Article I hope to publish in the newspaper...

Billboard Designed by Standard V Class Promotes HIV Testing in Punta Gorda


The newest addition to the Punta Gorda Town shoreline promotes and encourages HIV testing to all residents and visitors. Created by Sarah Martinez, Kristine Duncan, and Maura Lopez, all of St. Benedict R.C. School’s Standard V (2010-2011) class in Punta Gorda, the billboard will serve as a constant reminder to visit health providers for free HIV testing.

The standard V class of St. Benedict R.C. School, taught by Principal Olive Woodye received HIV/AIDS lessons from PG Peace Corps Volunteers Cali Zimmerman and Taylor Flath in September of 2010. The students learned about HIV transmission, prevention, testing, and also about reducing stigma against HIV positive people. Everyone in the class then participated in a billboard design contest, focusing on prevention or testing. The submissions were judged by teachers and parents at St. Benedict R.C. School, and three winners were chosen.

The winning submissions were combined into one drawing, encouraging people to go to health providers for HIV testing. Principal Olive’s entire Standard V class worked together with Peace Corps Volunteers Kristen Devoucoux, Michelle Thompson, and Cali Zimmerman to draw and paint the billboard.

The project not only brought out some hidden artistic talents amongst the students, but it also prompted support from the Punta Gorda community. Punta Gorda Town Council supported the project by supplying plywood and building the billboard, while local businesses showed their support with donations of paint and paint supplies.

Thanks to the efforts of the students at St. Benedict R.C. School, the PG Town Council, local businesses, and Peace Corps volunteers, the billboard will inform all passers-by of the importance and availability of HIV/AIDS testing in Toledo District.



Drawing the billboard



Painting



Student putting hand-print on the billboard



Billboard... it was painted on 3 pieces of wood and was kind of put up in the wrong order... but it still gets the message across!

“I would make a good pop singer – I like to hear myself.” Or, The Arts Have Consumed Me

Lately I have been working hard and also enjoying some time playing music and spending time with friends.

Making Music (reluctantly at times)
I have a great group of friends in PG who are from all around the world. I like to think of them as my own personal United Nations. We have, or at least had until recently, representatives from USA, Belize, Spain, Switzerland, France, England, Belgium, Russia, and Japan. They are all down here doing different types of work, but most are working in environmental conservation. A lot of my friends are very musically inclined and they have served as motivators for me. I not only practice regularly, but I have also played and sang in front of people at a bar, sound system and all. We try to get together to play music frequently and it is very entertaining. I am really enjoying learning about other instruments as well as other countries. One instrument I really enjoyed learning about is the Shamisen from Japan. It is a three-stringed instrument, similar to a guitar but lacking frets like a violin. You pluck its strings with a hard pick that was originally made of bull horn. The body of the Shamisen is made of wood and covered in a snake skin. It has kind of a twangy sound to it – imagine the classic Japanese movie music introduction. One Belizean guy that we know plays African drums, and he has taught me a little bit. One night we had a going away party at a friend’s house and we sat around a bon fire playing guitar, drumming, and singing. It is always a good night when someone brings out an instrument.


Party for Rob and Kelly's Going Away

This week I have been working with some other PCVs to record a song that we wrote for one of the Peace Corps staff who is moving to another country. I have never been a fan of my own voice, so recording a song and constantly listening to the play back to make corrections and additions has been close to excruciating. We are using a program called Garage Band that allows us to record different instruments and singing parts and then lay them over one another to create all the pieces of the song. We wrote the lyrics to the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber. Recording it has been a blast. It should be finished up soon and I will try to post it online for everyone to enjoy.

Birthday Festivities
I’m sure you all know that my birthday recently passed. My friends are absolutely fantastic. A coupled of my friends from Belize City came down and surprised me one weekend – friends in PG invited me to a quick dinner and then everyone came out with a cake and surprised me. We had a great weekend just hanging out. The following weekend my friends Joel, Ekat and Gomie in PG baked a couple cakes and we celebrated at a bar where some people were playing music. It was a spectacular birthday and I feel very fortunate to have such amazing friends.

ATM Caves [Actun Tunichil Muknal]
Last month I finally went on one of the greatest mini expeditions in Belize – ATM Caves. The caves are located in Cayo District, just outside of the capital, and are one of the must-see sites in Belize. I gathered a group of friends and we made the long journey to Cayo for the exciting tour. Our guide Gonzo is a friend of mine who I met through some friends in PG and he was a blast. The cave system requires some swimming and some hiking and all of us faired rather well.

Wiki Info - The cave is located in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve. The main cave system is about 3 miles long and consists of a long river passage for approximately two miles, which ends at an upstream sump. A series of upper prehistoric passages continues another mile past the sump through massive breakdown boulders and giant rooms. The cave can be exited through a tight squeeze ending in a giant sink hole collapse in the jungle. The cave's upper passage called "The Cathedral" is located about 1/3 of the way in from the lower entrance. Here 14 skeletal remains have been found, and numerous examples of ancient Maya Pottery remain.

Inside the cave we saw many areas with pottery and it is believed that people used the cave for rituals, including sacrifices. There are a couple sections that have human bones and skulls that serve as a reminder of how the Maya people worshiped. There is also a full skeleton that has been excavated but hasn’t been extracted from the cave. It was interesting and eerie to see the human remains. It is so easy and common to learn about the history of different cultures, but seeing inside the caves provided an entirely new perspective.


