Week Seven in Belize

Well things are beginning to wind down a little bit. I have been trying to complete some of my personal projects before I have to head home at the end of the month. I have been having issues with my camera this week. I am able to take pictures just not access the card they are saved on. Luckily I do have an extra memory card so I will for sure have pictures next week. This week was still a blur like all the others.

Monday, I met with Rafael in the morning and discussed with him the meeting we will be having tomorrow with the youth from Succotz and hopefully Benque. He also said that it looks like the Guatemalan trip might get moved to the weekend that I’m heading home. I assured him that it was alright if I wasn’t able to go, I will teach Pedro my part. The rest of the day I worked on By-Laws for the youth groups. In the afternoon Pedro and I traveled to Benque to meet with the youth group there. They were very interested in coming on Tuesday for the informational session that we would be doing. They also expressed an interest in going on the Guatemala trip.

On Tuesday morning Pedro and I bought snacks for our meeting with the youth and set up for Rafael’s presentation. I then made a packet for the Benque Group leader that contained the By-Laws, Meeting Guide, Roll Sheet, and Minutes sheet. The groups arrived on time and were very interested in what Rafael had to say. After the presentation I went over the club stuff I had given them and answered any questions that they had. We also discussed maybe doing a trip to the Chiquibul later in the month.

Wednesday, I worked on my PowerPoint presentation and on my professional report. In the afternoon Pedro and I went to Benque and gave a presentation at The House of Culture. I led the group in the ’blanket game” so that we could learn their names and get them to participate. I also received a tour of their museum. It is housed, in what used to be the old jail cells for the police station. The Director told me a little bit about the history of Benque and some of the folklore. They have stories of creatures much like Sasquatch, La llorona, and elves. It was very interesting to hear these stories and to see the sketches they had. They also had antiques that had been brought to Benque when the first settlers landed. After our tour we headed back to Succotz. It rained hard in the late afternoon really cooling everything off, which was nice.

On Thursday, I was originally supposed to go with Rafael to complete community visits. We had to move it to this Saturday since he was going to have to go visit on that day for another activity. So, instead of doing community visits I continued to work on updating my journal and finishing up my PowerPoint. I am having trouble with my memory card for my camera and I am not able to access the pictures I took this week. Luckily I have an extra memory card so will be able to take pictures in the weeks to follow.

Friday, was much the same as Thursday, mostly computer work. The exciting thing on Friday was that FCD finally got their Land Rover. It will be a lot better to use up in the Chiquibul. The roads are too rugged for a normal vehicle.

This weekend I will be traveling to Seven Mile with Rafael to deliver community development notebooks for the community leaders.They are the same notebooks we reviewed at the very first workshop I attended down here. So it will be nice to deliver the finished project. I will write again next week. I hope everyone is doing well and knows they are still in my prayers.