Final Days of Fighting Poverty in Belize

I can't believe how fast time flies. This past year and half of this blog has offered us a space to share our experiences with whoever decides to visit our page. More importantly, it has offered us a place to share our thoughts with ourselves. It has been a reminder to take a moment and reflect on the amazing things we have done, the people we have met, and the knowledge we have gained.

It is so bittersweet to be leaving. Today marks the end of this 11 month adventure and it is sad to to say goodbye to people and places that we have come to really love and have been a huge part in the people we have become. At the same time, we are so excited to be returning home, to figuring out what lies ahead. We have been opened up to so many new insights and perspectives and opportunities and it has really expanded what we thought was possible for our lives. Where before we were restricted to the narrow views of what life "should" be, we are now brave enough to open ourselves to all possibilities. We are ready to explore and create and participate and live a life that is truly ours, that makes us happy.

This time tomorrow we will be on a plane headed for Colorado, where new beginnings and long awaited reunions await us. With this comes the life of FightingPovertyIn Belize... as we end this experience, this blog that has served us well comes to an end as well. But don't fret! It too is only undergoing a transformation. It will continue to follow us in our adventures, taking on new roles and new meaning, just as our lives do too. Look forward to changes in appearance and in the URL but expect just as much love and attention. We will keep posted about these changes as they unfold.


For now, Adios! Colorado... Here we come!

The End

One more day and our program at IICD is over. After 11 months of pure learning adventure the time has come to leave for Colorado. It has been such a successful worthwhile time. We've been all over the states and interacted with so many varieties of Americans, truly we have a diverse country although cultural and societal segregation makes it hard to see (other then educators telling us we do).

Then Belize, wow what a time, a hard time, a good time, a blessed time. I feel that Belize is my adopted country and Otoxha my adopted hometown. Never have I felt the way I felt in Otoxha, a completely new experience for me, something I never thought I would get to see only to read.It made me realize that this world is huge and small. That our lives are to short and minds to narrow to be stuck in lala land. GO OUT AND SEE THE WORLD. I used to be scared or ignorant of others situations but now I realize all the fear instilled in me was not reality even if Fox says it was.

I've come to a feeling of intense love for humanity through my experiences of this past year, as well as a feeling of patience with those that are different. I'm so grateful for everyone who helped me through this adventure from my family to the villagers I came to love. For now I look towards the mountains and say "Power to the People!"

Futurtastic

It is increasingly clear to me: the media lies while people die, time flies by and democracy is on the rise. People occupying Wall Street and living there, while those bastards are trading stocks and drinking champagne up there. The homeless suffer another night while homeless numbers increase, even though corporate jets scream by like devils feet. God died thanks to evangelicals, only limbo awaits the funky soul. The critical mind jives by just to be stopped by tea bag sponsored lemonade stands. Keep in mind the world turns my friend, soon we'll be confused so clearly the world will improve my friend. The boss cries as he drops the bomb, over and over he prints the war bond, while people power gives rises day by day, soon the bomb will be coming his way.

Back in Michigan

Well after nearly two weeks touring and postering mid-west/southern U.S. we made it home safely. It was a grand adventure through drastically different accents. Now there is only one week left of this year long adventure until finally we return home.

Whether or not the blog will continue is something I'll have to discuss with Andra. But either way it has been a pleasure to spill out and evaluate our activities for the past 11 months or I guess since this blog started nearly 16 or so months. In the future I envision......combating poverty.......destroying ignorance(in myself and others).........enjoying the beautiful majestic mountains of Colorado.

Until later out!!!