Climbing through the cave

Football (the un-American kind)
Football is the main sport in Belize and everyone is expected to play it well. I realized very quickly that if I play with little kids I look way better. Once a week I get together with two friends, Suzanne and Liz, who are nurses at one of the clinics, to throw-down on the football field. We play on a mini-field with a group of kids ranging in age from 7 to 20’s. It is a ton of fun just running around in the mud, playing a laid-back game of football. Most kids in Belize grow up playing football, so they really are quite skilled. I think I have been improving, but I still get teased a bit. One week a couple kids decided to say “Give the ball to Miss Cali so I can take it away.”

Working, Working, Working
HFLE TOT
I had been working with a group of PCVs to create trainings for teachers in Belize to encourage teaching of sexual reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. It is required that every primary school teacher in Belize teach HFLE (Health and Family Life Education), which focuses on nutrition, relationships, sexual reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS education. When you visit schools and talk to teachers and students it becomes very apparent that HFLE is not taught as frequently as it should be, and this is due to a lack of time but also because most teachers feel uncomfortable talking about anything related to sex with their students. In July we held two TOT (Training of Trainers) Workshops. The purpose of the TOT is to train lead teachers in every district who can then facilitate workshops around the country. The TOT is a little more sustainable then just having PCVs run trainings over and over again. Both of the TOTs went very well and we had great participation from the teachers. In August we held the HFLE Workshops in every district. The teachers that were trained at the TOT facilitated the lessons with support from PCVs and our workshop in Toledo was phenomenal. The teacher facilitators for Toledo met with me multiple times and we had tons of visual aids and activities prepared. They were so dedicated, but at times you could tell they were a little uncomfortable. Hopefully these workshops will help teachers to feel more comfortable teaching about sexual and reproductive health in the schools.

HIV Billboard
I have written a couple times about a project that I have been working on with a primary school in PG, so here is an update for all of you faithful readers. We recently finished the painting of the billboard! I am very excited to be done with the main part of the work, but now I just need to be patient as I wait for Town Council to put it up on the road leading into Punta Gorda Town. I received a lot of support from Kristen, a fellow PCV, who is a wonderful artist and has experience painting murals. As you know, the students of Saint Benedict R.C. School submitted drawings focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and testing. Judges picked 3 drawings and then Kristen worked hard to combine the drawings into one picture for the billboard. We started by using a projector to display the drawing onto the plywood we had and tracing the picture onto it with marker. We then had the students paint the entire billboard. I think they enjoyed the opportunity to skip class and spend an afternoon covering themselves and others in paint. After the students completed their parts I decided to have them put handprints all along the bottom so that they would be able to really have ownership. Kristen and I worked on finishing up the billboard by doing touch-ups, painting on the words, and edging the entire billboard. I plan on writing an article about the work to submit to the Amandala, a popular national newspaper in Belize. I can’t wait to see it posted in town!


Two of the Billboard Designers

YFF Camp
This summer Youth For the Future (YFF) hosted a summer camp in one of the villages outside of PG for youth ages 14 to 25. Yes, that’s right, youth in Belize includes everyone up to age 29! I was asked to help with some lessons one day of the camp. I worked with the HFLE Officer and her new PCV Hana to develop some fun and informative lessons. Our focus was on responding to peer-pressure, goal setting, and HIV/AIDS transmission, testing, and prevention. Since the HFLE Officer wasn’t able to attend on the actual day of the lesson we turned to fellow PCV Joel for some manly support. The day began with our ride showing up over an hour and a half late to pick us up. We then made record time out to the village – riding over an extremely bumpy dirt road at high speeds in the back of a pick-up truck. The lesson we planned was designed for a group of 30 participants, so we were shocked to find 100 young people waiting for us. Classroom management was quite difficult for us as we tried to deal with the large crowd of uninterested and slightly rebellious “children.” I could not believe how disrespectful and inattentive some of the older participants were. You would think that a 24 year old man would understand that he shouldn’t speak while people are taking time out of their regular work to present helpful and important information. Overall I think the class went well, but we were all severely disappointed with the behavior of the majority of the participants. I hope that they can mature enough to become productive members of society instead of wasting peoples’ time at a youth camp. I know that it sounds harsh, but I can’t even convey to you how disheartening it is to see such behavior from the people who are the future of Belize. On a brighter note, I think the lessons were well designed and Hana did a great job at one of her first times teaching the material.


Teaching at YFF Camp

Village Surveys
One of my projects with the PG Polyclinic is to create village profiles on all ~40 villages in Toledo district. I worked with people to develop a survey that I use for collecting necessary information. For the past couple of months I have been utilizing the Community Health Workers (CHWs) from each village to complete the surveys. I have reached a point, however, where some surveys are missing and I don’t feel like I can turn to the CHWs anymore. I decided to take matters into my own hands and head out to the villages. Dr. Charlie, a doctor from the US who has been helping with the CHW trainings, took me and Joel out to a village near the border of Guatemala called Crique Sarco. The road ends at Crique Sarco so from there we walked an hour and a half down a muddy path through the jungle to Graham Creek Village. We had someone from Crique Sarco take us along the path and it proved extremely useful because when we arrived to Graham Creek the CHW was not there and our guide was able to serve as our interpreter so I could complete my village survey. Graham Creek is a beautiful village but it is difficult for people to live there. There is no store nearby and in order to reach PG they walk an hour and a half down the path at 3:00 am to ensure they are in Crique Sarco in time to take the 4:30 am bus into town. The villagers then must take the bus back to Crique Sarco that afternoon and begin the walk back before it becomes too dark. I always knew that it was difficult to get to the village, but actually doing it now allows me to fully understand how remote some villages are. After a quick lunch at the creek we walked back to Crique Sarco. In Crique Sarco I filled out a village survey with the brother-in-law of our guide. The brother-in-law, Anecario, and his wife were very welcoming. Their house is on the Temash River so Joel and Dr. Charlie were able to take a swim while I continued my work. Anecari and his wife were willing to answer all of my questions and told me a lot about the national park nearby and their work in environmental conservation. I spent some time relaxing on their dock at the river with Anecario’s wife and found out that she is the sister of the wife of a friend of mine, so we had a lot to talk about. Anecario was extremely generous and he asked us to stay and try some of the delicious fruit he grows on his property. The trip out to Crique Sarco and Graham Creek was great – I was able to get a lot of work done, learn about the difficulties of the most rural villages, meet amazing people, and have some fun.


