many Belizeans travel to Spanish Lookout to get their cars repaired. The landscape in this area seemed very different than the rest of the country and other than the occasional palm tree, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that we were in the American Midwest with rolling hills and lots of fields and farms. Dad’s favorite part of the visit was a stop at Western Dairy’s factory where we had ice cream!

We visited two different Mayan ruins in this area as well. The first was Xunantunich, one of the largest and most impressive ruins in Belize. We also saw Cahal Pech, a smaller set of ruins located on the edge of the city of San Ignacio. Both were amazing and if I was an archaeologist, I’d have tons to say about them but I’ll let me pictures tell the story instead.

On the way home from Cayo, we stopped at the Belize Agricultural and Trade Fair that is held one weekend a year. This is the Belizean version of the county fair and reminded me so much of the many years I spent at ours. There is a 4-H program here but its a little different than at home. The fair is held on the 4-H grounds and I saw many kids with 4-H shirts on. There were animals, plants, and lots of commercial booths selling junk. And of course lots of food and beer stands with loud music blaring. The day was horribly hot just like most fair days in Wisconsin! The only thing I didn't see was a Fairest of the Fair!

Pictures from all my latest adventures are posted on the link to the right.

Little Updates

A new group of trainees has arrived in Belize so after only two months here, I'm no longer the newbie! My life has been a little crazy for the past few weeks as I've been discussing with Peace Corps how to improve my working situation. Not working during this time has allowed me the opportunity to experience some great parts of Belize. I've enjoyed several nice bike rides around Dangriga and swimming in the ocean from several different beaches in town. I've also spent a while in Belmopan at the Peace Corps office so have had a chance to get to know some of the new training group and answer a few of their many questions. I don't know a lot about Belize yet but I know the basics and think I do understand Peace Corps well. I'm able to participate in some of the more interesting sessions since I never went through training here. Last week they had a panel on politics and the local government of Belize. I realized that I've learned nothing about either of these during my time here. The panel included three volunteers that work with local government - one with a mayor, another with a village council, and the last with the National Association of Village Councils. They also had two Belizean women speak about their experiences. They were from the two opposing political parties but both are working to focus beyond political parties and look at the needs of the country. One is an employee that works with the association and the other is an elected official. She originally was elected to her village council, became chair, then asked to serve on a district association, and also is serving as a Senator. She's currently wearing all these hats at once so representing several different populations depending on which role she is working in at the time. They were very honest with us and explained how animosity between political parties can have a debilitating effect within Belize. It sounded very much like my own country! Today I'm back in Belmopan to attend a session on the history and government of Belize. Senator Hulse, who represents the business community in Belize, gave the lecture. He's a great public speaker and did a fantastic job making this topic interesting. Belize is a young country (30 years in 2011) and the senator could tell us stories from before independence up until today and many of the challenges the country has faced. He also shared the history of Europeans arrival in Belize and why it is so different than the rest of Central America. Since the arrival of Europeans, it has been considered more a part of the Caribbean than Central America but because of its location on the mainland and the large coral reef that prevented large ships from easily attacking, early settlements were fairly secure. I also was invited to participate in Culture Day, an annual tradition in Peace Corps Belize held at the very beginning of training. The group travels to an area of the country to spend a day learning about one of the local cultures. This year the focus was Garifuna and everyone came to Dangriga. We had a tour of the National Garifuna Museum, lectures on spirituality and the use of plants for medicinal purposes, a tour showing the process of making cassava bread, visited Pen Cayetano's art gallery, ate a traditional lunch, watched a drum-making demonstration, and enjoyed dance and drumming performances. It was a fun day and covered lots of information. I had met and spoken with most of the individuals that presented activities during the day but its always different hearing their formal presentations. Last week I did a little traveling to learn more about activities that other Peace Corps Volunteers are doing. I spent a day in Georgeville, a village in the Cayo district west of Belmopan, visiting PCV Jenna. The village has about 500 people in it I believe but is right on the main highway and in a popular tourist area. Cayo is very mountainous and beautiful and Jenna has a gorgeous house on the top of a hill with a great view of the village and countryside below. She works at a small primary school in the village as a teacher trainer and has done a lot of work with the school library, has reading groups, and started a running and exercise club. I enjoyed interacting with young kids since I haven't had many chances to be around children since I left Burkina! Later in the week I traveled to the very north of Belize to visit PCV Holly in Corozal. This is a large town near the border with Mexico and has a much larger Mestizo population than in my area. Its a beautiful town as well and feels so different than southern Belize. Its amazing how diverse this country is for being so small. Holly is a youth development volunteer but also works in a primary school as well as with other activities in the community. I've posted pictures from some of these recent activities so check them out!

