Friday September 16, 2011
Today we went to Pg to celebrate the 30th Independence Day for Belize. Belize’s Independence Day is actually September 21! However, usually the Friday before Independence Day the Ministry of Education plans for children’s and youth rally.
This year we were told to catch the bus at 7:30. I got to the school around 7am to get the banners, flags, and items for sale all ready. However, Ms. Rose (the only other teacher who came to school that day), I and the students had to wait for the bus forever. The bus never arrived until 10am. The past few years the Shol’s would charter us and were always on time. Now that the Shols don’t run their bus anymore they weren’t our charter.
Once we reached we were not too late. The ceremony was supposed to begin at 9am, but didn’t start until around 10am. It is common to be late in Belize (that took some time to get used to… because I am usually a punctual person).
Once we arrived there were some presentations from Toledo District schools. Laguna Government School Std 3 and 4 went on stage to present a poem called “Treasure Me” written by Ms. Rose the Std. 3 and 4 teacher.
After the ceremony was finished all the schools began parading around PG town. Laguna is always the loudest and most enthusiastic group. We chanted Hip, Hip—Hooray . Laguna – Today. Independence—we are free!
After the parade we went to an exhibition about the History of Belize. It was very interesting; however, the children were all tired and exhausted… I hope they got something out of it.
Some of the information we learned was that Belize remained a British colony until 1981; rather late for the West Indies. Spain and France lost most Caribbean possessions in the early 19th century, while Her Majesty’s island colonies were liberated in the 1960s. With its deep ethnic diversions, a unifying national identity formed slowly, and the Belizean independence movement displayed more patience than resistance.
September 1981 Belize was declared an independent nation-state within the British Commonwealth. Even Guatemala recognized Belize as a sovereign nation in 1991.
Once we were finished we headed back to Laguna; where I spent the rest of the day reading an excellent book.
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