Graham Creek Village

CHW Trainings
The project Dr. Charlie, Joel and I have been working on is still moving along. We have been doing trainings every month with the clinics to teach the Community Health Workers (CHWs) about varying health topics and to encourage them to educate their communities about preventing different diseases and health conditions. Some of the topics we have covered so far include Diabetes, HIV/AIDS, Prenatal Care, and Respiratory Illnesses. The trainings are a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Joel and I work to create handouts packed with information and also quizzes to ensure the CHWs are able to understand our lessons and teaching styles. The best part of the trainings is getting to know the CHWs. They are from rural villages all over Toledo District and it is always entertaining and informative when they come for trainings. We help the CHWs to make posters each lesson that they can use to educate people in their communities and we have a lot of fun as they tease me and Joel about our poor poster-making skills and then try to do it themselves. They have a lot to offer and we are really working hard to make sure that the trainings continue as Joel and I prepare to finish our services. We should be having some important meetings with the Ministry of Health officials in the upcoming weeks.


Community Health Workers at a training


It is getting to that time where I am starting to wrap-up all of my projects and my life in Belize. I'll update soon about my Close of Service!

Que Pasa?

It has been nearly a month since I returned to Belize from my Easter vacation to Guatemala, so I suppose it is time for a blog about the amazing trip. I traveled with some fellow PCVs - Molly, xMegs, Grace, Amy and Amy’s friend Lauren. The trip into Guatemala is simple- we took a boat to Puerto Barrios from PG. Then it was a 5 hour bus ride to Guatemala City. We spent the night in the city and prepared for another 5 and a half hour bus trip to our first destination, Xela.

Xela (Quetzaltenango):

We decided to start our trip in Xela because xMegs knew another PCV who lived there and recommended we come to check it out. Xela is a very active city with a group of large villages surrounding it. It was interesting to see what was considered a village in Guatemala, because they were about the same size as the district town that I live in. Xela is becoming a popular destination for travelers because of its plethora of Spanish language schools.

We spent our first day exploring the overwhelming city center. The roads were paved, there were markets for shopping every day of the week, people were walking around, shops were open during the lunch hour, there were tons of options for food and drink other than rice and beans with coke, and buildings were over 2 stories tall – quite the change from little PG! I made sure that I made time on my first day to enjoy a Guatemalan beer. Gallo is one of the most famous Guatemalan beers, so I tried that one first. I am happy to report that over the next few days I managed to try a bunch of other ones. I enjoyed the change from Belikin.

On our second day in Xela, Amy, xMegs, and I went for a hike to Laguna de Chicabal – an extinct volcano with a beautiful lake in the center. In order to reach the volcano, we first had to walk through a village and around a mountain. It was a steep climb to the top, and an even steeper walk down to the lake. It was an amazing view, even though there were some low clouds.


View of the lake

The weather in Xela was surprising to us. I suppose we should have guessed that it would be cool in the mountains, but I don’t think any of us were prepared for the cold and rain. I wore the one sweatshirt and one pair of jeans I had brought every single day. The rain was a bit depressing, but it made for a good excuse to hang out in coffee shops.

I met some people staying at our hostel, and they recommended that I check out a local dive bar for some delicious microbrews. I went and it might be one of my favorite places in Guatemala. I enjoyed good beer, played foosball, listened to awesome 90’s dance music, and played pool. I met up with friends from the hostel and we went to another bar that night to hear some live music. I loved the active night life in Xela. It was a nice change from the 2 bars I usually find myself at in PG.

Guatemala is known for its Easter celebration, Semana Santa (Holy Week). In Xela we had our first Semana Santa experience. We saw a small procession walk laps around the main square. The processions are put on by different churches in the area and they tell the story of Jesus, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Since it was the beginning of Holy Week, we saw processions focusing on Jesus’ life. Antigua has the most famous processions, so we headed there next.

Antigua:

Antigua is a quaint city with small, colorful buildings lining the cobblestone streets. The hostel we stayed at was towards the outer edge of the city, and provided us with an escape from the hectic activities that filled the city. The hostel owner was a lovely lady who told us everything we needed to know and then some.

I arrived in Antigua with a mission: to find Siggy. I had been in touch with a PCV serving in Guatemala who told me that when I went to Antigua I needed to find this woman who was one of his closest friends and that she would tell me about the ins and outs of the city. Amy and I wandered around Antigua searching for Siggy and her shop, Casa de Los Gigantes. We eventually found her and it was wonderful. Siggy and another lady, Sherry, were so welcoming and I was extremely glad that we had hunted them down. While we were with Siggy and Sherry a procession passed by and they explained it to me and Amy.