The Garifuna

The Garifuna are an ethnic group found in Belize and Dangriga is often referred to as the heart of the Garifuna people. This group has an interesting and well-preserved history describing how they settled along the shores of Belize. The story begins before European arrival when there were two distinct ethnicities living in the Caribbean and more specifically on the island of St Vincent: the Arawak and the Carib which later melted into one group. In 1635 two Spanish ships carrying slaves from Nigeria where shipwrecked in the Caribbean. Some of the captives were able to swim to the shores of St Vincent and settled among the local populations. The indigenous people and new arrivals did not always get along at the beginning but eventually theses separate groups intermarried and formed a new ethnicity known as the Garifuna.

One hundred and fifty years after the marooned slaves arrived on St Vincent and mixed with the Caribs, the Garifuna were the largest and most powerful group on the island. At this time St. Vincent, along with many Caribbean Islands, was under British rule and they began building slave plantations. The British were unwilling to accept a free black population so close to their slaves and wanted to gain control of the island so repeatedly fought the Garifuna.

In 1796, after a year of bloody fighting and the killing of their chief Joseph Chatoyer, the Garifuna surrendered. Months later the British decided to put an end to free blacks in St Vincent so rounded up the Garifuna killing many in the process. British records state that around 4300 individuals were deported to the island of Balliceuax, just off the St Vincent coast. Half of the remaining population died within a few months because of lack of food and yellow fever. The survivors were once again rounded up and deported this time to the island of Roatan, one of the Bay Islands off Honduras. Survival continued to be a struggle and many died here. Shortly after their arrival, the Spanish took the remaining 1700 Garifuna to mainland Honduras. They settled here for 20 some years before war came to Honduras. The Garifuna supported the losing side and were again persecuted so once again had to move this time to British Honduras (which later became Belize).

History states that on November 19, 1832, the largest group of several hundred Garifuna landed at Stann Creek (located in Dangriga). They were led in their travels by Elijio Beni (who happens to have a park named in his honor next to my house). Other Garifuna had arrived in small number prior to this and even more came later. After 200 years of travelling, the Garifuna finally found a new homeland.

November 19 is a national holiday in Belize called Settlement Day. It is celebrated throughout the country with some of the biggest festivities in Dangriga including a re-enactment of the first ships arriving at Stann Creek.

The Garifuna were traditionally fishermen along the coast of Belize and did some farming. These people sought out ways to advance themselves and focused on education. They moved into the professional class throughout the country and are known as being very successful. It is very common to find Garifuna teachers, principals, and medical professionals.

Today the Garifuna continue to keep their tradition and culture alive. There is a National Garifuna Council that have wrote a dictionary, hold conferences, run a primary school, and opened a museum to share their story with visitors. The Garifuna language is still widely-spoken though there is talk about it being a dying language. In my experience, many young people have not learned it and are uninterested in doing so. It is mostly older generations that I hear speaking Garifuna. Traditional dances and drumming are still performed and many older women can be seen in town in their traditional clothing. These dances remind me of dancing in my village in Burkina Faso and I can see how they probably originate from the same traditions.

In the past twenty years or so, younger Garifuna have developed a new style of music called Punta Rock that has a base in traditional music but with a quicker beat and other instruments besides traditional drums. There are many well-known Punta Rock artists in Dangriga but two of the most famous are the late Andy Palacio and Pen Cayetano of the Turtle Shell Band. Pen is also a painter and he and his German wife Ingrid have a beautiful studio in Dangriga showcasing their work.

Other Garifuna traditions remind me of what I saw and learned in West Africa. There is a strong belief in ancestry worship and that spirits are all around us. Some people say that this involves voodoo and black magic but I’d like to think of it more as traditional religion and beliefs that are still practiced here as well as in Africa. One tradition is for a large event that is held every several years when an ancestor or spirit tells someone they need to hold this event or party. The spirits require that everyone in the family attend so it often takes a long time to plan. People have family that have settled all over and everyone must come including those in the United States. The event includes singing, dancing, and lots of food and continues for several days I believe. At the end, the spirit can say that they didn’t do a good enough job and they have to plan and throw a whole other event. This doesn’t usually happen though since it is such a huge expense for just one. I’ve also heard that there are many traditions surrounding death and funerals but I don’t know the specifics.

Please note that this is just my understanding of what I've read in several guidebooks and heard from the folks at the museum and other Garifuna in the community.

Women's Month

As many know, March 8 is International Women's Day and 2011 was the 100th year this holiday has been celebrated. At home very little is done on this day though it originates in the United States. In Burkina it was a huge deal and there were pagnes (fabric) put out each year and everyone got outfits made. In the city different events were planned but in village it mostly involved a female soccer game and lots of talk about how the men would cook for their wives even if it was never followed through. I was excited to hear that Michelle Obama held a ceremony for this holiday and two young girls from Burkina Faso were invited to attend. One girl even had the honor of introducing the first lady!

Hear in Belize I've discovered the holiday is taken to a whole other level with the entire month of March recognized as Women's Month. The Women's Department which is somehow a part of the federal government has offices in each of the six districts and these offices organized most of the events along with partner organizations. I sat on the committee for Stann Creek which involved going to a few meetings to discuss the events going on here. The theme for this year is "Valuing Ourselves: Promoting Shared Responsibilities."