Tour De USA

For the past 10 days we have continued our travelling streak by visiting some states around the US! Our first stop was the Indian Summer Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is the country's biggest pow wow and what seemed like a great opportunity to talk to people about our experiences during this program and the new programs being offered at IICD. So, team parrot packed up our car with a tent and sleeping bags and a few changes of clothes and headed west! The "pow wow" was interesting... I had been to a pow wow many years back with my grandma on of our amazing summer road trips and absolutely loved it; the music and dance, the culture.. it was great and I expected this to be similar except bigger. Unfortunately it was too big. It was completely commercialized. With Miller being its big sponsor and their advertisements everywhere, your typical fair food and prices, the whole thing was more sad then fun. Still we went and talked to people, trying our best to do what came to do. Our accommodations in Milwaukee reflected this same disappointment. Where we expected to have at least somewhat "traditional" camping, meaning some trees and grass and a nice fire, we instead payed $30 for a small patch of grass in the median of a cement parking lot on the side of the highway filled with big fancy RV-ers. Yuck. Still, the whole experience was just another adventure under our belts! We made the best of it and then headed to Madison!
In Madison we had much better accommodations. We found a great couch surfer who had a Korean boyfriend and loved to cook so we were all spoiled with some delicious food which our fellow parrots from Korea especially appreciated  She also took the time to show us around town a bit and showed us some great places to put up posters! I was really excited to go to Madison and see the protesters still holding out for their rights. I expected to see at least a few people out there but it seemed it had been swept away. The only evidence that remained were some posters in a few coffee shops we visited and saw bumper stickers on the backs of cars.
From Madison we went back to Chicago where we got to stay with the amazing couch surfers we met when we were there fundraising. This was definitely one of the highlights of this experience. It was great to talk to them and share our experiences on the trip that they supported us in doing. During our time in Chicago we also paid a visit to all of the stores where we fundraised and gave a newsletter with a summary of our experiences, a thank you letter for their support as well as to those who graciously donated money to us, and a flyer for the new programs. We personally gave one to each manager at the stores and then sat outside the store where we spent more time and passed them out to the costumers, hoping to reach some of the people who donated to us! This was a very important and rewarding experience. So many people ask for money to do different projects and when people put their trust in you and what you are doing it is a huge gift and it felt great to go back and say "this is what you helped! We weren't lying when we told you what we were doing. This is what we accomplished and it was thanks to your generosity and caring heart". We also were offered a great opportunity to help out our couch surfer who was fixing up an apartment in a not so great area where a family of 14 were about to move in. We helped him paint and clean and fix it up. Afterwards he treated us to the best and original deep dish pizza... so good. The next day he took us on a little tour of Chicago. He has lived there for many years but he is also a taxi driver so he knows the city very well. He showed us the famous buildings, told us stories of the city.. it was amazing. We ended the tour with the best Chicago hot dog.

As you can see it is quite the adventure on.. There are more stories to tell but I will save it for the next post. I am sure Brian wants to chime in on all of this as well! More to come!

Some notes on America

This latest trip has brought a flush of emotion being back in America. It has been incredibly nice and also overwhelming to be back in the whirlwind of corporate media bombardment. Yesterday was very emotional with it being the 10th anniversary of 9/11, still our destiny (U.S.) is being shaped by that one horrific day.

But I believe I expected this to happen in some way, being back here. Still I haven't had much time to process the Belize trip and now I fell as if I'm constantly in motion again. In Colorado I think that time will come where I take a deep breathe and lay may head for a moment. Then of course it's back in the swing of things dealing with the IRS and just finding a way to live in this world.

I feel hope though for humanity in general. Right now I'm in Madison and you can see that the people are organized and still active and fresh from their Tea Bag experience. People are waking up on the right and left, it's clear to see people are discovering the traps of the Purples or Republicrat Elites. I look forward to this upcoming year in America and challenging myself further and pushing my praxis. I love America, I love people, I love HUMANITY!!!!!

Power to the People!!!!

Catching up!

It has been a while since I have written anything, not because there is nothing to say. In fact is the exact opposite. There have been so many emotions, so many things going on- I haven't found the time to organize it all in my mind enough to share it.
Coming back to the states was amazing- as our flight landed in Chicago Brian and I both almost cried. Finally we have returned to our home land! Please don't mistake our deep love for our home and our families for us not enjoying our time in Belize. Truly- this was such an incredible experience and I feel so blessed to have been able to live in Otoxha and have all of the challenges I had, to know all of the people I met, and to learn all of the things I learned. Yes, throughout it all we couldn't wait to get home! This is because we love our families dearly and it was incredibly difficult to go through everything without being able to lean on them for support or love. However, in their absence, Brian and I learned how to depend more on ourselves and on one another. We have really grown as individuals, have overcome obsticles we never thought we would have to face, have discovered how strong we really are and have become even stronger. As a couple we did the same. We supported one another through incredible times of both  utter happiness and pure misery. We were there for each other when we were so sick we thought we might just die up in the jungles of Belize, or wished that we did just to end the pain; we laughed together, cried together, explored together, learned together, and grew together. We became different people, better people, alone and together.

Now we are back in the states and we have Colorado in our eyes.. we can't wait to be reunited with our home and our families. It has been difficult to adjust to being back however. In my dreams I dreamt of being home back to where everything was exactly how I remembered it. Of course this was naive because while I am out on crazy adventures the rest of the world doesn't just stand still. Everything is always changing. But now I am here, a different person but expecting to enter back into the same world, and realizing it is not so. Now I am having to adapt, to catch up. I am trying to learn what the world that I left is like now and how the new person I have become can fit in. What is my role now? Where do I belong? What do I do with this knowledge and experience and understanding that I have gained?

Heavy huh?