The processions began a month or two before Semana Santa, with churches doing one every weekend depicting Jesus’ life. During Semana Santa, there were a couple processions each day. Friday’s processions were about the trial and crucifixion. Saturday was a day of mourning with the processions featuring only Mary. Sunday was the day of celebration. The processions are like parades going through the streets with floats and music. The floats are massive mahogany bases with scenes on top about the events of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, resurrection, etc. The floats with Jesus on them are carried by men and the ones with Mary are carried by women. People pay to carry the floats, and that is how next year’s processions will be funded. The people who sign up to carry take turns because the floats are very heavy. Siggy explained to me that people pay to be a part of the processions for many reasons – they want to give thanks to God and the church, they are doing it in order to gain favor, they make a pact to do it every year in exchange for something like curing their child’s ailment.


One of the floats in the procession

Another aspect of the processions are the carpets, or fombras. People create elaborate carpets out of sawdust and flowers on the streets to give the people carrying the floats something nice and cushioning to walk on, in a symbolic way. The carpets take many people hours to create. I was invited by Siggy to come to her shop on Friday morning to help her and her friends create a carpet for the largest procession to pass over.

After meeting Siggy it was time for an early nights’ sleep. We were planning on waking up at midnight to see all the preparations for the large procession on Friday. People were out making carpets but then the rain came and things were ruined. Thankfully the rain passed quickly and people were able to rebuild as the streets dried. At 4 AM there was a reading at the church and then the large procession featuring Jesus’ trial and crucifixion began. There were a lot of people out to see the procession and there were also a lot of stands selling food open all night. The floats in this procession were absolutely massive.

That morning, after being awake all night, we went to meet Siggy at the shop to help make the carpet. I met a lot of people, including another PCV from Guatemala. Making the carpet is a time consuming process. We started by lining are carpet area with wood and filling it with sawdust to create a level work area. The next step was to put down a base color of green sawdust. Then the real fun began. We put down stencils and carefully filled them in with different colored sawdust to create our beautiful fombra. The whole process took about 5 hours. Most people only get to see the carpets lining the streets, so we were very fortunate to have such a unique experience.


The group who helped make the carpet

My favorite part of making the carpet was watching it get walked through. We had invested so much time and then the procession walked over it and destroyed the entire carpet. Maybe destroyed is the wrong word since the purpose of the carpet was to be walked on by the procession – I suppose it fulfilled its purpose.


Our destroyed carpet!

Friday was an extremely long day and I was excited to get some sleep, because Saturday I was hiking an active volcano! Amy, Grace and I took the trip to Volcan Pacaya – an active volcano outside of Antigua. In the past people were allowed to go to the very top of it and look down into the lava, but now you must stay a little ways away from the peak due to some recent deaths. The hike to the volcano was fairly easy. As we reached the volcano we strolled past a huge sign saying “Dangerous Area - Extreme Risk.” The ground was like loose gravel, caused by the lava cooling and breaking as people walked over it. The ground was hot and you could see the steam rising off of it. There were spots along the way that had hot air blowing out of holes. The view was great, and the steam gave it an eerie aspect. It was very exciting to be on top of an active volcano and I am glad that I survived it.


Me with Pacaya in the background

Saturday night we were invited over to a Guatemalan family’s house for a traditional meal. One of the girls I was traveling with had met some Americans who were living in Guatemala, so they set up the dinner for us. It was nice to try some food, and it was very similar to Belize. We also had the chance to meet some interesting people and talk about living as a volunteer in Guatemala compared to Belize.

Easter Sunday is a day of celebration as Semana Santa comes to a close. People in the processions were wearing brightly colored outfits, dancing, and playing upbeat music. I was eager to spend some time alone on Sunday – I was in need of some relaxation. I wandered the streets and happened to run into some of my friends from PG. We caught up and were able to make plans for that night. I also ran into a girl who had couch surfed at my house. I suppose Antigua is a small place. I used my time alone to get some post cards written while I was relaxing in the main park. I met an interesting Guatemalan guy while I was there and we had a difficult conversation in our broken English/Spanish. I was happy when he invited me for a beer – last Easter, if you remember, I began my Easter drinking at 9am, and was hopeful to keep up with my new tradition. This guy, Ramon, invited me and my friends to join him for some dancing later that night.

Sunday night I gathered the troops and went out to meet every person that I knew in Antigua – as I had found friends I invited them to go out dancing. With our crew of over 10 assembled, Ramon led the way to a near-by club. We even managed to pick up another person along the way because for some reasons I talk to strangers. At the club I met an older Guatemalan guy and he made it his mission to teach us all to salsa dance. It was a lot of fun to learn, but I don’t think I am going to make dancing a potential career option.



The Dance Crew

Antigua was amazing, and now it’s off to Flores and Tikal!

Flores and Tikal:

On Monday xMegs and Grace headed back to PG and the rest of us took a 2 hours bus ride back to Guatemala City and then a 10 hour bus ride to Flores – a small island that serves as the jumping off point for people to go to the gigantic Mayan ruin, Tikal. We spent some time relaxing and exploring the tiny island the first night, just enjoying some beer and food.

Tikal had been on my list of places to see since I had arrived in Belize, and I am glad I finally made it there. We stayed the night at Tikal in a resort just outside of the ruins. We took a sunrise tour of the park and were able to see a toucan and a bunch of howler monkeys. Later that day we went back to the park to do some exploring. While wandering the temples I served as our tour guide, reading excerpts from my guide book, sharing facts I had learned at other Mayan ruins, and making-up nearly believable information. The temples at Tikal are monstrous compared to those found in Belize. At one temple we saw some spider monkeys playing in the trees – and you all know that I can watch monkeys play for hours, so I really enjoyed it.


Me and Amy at Tikal


Me on top of one of the ruins

Our trip came to an end after our stay in Flores. We stayed at a famous hostel and it was fun to meet some other travelers there. Amy and I have been collecting information so we can start planning our Central America tour after we finish our Peace Corps service.