We kicked off the month on March 1 with an art gallery opening with a display of artwork by local women. Pen Cayetano is a world famous artist who is Garifuna and from Dangriga. He and his German wife own a studio in town displaying their artwork and donated space for this month-long event. They also put on a very nice event for the opening. The focus of the exhibit was a portrait Pen did of a pregnant woman that was hanged about 40 years ago after being convicted of killing her common-law husband. The story is she was in an extremely abusive relationship and after having enough one day she poured petrol on the outhouse. When he went in to do his business and lit a cigarette, it blew up killing him. The gallery display was in honor of this woman and all victims of domestic abuse.

Another event for the month was the Community Spirit Award which recognized about twenty older women in the community for their volunteerism and involvement in the community. My landlady/neighbor received this honor so I went to take pictures for her. It was fun to see how thrilled all of the recipients were to be recognized.

This past Saturday was a bike rally beginning at 6 am. About 40 people met at a monument on the edge of town and biked as a group throughout town to a park. We then did some stretching together and prizes were given to participants. It was a fun outing involving both men and women that encouraged exercise and healthy living.

My organization is focusing on the theme for this year about promoting shared responsibility and encouraging men to take their young children to school for the last week of the month. There are specific gender roles in this culture including that the raising of children is a woman's responsibility so this activity is trying to encourage parents to share this responsibility.

Other activities for the month include a weekly radio show focusing on a variety of women's issues, a fair at the end of the month featuring community organizations, open house at the women's department and a documentary about sexual abuse created by a survivor of incest. I heard that the U.S. embassy had an award ceremony recognizing women from around Belize for their work.

It was excited to see the many events being offered in our community to focus on women and recognize them for the work they do in creating a productive society. I've heard comments from men about why a whole month needs to focus on women and asking when is men's month. Of course the answer is that the rest of year focuses on men so its important for us to take time to celebrate women until the day when their is true equality.

Home Sweet Home

I moved into my own place last weekend after a month living with my host family. I'm loving my new home and having more privacy. I'm also so excited for all the modern conveniences. I have a one bedroom place on the first floor of a two story home and my landlady lives upstairs.

Not only do I have running water, I have a shower shocker which gives me pretty warm water to bath with (no more bucket baths)

Not only do I have a bed, I have an extra mattress for guests (no more hard cot)
Not only do I have a living room, I have a couch and two chairs (no more sitting on the ground)

Not only do I have a stove but also an oven and fridge and a counter (no more cooking by headlamp)

Not only is there a breeze to dry clothes, I have access to my landlady's washer (no more hours of scrubbing)

Not only do I live in a coastal town, I now live right on the beach (no more desert).

Thats right, I can exit my house, cross the street, walk through a small park, and I'm in the water. Its not a beautiful beach but its thirty seconds from home! I've gone swimming twice this week and am sure as it gets really hot in the next few months, I'll enjoy this even more.

Check out pictures of my new house!

And my excitement goes beyond my home, I'm also discovering great new things about my town. We have multiple grocery stores including a new one that opened that is the same size as Marina Market, the largest supermarket in Ouaga that was always on my list of things to do when I made it to the big city. There are lots of restaurants with a variety of food. The most common is Chinese which are known for their great fried chicken but I also enjoy the more traditional fried rice.

I hope Americans realize how much they take for granted. I've heard too many foreigners (including other Peace Corps Volunteers) complain about Belize being a third world country and all the things they miss from home. I'm constantly amazed and thankful for all that is available to me here and appreciate living the good life in Belize!

Anyways, like I said I have a spare bed and Dangriga is easy to get to so I'd love visitors. Belize is only a two hour flight from the U.S. so no excuses about not having time! Please let me know if you're thinking about visiting and when you think you might come. I look forward to showing you a great time!

Happy Birthday Peace Corps!

Fifty years ago today Peace Corps was officially established when President John Kennedy signed an executive order to form an international volunteer organization. The idea of a Peace Corps was first raised while he was campaigning for president and had a middle of the night campaign stop at the University of Michigan. This small dream has become a huge program with over 200,000 former volunteers that have served in 139 different countries around the world. I'm proud to play my small part in this organization.

Here are a few fast facts from the Peace Corps website:

Volunteers

Current number of Volunteers and Trainees:

8,655

Gender:

60% female, 40% male

Marital Status:

93% single, 7% married

Minorities:

19% of Peace Corps Volunteers

Average Age:

28

Volunteers over age 50:

7%

Education:

90% have at least an undergraduate degree

Countries and Projects

Current number of countries served:

77 countries

Volunteers by Work Area

• Education: 37%
• Health & HIV/AIDS: 22%
• Business Development: 14%
• Environment: 13%
• Agriculture: 4%
• Youth Development: 5%
• Other: 5%

Where Volunteers Serve

• Africa: 37%
• Latin America: 24%
• Eastern Europe/Central Asia: 21%
• Asia: 7%
• The Caribbean: 5%
• North Africa/Middle East: 4%
• Pacific Islands: 3%