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.