In the midst of all of this processing, life back at IICD is busy as always. Our team has been preparing to leave on a nother adventure. Tomorrow morning we will go to Milwaukee to attend Indian Summer Festival, the biggest powow in the country to talk to people about our experiences and pass out information about the new programs offeref. From there we will head to Madison where we will continue to the same promotions at the capitol where people are still standing strong in solidarity for their rights. Then we will leave Wisconsin and head to Chicago where we will visit the stores and the people we met during our fundraising trip before Belize. From Chicago we will travel to Atlanta to do the same thing, stopping in Louisville for a couple of nights to promote there and to take break the long drive a bit. Phew.

Promotion Newsletter

Tomorrow Team Parrot heads out for another adventure. This time it is all over the states thanking those who made it possible for us to go on the trip. We will go back to all the markets we fundraised at, thank the store manager and hand out this mini-newsletter to customers:::

Institute for International Cooperation and Development

In Cooperation with Humana People to People

Fight Poverty Belize Report

To all of our supporters:

The January Belize (Parrot) Team 2011, The Institute for International Cooperation and Development and Humana People to People would like to say a very special thank you to you!

Without the incredibly generous support of the stores for allowing us to stand outside and talk to people about our goals and missions and to the many people who believed in our cause and lovingly gave what they could, we could not have done all of this amazing work. The experiences we have had have been truly incredible for us and we have had the opportunity to really make a difference in the lives of the people we worked with both throughout the United States (including Detroit, Benton Harbor) as well as in Belize and throughout Central America.

We cannot say thank you enough. It was so inspiring to have so many people come together to help fellow human beings in our own country and around the world. What a great reminder of the generosity and care for our others that still exists in this large and sometimes seemingly disconnected world. Your generosity is so greatly appreciated and we hope that you can also take pride in knowing that you helped make an incredible difference in the lives of people all over the world

North Belize: Douglas Poverty Fighters

We are International Volunteers of IICD who just came back from Belize after we had finished our project for 4months. Before we joined this program, we were really interested about the situation of world poverty and different cultures. So we jumped on January 2011 Belize Team and trained 3months to be a volunteer. After that we traveled several countries in Central America for investigation, we built up our passion from this investigation before starting the project in Belize, Finally we reached into Douglas Village Orange Walk district in North Belize on May and started our project “Child Aid.”

First, we were giving education to 25 families about hygiene, agriculture and family situation. And We also gave Moringa Seeds (medical tree) and plants for nutrition, made Fire Wood Saving Stoves for a family. This is really important to help them have a sustainable system.

We always attended Village community meetings and discussed about action or festival for Village’s development, so we could get permission and do promote what we wanted to do for the village. We had Saturday activities for Art class, and Movie night. And also we had Ping pong class for children who know only soccer without knowledge of any other sport.

We got village cleaning campaign every month with children and parents, it was a good time for the village and they got basic hygiene education with us. They had summer vacation season while we were working, so we got permission for teaching children for two months from the principals of two schools. This gave a good opportunity to learn new experiences giving courses such as hygiene, sports, art and geography. We got really close with the children, they didn’t spend wasting time, we were really happy.

Supporting children from parents to go school is really important. So we decide to make thanks gift for parents with children in the school. Children should know how to appreciate their parents, also parents should know how important it is to support children’s education. Many children in Belize give up school after they graduate primary school, because of the family economy. Specially, many women do house work whole life without education or any experience. So we stared women’s group for enjoying and income generation. We gave various courses as second hand product, drawing, yoga and massage for new experiences and enjoying. Our second month, we made goal for income system, and chose sewing and cake course. So we found people who really want to share and expert from women’s department in town and connected each other. And also they got many different cooking and nutrition classes from us, when village had festival they stared to sell their first product. That was really big change for women who didn’t have any income.

Belize is the highest per capita HIV/AIDS positive country in Central America. Before we held campaign, we attended USAID conference and got good knowledge. After that we had HIV/AID action campaign, we visited family, educated women’s group and acted in village festival with pamphlet and 500 condoms.

Every village wanted their village sign. They are already finished basic sign building. So we gladly gave hand to them, and started paint two village sign. Even if we are not expert painting but we did best design work that matched with the people and village. We were really happy when People said whenever they see the sign they will remember us.

We prepared festival for village income with every leader, and work together with every group of people in the village. The open-day, we got a lot of money by football marathon and many events, that was used for development of village. This was our last big action. It was really valuable time to could see big changed village.

We were not just giving help, whatever, wherever, we were always together and shared. And always thought that thanks people in USA who helped a lot us to could go helping Belize. We really think that helped development these villages is your warm hart and our hands.