The trip to Guatemala was a blast. Check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/cali.zimmerman

And then there were 6...

This might turn out to be yet another lengthy blog update, so I hope you’re wearing your reading glasses…

La Ruta Maya:

Every year in Belize there is a 4 day, 170 mile canoe race from San Ignacio Town to Belize City. This year there were 3 teams of Peace Corps Volunteers paddling in the race, each team with 3 paddlers. I went along for the trip as a member of the Support Crew for Team San Isidro. Team San Isidro was sponsored by a construction company in Orange Walk Town, where two of the paddlers live.

Our support crew consisted of me, 2 other PCVs, and a guy from Orange Walk that one of the paddlers lives next to. The support crew was in charge of doing “drops” along the race – we would send someone into the water with a bag of water and snacks to hand off to our canoe as it went past. We did a few drops each day. We were also responsible for setting up the camp site for each night. When our team’s boat arrived at the finish line each day we would help them get all of their equipment out of the water and back to camp. Later in the evening the support crew would cook up some food for dinner.

The race began in San Ignacio at 6am. It was an early day and it was exciting to see how packed the start area was. The first day ended after about 8 hours on the water. I was expecting to see our paddlers in a horrible mood, with blistered covered hands and sunburned noses, but they appeared to be in good spirits.

Every night after the race there would be small parties going on around the camp, but I was usually too exhausted to participate. The evening of the 3rd day usually has the largest festivities. There were a ton of booths set up serving all sorts of food and beverages. We spent that afternoon setting up our camp and then relaxing with some of the other support crews. After our team arrived and we sent them off to bed, the fun really began. I would like to inform you all that we taught a lot of Belizeans how to play flip cup – that’s goal 2!

After a couple of days of setting up tents, cooking food, peeing in the woods, and giving back rubs, the race finally came to an end. It ended in Belize City with a ton of spectators cheering for every team that crossed the finish line. The paddlers all seemed very relieved to be done.

The night following the race a bunch of us ordered a pizza and got to work relaxing. Overall it was a good experience, but I’m sure I would be reporting all of this information a little differently had I paddled.







Footballers:

Recently I have been playing quite a bit of football (soccer to all you uncultured friends back in the U.S.A). I must admit that I am not very good at it, but I think I’ve been improving. Well, you would assume I’ve been improving since there was absolutely no way that I could become any worse. So here’s the football update:

Women’s 5-a-Side Tournament – I entered a 5 vs 5 tournament with some friends of mine a few weeks ago. The tournament was being held in recognition of Women’s Month. I arrived that morning at the designated start time with my 4 friends, ready to get started. We immediately realized that we were in Belize and being on time means that you are unbelievably early. After a good deal of waiting, two other teams showed up. Three teams – Now that’s a tournament! As we were preparing to head onto the field for our first game of the day, we were told we needed 8 players. I’m not sure if you’ve been following this story closely enough, but you might recall that we entered a 5-a-side tournament. We were just as confused as you might be right now. Being the problem solvers that we are, we quickly asked girls/women around us if they’d be interested in playing with us. Thankfully we were able to get our full team, and sent 5 of our now 8 players on to the field. It was an intense game against some players from the Big Falls Team; a team from up the highway. Even though our team, appropriately called The Misfits, was made up of random girls, we still put up a mild, if not admirable, fight. We did eventually lose, but the tournament was just beginning so we had some time to get our act together. After more teams arrived and we waited for about 2 hours in the hot Belizean sun, we were ready to take the field. As we put on our shoes and walked towards the center of the field we hear, “Playing in this game for first place, we have Big Falls vs. Destroyers.” We were a little shocked to hear that part way through the day they had completely changed the system for advancing in the tournament and we didn’t actually have another game. A disappointing showing.






Tuesday Night Football – Now that I have some friends who like to play football and tolerate my slow learning, we are trying to get together every Tuesday evening to play. The past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun. There are 5 of us girls who meet up, and then a large group of kids from the neighborhood come out to play. A bunch of the kids are from the school where I teach music. It is entertaining because all week long I have kids coming up to me reminding me that I have to come play Tuesday night at the field. We have been playing guys against girls, and I am happy to report that the girls have won both games so far. The boys we play against are very skilled. A lot of guys in Belize play football, and everyone grows up learning to kick the ball around. I have been picking up some pretty impressive moves, and the next step is to actually use them in a game. I’m heading off to play tonight, as soon as I post this blog. It should be a good game.

PC Black Orchids vs Big Falls – On April 2nd I had organized a game against the Big Falls team. We had played a group of Big Falls girls in the 5 vs 5 tournament. Our Black Orchids team was yet again a group of random girls, some of whom were just hoping they didn’t miss the ball when they took a kick at it. We had some PCVs, Japanese volunteers, teachers, high school students, environmental conservation volunteers, nurses, orphanage volunteers, and even an ambassador’s daughter. We were kind enough to provide the Big Falls team with a few of our top-notch players since they were a couple girls short. In order to avoid the heat, we had an evening game under the lights. The game was a lot of fun and we had a bunch of cheering spectators. The game was a quick-paced match, as each team took its turn pushing towards the goal. I’d like to claim that we were very evenly matched, but Big Falls might have been slightly more skilled than us. I think if we had practice a couple nights a week like they do, we could have put up more of a fight. The entire event was very enjoyable, but the Black Orchids lost, 5-2.




