Grace's Peace Corps Adventures

Missing Children

Aug. 31, 2010
Two siblings from Toledo, Belize remains a mystery. Since Monday police have been scouring the area, but up to now, there are no solid leads as to what could have happened to Onelia and Benjamin Rash, two school aged children who went missing on August 30th when they were allowed to venture twelve miles from home to sell fruits.

A lot of tragic events happened since then. (You might have heard on CNN about the crocodile story…) http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-07/world/belize.american.house.torched_1_crocodiles-animal-sanctuary-belize?_s=PM:WORLD

Image from: http://www.google.com.bz/imgres?

Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.

A torturous day on BIKE

August 31, 2010
Today was a Tuesday and the Laguna bus does not go to town on Tuesday. The Laguna bus only runs market days, which are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Well this Tuesday I had to go to town desperately because the preschool was opening the next day. I needed to get some last minute items.

So I woke up around 8:00am; then I texted a villager to see what time the busses run because I was going to bike to the junction (4miles) and then catch a bus on the high way. She said the only bus that runs on Tuesday is the 8:30 or noon. I couldn’t catch the noon because all the shops would be closed for lunch. Therefore, I had to rush, rush, rush to catch the 8:30 bus. I showered and got ready by 8:15 am. I saw a villager and she said “you are never going to catch the 8:30 bus you have less than 15 minutes to get to the junction.” Usually I park my bike about a mile from the junction at a villager’s house so that my bike doesn’t get stolen. However, today I said I was so late that I would have to bring my bike on the bus with me… which usually no one does. Well luckily I just made it to the junction. It took me 12 minutes to get to the junction, which I was pretty proud of and also I saw my host brother and begged him to lock my bike up at the villager’s house. He said yes; therefore, I didn’t have to bring my bike to town.

When I got to town I bought so much…. A little too much because I had such a difficult time riding my bike back with about 6 bags on the handle bars, a back pack, and one large bag in my basket. Plus to make things worse the sun was beaming hot. I struggled back to my house having readjusted the bags many times because they wouldn’t balance and the bags kept rubbing up on the wheels making me loose balance. This day was a day that I really wished I had my car. I never had such appreciation for the freedom of hoping in my car and running to the store in the states. I miss my car very badly!!!!

Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.

School registration

August 30, 2010

Today was registration for the preschool, as well as infant I. Infant I is like Kindergarten in the states. Registration went pretty well. I was surprised that less parents signed their children up for preschool than I thought would. I had 9 students sign up for preschool; however, originally I thought 16 children would sign up. Some parents decided to keep their children home. Only 4 children signed up for Infant I. Since Laguna is so small we have such a small school too. That is why government will not fund the preschool. We only have 65 children in our primary school (which is grade K-8 in the states).

Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.

Fajina

August 28, 2010
Saturday August 28 there was a fujuni. A fujina is when the men get together to clean up the village. Each man age 18 or older brings his machete to chop the village. They clean/chop the school grounds, the cemetery and the football field. It takes all morning. The ladies bring cacoa drink, juice or coffee after the men finish chopping the village.

Then after the fajina there is a community meeting held at the community center. At the meeting the men address issues of the village. There was a lot of arguing going on this meeting. I have a difficult time understanding because the men speak all in K’ekchi, but I usually get what is being said. If I don’t understand I just ask someone who is sitting close by me.

At this meeting some men argued that only 18 year olds and older should chop. Some men like to send their young son in their place; however, some men think that is unfair. Some men think that younger than 18 can chop too. It was a big debate because this issue deals with them personally. Also if a man does not go to fajina they have to pay 10.00 dollars to the village council. The debate could have gone on and on until the chairman finally told us to move on to the next topic.

The one man in the village that made me cry one time. He accused me of not visiting his house because he was a drunkard. I said that was not true. I did not visit because he never invited me. He kept screaming at me and said that he doesn’t need me to help in the village. He said he doesn’t want anything to do with me. He was not going to send his kids to the preschool I was opening, nor was he going to send his daughter to camp GLOW. I don’t know why I took it so personally, but because he was screaming at me I just started to cry. Well I bring him up because he likes to scream and voice his opinion at the community meetings too. He had to be kicked out of the meeting several times.

Fajina is an excellent thing I believe. The community comes out to help the village look clean. I asked another volunteer Laura if they do fajina’s up North in Mestizo (Spanish speaking villages) she said no. That fajina’s are just done my maya villages.

Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.

Planning for Preschool

August 23-29, 2010

All week we worked on setting up the preschool. My two volunteer teachers are Lydia and Paulina. They are recent high school graduates.

What we made… homemade…

• Weather Chart

• Alphabet

• Calendar

• Birthday Chart

• Job Chart

• Sign for school

• Daily Schedule

• Rule/Expectations signs etc.

The girls are very creative we got a lot accomplished this week.

The village council men also helped greatly. They made desks, tables, and chairs out of scrap lumber. They put on a latrine door for our students and made the kids a sand box. The men also hung shelves and our chalk board. Finally by the end of this week the community center was starting to look like a preschool classroom!!! :)

Disclaimer This website expresses the views of Grace Boswell, who is entirely responsible for its content. It does not express the views of the United States government, the Belize government, the Peace Corps or any other institutions named or linked to on these pages.

My first Belizean Wedding

August 22, 2010

After Tabacco Caye I had to hurry and make it to Indian Creek for a wedding I was invited to. It was one of the villagers in Laguna wedding. It was my first wedding I have attended in Belize. It was very nice. This wedding took place at the Catholic Church. The after party was at the groom’s house. They had caldo and pooch, which is a traditional maya meal (that I have very often). They make caldo for most special occasions. For example, wedding, baptisms, and when they plant corn at the plantation.

After the wedding I had to rush home to have a preschool meeting at 4pm. It was to discuss how many days we would have preschool, what the school name would be, and how much we would charge the parents. We decided to have the preschool open Monday through Friday from 9:30am-12pm. The school would be called Chabil Chahim, which in K’ekchi means beautiful stars. The meeting was a success and I cannot wait to open it on September 1!

One whole year in Belize!!!

Tabacco Caye
August 20-22, 2010

I have been in Belize for one year now!!! Time has gone so quickly. To celebrate our one year mark Emily. (our social coordinator ) planned an awesome trip for us at Tabacco Caye. Tabacco Caye is a very tiny caye it has two small resorts and a beautiful blue sea! My roommate was Erica. She and I had a room literally right on the water! The verandahs caught the breeze off the sea …while lying on a hammock.

The rooms had a bed and a bath. To take a shower you had to pull the chain and natural sea water cleansed you. The island does not have electricity and little cell service. Therefore, it was too expensive to get a frozen mixed drink because everything is ran on a generator (diesel is super expensive!)

About ten of us from our 2009-2011 group went took the trip to tobacco caye. It was so much fun. We swam during the day and relaxed and partied at night!!!

Some info on Tabacco Caye: One the island is grogeous!!! Tabacco Caye is a super duper small island (only 200 feet wide and 400 feet long). Tabacco Caye it is intimate and social, but relaxing and friendly (you can circle the island in less than 5 minutes). About 20 Belizeans reside here permanently, but there's no school, so children spend the week on a nearby island, and come home only on the weekends to stay with their families.

It felt like we were on our own private island!