South Belize: Otoxha Poverty Fighters

We (Andra and Brian) decided to leave on this 9 month adventure after realizing, really what did we know about the worlds people. We both had a strong passion for humanism and knew it was time to act on that passion. So we found the perfect opportunity in the Institute for International Cooperation and Development to go fight shoulder to shoulder with the worlds poor. After 3 months of training in the U.S. and doing community service within our own country we left for an investigation period in Central America. There we experienced many different cultures and different socio-economic situations, this experience helped prepare ourselves for our more permanent home base in our village.

Our team arrived in Belize May 3^rd, from that time we split into two teams. Sunny and Hyunny went up north and Andra and I(Brian) went south. We stayed in a beautiful village inhabited by the Kekchi Maya the village was called Otoxha, or in Kekchi windy(oto) river(xha). The village has about three hundred inhabitants which all speak Kekchi of course, most speak English and some speak Spanish as we lived close to the Guatemalan border.

We lived in a thatch house with a dirt floor there was no electricity or running water, for us it was very primitive compared to what we were used to in the states. But after four months we survived and ended up loving the living conditions in Otoxha. Our time was spent mobilizing 28 different families in the community. We worked on many projects and educational workshops some include: organizing and painting the library, craft classes, malaria prevention etc. But I will highlight some of the more important achievements while we lived there.

Gardens

Humana People to People really promotes gardens in the projects. This is so families can have fresh vegetables on a daily basis and receive vital nutrients to their diets of mostly corn tortillas. In the end the families built 26 gardens each around 5x5 meters. Nearly the whole village of Otoxha now boasts a garden, we actually didn’t build any gardens, we only mobilized the families to want to help themselves. It was a major struggle at first but by the time we left many families were expert gardeners.

Kids Club

The Humana project we were at was called Child Aid. So naturally one of the focuses of Child Aid is the children. We had a very successful Kids Club in which we played games and taught the children to be active in the community. One of the most memorable experiences was when the children came up with slogans such as “Keep the environment healthy and clean,” and we all painted them on signs, we placed these all around the communities to raise environmental awareness. This gave the children a sense of accomplishment and kept the adults conscious about these issues.

Open Day

In our last month we organized a successful soccer tournament and an Open Day for our project and the villagers. In the villages the schools do not receive government funding so all proceeds went to the school. In the end we were able to get donations from the government of Belize, the Ministry of Health and get 10 teams to come and play. We sold and promoted healthy foods instead of alcohol and in the end raised $1440 for the local school.

Thanks to the generous donations we received in the U.S. this was possible. Throughout the experience we kept the spirit of solidarity in our heart with those who supported us in this adventure. Without the enormous heart of many Americans the children of Otoxha would not have benefited. We thank you once again from the depths of our hearts, thank you! To find out more information or to contact us go to fightpovertyinbelize.blogspot.com or email me at unionmade@hotmail.com

A New Adventure

Being back in the states has been.....well nice. Its back to the fast paced Institute for International Cooperation and Development life and still I've had little time to process everything we just went through. But here at IICD you must find time to process things on your own time, because during the day you hit the ground running.
In two days less then a week into being in Michigan Team Parrot(me, Andra, Sunny and Hyunny) are leaving again on another adventure. This is our time to raise awarness of our Belizean experience as well as to thank the people who granted us to fundraise outside their stores 8 months ago and to prmote IICDs exciting new programs.
First we will join a three day pow wow in Milwaukee, WI, there we will camp and pass out materials. Then off to Madison, WI to see the recently erupted capitol and to poster on every streets lampposts. After that off to Chicago, IL to stay with a friend and go to our former fundraising hubs to passout newsletters. Then to Louisville, KY for a few days......more postering......Then finaly to Atlanta for five days to raise awarness about Central America and about our experiences there. Then back to Michigan.
In total it will be a two week non-stop trip. Driving and driving, singing the songs, America my beautiful here we come!!!

Back home in USA

We made it back to my motherland the USA. After 5 months in Central America it is good to be home. We will miss Belize and I'm sure this isn't a permanent goodbye to our adopted country. My feelings are a bit strange as I feel in limbo between the village and American civilization and the impact of our adventure has not fully come to a close. I want to say thank you to our families who supported us through this process and to IICD and Humana for the experience.

More then ever I feel happy to be an American and I am sure this is where I belong. I think there are many problems here economically, culturally etc. but what place doesn't. The only difference is this is my home country and this is the place I can have the biggest impact. This parallels in our village of Otoxha. Although I think we did a great job only motivated individuals from Otoxha who believe in the unity and betterment of their home can carry on development and educational work that will seriously impact the community. We hope we left a small spark in some of the women of the village who are starved for a decent and equal lifestyle.

But solidarity will continue to guide me in life and I can't wait for what adventures lie ahead. For now I am in Michigan for another month then back home to Colorado, the future is open and I see the sun coming up red!!!