Moho River Fun:

This past Saturday I went on a bike ride to Boom Creek village with some friends. The village lies on the Moho River, approximately 7 miles outside of PG Town, and it has an amazing rope swing. My friends and I spent the afternoon swinging on the rope swing into the oddly warm river. To use the rope swing you have to climb up a few steps on the side of a tree so that you can grab high enough to not smack into the water as you swing down. If you are me, however, it does not matter how high you grab on the rope because you will manage to prematurely hit the water every time.



On Sunday, we decided to keep the Moho River party going. Some of my friends from Ya’axche, an organization working in environmental conservation, planned a kayak trip from Boom Creek, down the Moho River, to the sea and then up the sea to PG. The weather was great for being out on the river all day – it was slightly overcast so we were protected from the harsh afternoon sun. The river was beautiful, and being with people who our very knowledgeable about the environment made it even more enjoyable. They were pointing out birds, monkeys, flowers and trees all day. The trip down the river was a very easy paddle and it only took us a couple of hours. The kayaking trip became a bit more of a challenge when we arrived at the sea and realized how extremely choppy it was. The paddle against the relatively massive waves proved to be grueling. I don’t think any of us were anticipating such a difficult paddling experience. Thankfully 6 of us had split into 2 person kayaks, and only one guy had to paddle alone in a single. Having a person with me really helped when we needed to start bailing water out of our boat. After a short break on the shore where we all emptied our boats and ate some candy to reenergize, we forged on. The guy in the single boat decided that his arms were no longer going to function, so he hopped out and began pulling his kayak the rest of the journey. We arrived in PG Town after nearly 6 hours of being on the water and realized we still had to paddle to the other side of town, about another mile or so. I am happy to report that we decided to just stop and borrow a vehicle to drive the kayaks the next mile back to the rental place. Our friend who walked his kayak showed up on a bike and reported that he had stashed his boat along the shore, borrowed a bike, and came to find us. We ended the day at the bar to get some much needed food, drinks, and rest.





Work Info:

The HIV Billboard project is moving along, slowly but surely. The first coat of white is on and dry, awaiting some artwork. The next step is to outline the picture. I have enlisted help from another PCV in town to help me with this process because she has already completed a few murals in town. We want to outline the picture so the kids at school can then just fill in the right colors. Since Easter break is just around the corner, I think we will have to wait even longer. I hope I finish this project by October…

This week I am helping to teach the second lesson for the Community Health Worker trainings. It is focused on cardiovascular diseases and how to take a blood pressure. I think that the health workers are really starting to benefit from these extra monthly trainings. One of the doctors leading this project has also been going out to the villages to do some one-on-one training to ensure that all of the health workers are fully understanding some of the new material.


Next month - Easter Vacation trip to Guatemala !

So much to do... So little time

I haven’t updated in a while, so I have a lot to say. I hope you enjoy reading!

In this issue:
- Super Bowl Party
- Santa Theresa Village and the Corazon Church Inauguration
- Hiking in Mayflower Bocawina and Mountain Pine Ridge
- Work updates
- Spanish Lessons

Super Bowl Party: February 6
To celebrate the Super Bowl this year, the TPPC (formerly the TTPC) organized a major bashment. The Toledo Party Planning Committee, consisting of Me, Mallory and Taylor, invited friends from around the country to join us for chips, dip, and drinks at the PG Sports Bar. We had a bunch of friends come to PG and we packed into the Sports Bar, along with every other American currently residing in PG, to watch the game. The evening was filled with chip devouring, beer drinking, a little bit of yelling, and a ton of “shhhhhh”-ing during the highly anticipated commercials. I’m not really a football fan, but it was nice to see people and I do love eating chips.

Santa Theresa Village and the Corazon Church Inauguration: February 12 & 13
My landlord lives out in Corazon village, where my friend Misty used to live. He invited me to come to the village for the Catholic Church Inauguration. The village is quite far away and only has a bus to it four times a week. I decided to go stay with a friend in Santa Theresa village for the weekend so that we could go to Corazon together on the bus chartered from her village for the ceremony. Ten nearby villages chartered buses to bring people to Corazon for the inauguration. The ceremony was nice, but it was threatening to rain all day long.

The ceremony began with a regular Q’eqchi church service, and people took turns worshiping in the church. Later in the day, a priest from town blessed the church and then did a short mass outside so everyone could be a part of it. Community leaders, including my landlord, took turns thanking everyone for joining them at the ceremony. After all of the speeches were finished everyone enjoyed a bowl of pork caldo (soup with nothing in it except the pork and some herbs), courtesy of the Corazon Catholic Church.

It was nice to visit the village and I think my landlord and his family were glad that I went to the ceremony. My landlord’s son is married to my neighbor’s daughter, so it was nice to see her, as well. The day was like my own little family reunion.

I was appointed as official ceremony photographer, so check out the tons of pictures I took on my picasa photo site.




Hiking in Mayflower Bocawina and Mountain Pine Ridge: February 4 & 5
My friend Amy recently had a friend from the US visit. They invited me along with them to do some hiking and site-seeing.

The trip began with a short day trip to Mayflower Bocawina National Park, just outside of Dangriga. We hiked up Antelope Falls and made it almost to the top. We found out after our hike that we could have gone further, but we had thought the trail was blocked off. The falls were very impressive. There were many places along the way to stop for photos and a short rest. The hardest part of this trip was the walk into the park – it was a 4 mile walk down a hot, sunny, dirt road. Thankfully we were able to catch a ride out of the park, just in time to catch the bus.

