World AIDS Day in Cayo

So many issues: World AIDS Day is a big deal here and free condoms and HIV testing are everywhere EXCEPT the Church is against condom distribution and HIV testing but the children from the various religious schools were brought to the fair. Their message is abstinence but the kids sure have a very different view.

There is a wonderful organization called Belize Family Life Association with offices across from the Catholic Church--providing contraceptive and reproductive services gratis. So contradictions abound! These are the kids surrounding our booth; and the picture is the local police officer who had this great T shirt (Men Working in a typical construction sign and subtitle: Share Responsibility at Home). One of his women co-workers said: "it is just a T shirt" but I'm not so sure--he is about to have his first child and is taking leave to be there for a while.

Outreach to Rural Communities

We have started a program of workshops in remote, rural villages (aldeas) in the Cayo District. The purpose to bring information about domestic violence to isolated families and help with obtaining help and resources. This program is in collaboration with the Office of Rural Development' Rural Communities Development Officer along with . There are 17 such communities and a very small staff among us to do this; so we have included "extenders" by including the domestic violence officer of the Cayo Police Department and eventually people in various other government agencies and non-profit organizations who serve women and children. Here are a photo or two of what we did in the last week or so. It has been extraordinary; well-received--and somewhat unplanned was that I gave several workshops in Spanish. One thing I am learning is the tremendous tension around the Guatemalan border that is not even clearly defined. Belizeans seem to resent Guatemalans based on a long history of political and cultural issues; and many Guatemalans here have no legal rights.

November 3, 2010

Life has been pretty ordinary; our Cayo Book Club is going well and today I attended the dedication of the new San Ignacio Library that is a partnership of the Government of Belize, the Town Council, the Social Investment Fund, and the Rotary Club. This is me applying for a library card, although with IPod, IPad, and Kindle it is more on principle that I want a card. The previous library was a small basement room; the hope is that this will become a center for improving adult and youth literacy.

Typical Days in Belize

On a typical Saturday I go to the Cayo market where the most amazingly fresh vegetables and fruits are sold by farmers who come to market from the villages--including San Antonio where I lived earlier in the year. The usual cucumbers, carrots, onions, pineapple, papaya and then the most delicious fruits and vegetables new to me such as chaya and petaya make for a wonderful week of sauteed vegetables. The other pictures are from a typical day at the local ATM (not what you think but rather Actun Tunichil Muknal, the Mayan Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre with artifacts and skeletons from 700-900 AD.) The third picture is a woman's skeleton. This trip involved hiking, swimming and some climbing (I was triple the age of everyone else but I held my own--mostly because swimming through a cave is quite extraordinary.

A Leisurely Walk in My Neighborhood

My life has settled into full-time work at Mary Open Doors--serving women and children--and routines of going to the market, day-to-day living, etc. Sunday was cool and a bit rainy so I decided to search for the Belize Botanical Gardens that is about 10 miles from my home; first a short bus ride and then what turned out to be a very long walk. I never made it (will try using transportation next time) but found two interesting things: a Maya Air Park (local airport?) and spectacular scenary. Pretty amazing what the Maya have done. More to follow. One exciting new thing is a group of local residents has organized a Book Club; we had our first meeting at my home and it was very lively trying to pick books--a few folks have kindles and more are on the way: Our first book is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Given the role of religion in Belize this should be a very interesting discussion.

Summertime Fun for Kids at Mary Open Doors

We started a summer program for the children in the Mary Open Doors domestic violence program with the help of two other NGOs: ProBelize that is part of ProWorld and the Cornerstone Foundation. The goal is for this to be a permanent program giving mothers the opportunity and time to seek housing and jobs and for some to become certified day care providers and eventually becoming a microenterprise that provides financial support to women and income to Mary Open Doors. The summer program has been awesome: started by 4 University of North Carolina students who figured out how to do amazing science, math, games with virtually no budget. The children had never seen anything quite like this before. It has continued in August with the help of two Belizean primary school teachers who brought wonderful resources and training and will end with two weeks of volunteers from the U.S.

Update through July 19, 2010

My life in Cayo is pretty settled; a job I would have wanted no matter how I came to it; a comfortable home in a pretty town. The work has been much like my other experiences in non-governmental organizations serving Central America: working on infrastructure, helping with issues of governance, assisting with program development, investigating funding opportunities, and taking pride in my association with a very good community group working to improving the lives of families: particularly women and children. No new pictures this time--just this update.