Report from Belize!

We have been in Belize for three weeks now, almost four. We are starting to get in the groove of things and finding a bit of routine in our schedules. The challenges of living in this lifestyle are different then I thought they would be- I thought I would be dealing with the bug issue constantly but, although we have our fair share of mosquito bites and dead cockroaches and spiders, its actually not as big of a deal as I thought. Instead what is challenging is the heat. I knew it was going to be hot here, really hot, but I never expected it to hinder our daily activities as much as it does. For three hours in middle of the day the heat is so incredibly intense, its hard for anyone to do anything. People sort of hide away in their cool houses or a shady spot outside and wait. Luckily we have the nice cool river to go in but as soon as you get out, without using a towel or anything, you are instantly dry and within minutes you begin to sweat again. Its crazy how many places on your body you can sweat from. When its really bad I sweat from everywhere- mt arms, my face, even my legs. Its a very interesting experience.
Another challenge is the food. Because there is no electricity we are very limited in the foods we can eat and sometimes it is hard to work all day and still have the energy to cook three meals and clean up after them, especially when it comes to dinner. We have started being very creative though. We have about 4 main ingredients and 4 kinds of spices and its really funny to see all the different things we can make with them. Every once in a while our neighbors bring us delicious foods and its really a special treat. They are good cooks! Always, tortillas are involved. The vegetables and fruits are rare though- we buy some in PG when we come down every couple of weeks and they can last 2 maybe 3 days before going bad and thats it. Sometimes a truck drives by and they have bananas and pineapple so we get a little fruit in then but we are really craving the produce!!
Other than that we are starting to hit that time when everything stops being as new and exciting and our bodies are having to really cope with the fact that this is for 4 months. We are still pushing through, knowing that is a natural and inevitable stage. Having a lot of work to do helps to get through it.
Right now we are working with the families to support them in building their gardens, helping the women start a collective, and are planning a summer program for the kids when school ends. The biggest work we are doing is empowerment. The problem is that "white" people come up there all of the time and just give them stuff in the form of "aid". But we are about development. With everything we do Brian and I consider- what happens when we leave? Where does this go in 4 months? We don't want to give them things or do things for them and then at the end of the 4 months leave and have them be back where they started. Instead we want to teach them and empower them so they can do it themselves. The same goes for the gardens. We explained to the families that we wouldn't be building the gardens for them- its their garden, not ours. We provide tools, seeds, help finding wood for fences, and support. Still, every time we seem them on the street or when we go to deliver the tools the first thing they ask is "so when are you going to build my garden for me? when are you going to build my fence for me?" Although it has been frustrating, we have had our first success. We have one woman who is a part of a big family. She really wanted the garden but was also waiting for us to build it for her. Everyday we went up there and checked on her, helped her a little but really pushed her to convince her family to help her. She kept telling us "Im not strong enough, I am weak" and I looked at her and said "you are strong".Her family members were reluctant to build the garden because of the work but Brian and I started digging and then went and handed the tools to the other family members and said, "here you try" and then started explaining that gardens took work and care but that if they all worked together they could have this beautiful garden that they wanted and enjoy the delicious vegetables from it. We told them we would give them 2 more days with the tools and then we had to give them to another family and when we returned we were amazed. The woman came out of her house and proudly showed this beautifully made garden. She was smiling and she explained that she got her whole family to help and showed me her sore muscles. It was amazing! It was one of the best moments we have had. At first we really struggled with wondering if she was going to do it or if we should just go up and do it so that she would for sure have a garden but in the end we believed in her ability to do it and we just had to get her to believe too.

This happens with the Women's Collective too- when i first brought up the idea to them of starting a women's collective the women didn't want to do it because other white people have come up and said that they would sell their bags for them and then never did. Or did and it was a shady business deal. After I explained that that wasn't what I was presenting- that I wanted them to learn to read and write and to do math and use computers and create a collective where they worked together to make things, learn new things, and sell things-together, and that I wasn't going to buy their things or sell their things or make deals with them or for them. Once they heard this, they were upset that I wasn't another white person that was going to give them a deal. Its much easier to just make the bags that they know how to make and then wait for someone to come and say they will sell them. many times people come and say make 50 bags and i will sell them so they work hard to make them and then the person never comes back. And they have themselves as their own competition.
At first only one woman signed up but as the week continued more and more women came by saying that they were interested, so we have our first class this week-boy do we have our work cut out for us!

We are still loving the people and the village and are excited to keep working hard. More to Come!

Andra