After Mayflower, we took the bus to San Ignacio, a tourist hot-spot in central Belize. We spent the night there and the following day we rented a car and headed out to Mountain Pine Ridge. Mountain Pine Ridge is an area south of San Ignacio town that ends at Caracol – the tallest Mayan Ruin in Belize. In order to get to Caracol, you need to meet up at the BDF (Belize Defense Force) check point to travel the rest of the road with a BDF escort. The road is said to have a very high rate of crime from bandits. We finally made it to Caracol and I must say, it is very impressive. The main temple is still considered the tallest building in Belize. When you stand at the bottom and look towards the top, you don’t find it to be too large, but as you start climbing to the top, you realize that there was an entire section of the temple that wasn’t visible from the ground. Caracol has a bunch of excavated temples and even some well preserved tombs you can peak into. Me, Amy and her friend, Nick, decided to eat our lunch on the top of the temple – this might be the neatest place to eat PB & J.



After leaving Caracol we stopped at Big Rock Falls, a waterfall along the road on the way back to San Ignacio. The falls were beautiful. We tried to swim up to them, but the current was rather strong. We only stayed a shot time, and then we headed down another road to 1,000 Foot Falls. You can’t swim at these falls; you can only view them from a small landing that is on the side of another small mountain nearby. The view was partially obstructed by trees, so we weren’t able to see the full size of the falls.



We finally called it a day and began heading back to San Ignacio. At first I found it funny that there were signs warning about bandits, but that night, as we drove back slightly separated from the escort, it didn’t seem as funny. I am happy to report that we survived the trip.

Work Updates:
A teacher I know from TCC, the high school in PG, approached me a while back about coming to teach her classes about HIV/AIDS. We got to talking about the difficulties of teaching that topic, and we realized that if students do not understand basic sex education, a lot of the important information about HIV could be missed. We decided that the best solution would be to first teach the students about sexual health, and then teach them about HIV/AIDS. To get some support for this project, I went to my friend Taylor. Taylor and I have taught many HIV/AIDS lessons together, so we figured this would be a breeze. We developed a set of lesson plans that would build on one another as we moved through each topic. The lessons we created focus on Puberty, Sexual and Reproductive Anatomy, STI’s, Safe Sex Practices, and HIV/AIDS.

Taylor and I taught the first lesson, Puberty and Anatomy, to all 13 classes that the teacher has. The classes have students of every grade in high school. After the first few classes Taylor and I really got the hang of it. We have finished lesson one and next week we will start teaching lesson two.

Teaching the classes has been a lot of fun. We try to be as open with the students as possible so they feel comfortable asking us any questions they have. Students in Belize are not always taught sex education as thoroughly or as often as they should be, so the classes have been filled with new information. We are amazed at some of the questions we receive – the students seem to be paying attention and really asking questions that no one has ever answered for them before.

The principal and some teachers at the school showed some resistance and hesitation at first, but I think they now have put a lot of trust into me and Taylor. I’m looking forward to teaching lesson two this week.

I mentioned a while back that I was doing a billboard design contest. The project is finally moving into the next stage – painting. We have the first coat of white paint on and next week I plan on enlisting the help of some other Peace Corps Volunteers and students to help with the outlining and painting. The billboard should be up in no time.

Since December I have been working with people at the PG Polyclinic on two projects. The first project is to create community profiles for every village in the Toledo District. In order to do this I developed a simple survey for village leaders and health workers to fill out indicating resources the community has. The surveys will be distributed at the end of the month. To supplement the information collected, I will also add in demographic information collected in last year’s census. The goal of the village survey is to provide NGOs, health facilities, and visiting service groups with information about the village so they can tailor their efforts to have the greatest impact. The second project is to strengthen the current Community Health Worker (CHW) training program. Almost every village in Toledo has a CHW, but it appears that the training they receive isn’t always as comprehensive as it could be. There have been issues with staffing someone to manage the program, so I and another Peace Corps Volunteer are working with local health clinic to develop a training program. We created a small curriculum and are currently finishing up plans for the first class, which is scheduled for next week. We hope to provide the CHWs with the training they need to better serve their villages.

My Music Club is still going strong. Lately we have been working on singing and I’ve really been trying to get the students to understand teamwork. There is the Festival of the Arts coming up in May, so we are working hard to prepare for it. The students voted on a song to sing and once we finish learning to sing it, we will work on choreographing a dance for it. They’re hoping to win 1st place again!

The Girl’s Fitness Club that I have with another Peace Corps Volunteer is also going well. It can be frustrating at times because the girls don’t always want to listen, but we have seen some improvements over the past few months. A lot of the girls in class have slight behavioral issues, and I find it quite challenging to work with them, but I keep on trying because I know that they are the ones who need this club the most. We’re working on teaching the girls about teamwork and sportsmanship, because it seems that most have never learned how to work together and it is very obvious that they have no idea how to give positive support to their teammates. A few weeks ago we had the hospital dietitian come in as a guest speaker some to teach the girls about healthy eating. They were so well behaved and when we quizzed them the following week, I was extremely impressed with how much they had learned! Next week we are going to have a lady come in to teach dance to the girls. They really seem to enjoy having guests come in and hang out with them. Hopefully we can get a few more classes in before the end of the year and we can really see some more improvements.

Spanish Lessons:
I recently started taking Spanish lessons. At first I was meeting with a man I know who only speaks Spanish. As he teaches me Spanish, I teach him English. It is difficult for me to learn from him because he has trouble reading and writing. I think once I get a little better at Spanish, just chatting with him will be enough education for both of us. I have also started taking lessons with some friends from a tutor. I’m already learning a lot. I hope to know enough by the end of my service so that I can travel in Central America without carrying a Spanish dictionary.

Check back soon for a report on this year’s La Ruta Maya !

Some Recent Events...

World AIDS Day
On December 1, people around the globe celebrated World AIDS Day. The theme this year was “Our Year, Our Voice. Together We Change.” The focus of World AIDS Day is on youth and the change that they can make across the country. I worked closely with the Toledo HIV/AIDS Committee to organize this year’s events.

The night before World AIDS Day we held a candle light vigil in PG central park. The vigil’s welcome address was given by me and another volunteer. There were speeches and some poetry readings to entertain and enlighten the gathered crowd. The vigil was a nice way to bring people together and spread awareness throughout the community about the current HIV/AIDS problem facing Belize.



To celebrate World AIDS Day, towns across the country held Youth Rallies. In PG we had approximately 600 high school students gathered in the assembly hall. The morning was filled with dramatic performances, presentations, and even a freestyle rap contest, all focusing on HIV/AIDS among Belizean youth. At the Youth Rally we also had a bunch of informational booths set up for students to get more information. I think the event was a success and I was very happy that this year was all about the youth and empowering them to make the changes needed to reduce the cases of HIV in Belize.


Crique Jute Village
Last weekend I took a trip with some friends to visit a volunteer in Crique Jute, a small Maya Mopan village in rural Toledo District. It is about an hour and a half bus ride to the village. His house is on top of a very large hill, and walking up it in the rain was a bit of a messy challenge. There are only two houses on top of the hill, so he has a lot of privacy and a lovely view.

We spent the first day with our friend’s host family. The family was very welcoming. The mother cooked us lunch, we played cards with the kids, and then spent some time chatting with the dad. The kids were hilarious and somehow did card tricks – but we think a few of them might have been working together to guess which card was ours…

It was raining a lot so we spent a lot of time inside playing games and relaxing. I think we were all still trying to recover from Thanksgiving dinner.

The following day we hiked down a hill to the creek at the bottom to go for a swim and wash up. It was a jungle paradise and there wasn’t anyone else in sight. After we were all clean, we hiked back up and cooked some breakfast. We spent the day relaxing and playing with some kids from next door.

To get to home that afternoon, we were going to have to walk a couple miles to the road junction, but we were lucky enough to catch a ride after only a half hour of walking. We then waited along the road for the bus, but instead caught another ride all the way to town.

It was nice to unwind in the jungle village.


Pacencia Weekend
I went out to Placencia beach with a friend for two days to take in some sun. Another friend of ours was staying at a posh resort in Placencia with his visiting parents and we were invited to join them.

The three of us took out a hobbie cat - a small catamaran style sail boat. It was very fun to be cruising out in the open water.

We also joined them for a seafood dinner buffet! It was, without a doubt, the best food I have had in the past year and 4 months.

Our friend's parents were very good to us and we had a great time.





Armenia Visit
Earlier this week I went up to Belmopan for a meeting. Since I was so close to Armenia (where I did my training), I decided to stop by for a visit. I had called ahead to let my host family know that I was coming so they were very worried when I didn’t show up for lunch. I was running very late so by the time I arrived, they had given up hope on seeing me. But thankfully they had saved me some food! My host mom made banana cake and beans with dumplings as a special treat for me.

The kids were excited to see me because last time I was there I promised to bring them coloring books and crayons – they were extremely happy that I didn’t forget!

After too much food and a lot of coloring, I chatted with my host mom about all the volunteers that had trained in Armenia with me. I am always impressed when she remembers exactly what villages they are all in now and what everyone has been up to. My host mom is a great lady, and she finally has been getting some time to relax. Her son is in high school and all 4 of the girls are now in primary school, so while they are in class she is able to get her house work done a lot faster and is then able to visit with the other women around the village.

Since all of the kids in the neighborhood were home from school, we decided to play outside. We played a game of football, a huge game of ring-around-the-rosy, a violent game of red-rover, and a surprisingly high-paced game of duck-duck-goose.

When I finally got all the kids off of me, I went around the neighborhood to visit some of the other volunteers’ host families. They are all so sweet and just wanted to feed me – but I explained that I was overly full from my host mom’s wonderful cooking.

It was great to spend time with everyone from Armenia. I think I will go visit again in January, and I plan on fasting for a few days before so I have room in my stomach for all of the food.

What does a Peace Corps Volunteer have to be thankful for?

A lot more than you’d think.

This year Mallory, Taylor and I declared ourselves the Toledo Thanksgiving Planning Committee (TTPC). We worked diligently to plan the most amazing Thanksgiving celebration ever held in the country of Belize.

Our Thanksgiving celebration was held at Parish Hall in Punta Gorda and was attended by over 40 people! It was a huge pot-luck and volunteers from all over country came down for the feast. We also had a bunch of Belizean guests who treated their taste buds to some delicious American cooking.

The Thanksgiving dinner was a huge success. We all sat around the table and enjoyed each other’s company as we stuffed ourselves as full as possible, and then topped it off with desert.



We also had an American football game on Thanksgiving morning. It was quite the spectacle. I think we should all focus on soccer instead...

Since it was Thanksgiving, I really made an effort to think about what I’m thankful for. I was surprised at how little I actually take the time to think about how fortunate I have been and how great I have it. I’m here in Belize with the opportunity to meet people from all over the United States, learn about the many different cultures of Belize, work in development, discover the abilities I never knew I had, work with people from all different backgrounds, play with kids and call it work, travel and sight-see, read books, chit-chat, teach music, visit with neighbors, hike in the jungle, bake corn tortillas, educate people, eat exotic food, and have the most amazing experiences. Even though being a volunteer in Belize has its drawbacks, has its bad times, has its challenges, I’d say I have it pretty good.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.