BUS RIDE

            On our last day at the school we went on a field trip to the Mayan Ruins with some of the children. On the way back all the kids started to sing a song, but it wasn’t a traditional bus song like “the wheels on the bus go round and round.” Their song was so much better. It went like this:

LEADER: “Kim, how’s your mind?”

KIM: “Made up!”

LEADER: “And your heart?”

KIM: “It’s set!”

LEADER: “And you’re going?”

KIM: “With Jesus all the way!”

ALL: “She’s got her mind made up and her heart is set and she’s going with Jesus all the way!”

And then the leader moved onto the next person until he asked every person on the bus, including the bus driver. It was a really great experience to see kids that young so committed to their faith and celebrating it with one another. They literally shouted it as loud as they could. This was one of the best times of the entire trip.

THE CLASSROOM

            While at the school in Belize, we each spent half of the day in a classroom and half of the day outside doing some kind of work. Alex and I were placed inside Mrs. Vernon’s standard one classroom. The one day the class was told to write sentences using the contractions they had just learned. Alex and I were to go around and help those who were struggling and check anyone who had finished. All the kids would call us from desk to desk asking for help or just wanting to talk. I was helping one girl spell restaurant when Mrs. Vernon called me aside. She told me that I was to help Francis write his sentences. Francis had lost his mother a few weeks ago and was really struggling. She told me I needed to be very patient because when he didn’t understand something he got extremely frustrated.

            I knelt down beside his desk and together we worked through his sentences. By the time the class had completed ten, we were still on his second sentence. The class was then released for recess. All of the Waynesburg students joined the kids to play. That day when I went out, Francis was right by my side the entire time. He was so desperate for love and attention.  Every time someone brought a camera around he wanted a picture together.

            Later Mrs. Vernon shared some other stories with Alex and I of hard times some children were having at home. I have so much respect for this woman and all teachers. She takes care of these children like they are her own. She pays for some of their lunches if they can’t afford it and is there when any of them need to talk. She often has to deal with bad situations all on her own. She told us that she tries not to bother Principal Betson with everything the children trust her with because Principal Betson has to take care of the entire school and the children trust her. This woman was much more than a teacher.

CRIME

ON PAPER

            We were given the opportunity to look at a Belize newspaper. Flipping through the pages filled me with an uneasy feeling. The story on the front page read “Jealous Husband Murders Wife.” Other stories continued with the theme of death, drugs, human trafficking, and other tragedy. A local woman burnt down a building with children by smoking pot outside. Another woman gave her daughter to an American in hopes that she would receive everything she could ever want and everything that she wouldn’t be able to provide her with. After a few days of an amazing life, her daughter was forced into sex trafficking. By no means do I think that the United States is crime free, but it was all still disheartening how much crime was there.

ON THE STREET

            As we rode our bus to dinner we were taking in as much of Belize as we could, just looking out the window at the passing buildings and people. We would stick our cameras out the windows and snap as many photos as possible, so we could keep these days with us forever. Our bus then came to a sudden stop. We saw a big crowd gathering on the street. A police truck pulled up in front of us. A man was trying to knife a woman. The police officers pulled him away. The man broke free from their grasp and chased the woman to the ground. Again the officers pulled him away, this time loading him into a police bus. All I could think was, was it really so bad that they needed police trucks and buses instead of cars?

ON THE FRONT PORCH

When I woke up, I grabbed my toothbrush and headed to the bathroom. Skip caught me on the way and redirected me to the front porch. That night someone had snuck up onto the front porch and stole our shoes that we left out to dry from a day’s work in the mud. Ten people’s shoes were gone.

CONCLUSION

            My old tennis shoes just went to someone who probably needs them much more than me. They left six pairs of shoes, which mean they might have only taken what they really need. Plus I will be able to embrace the culture and work in flip flops like some of the people of Belize do.  Bad things can have a positive influence on those that experience them. I realized how to be positive in a negative situation and that is something that I hope I take back with me to the United States. The crime in Belize probably isn’t as bad as I have interpreted, I just don’t know how to handle it. In any area there are precautions that must be taken. The gate to where we were staying was left unlocked. All that needed to be done to prevent theft from the porch was to lock the gate. I was being judgmental and really had no right to be.

TRUST

            Towards the end of the day, a man who had been working with us, Oscar, decided to show us one of his hobbies. What he did was take logs and carve different things with intricate detail. There were sharks, crosses, parrots, eagles, turtles, and many other awesome carvings. His children helped him unload everything onto a table to display. They gently unwrapped each thing, rubbed it clean, and placed it on the table. Slowly all of us gathered around to admire his handy work. He sold all of these carvings to earn some extra cash. We all picked up different pieces and asked their costs. Once we decided what we wanted to purchase we told him that we would come back tomorrow to buy them. He told us to just go ahead and take what we wanted and just bring the money tomorrow.

            I was shocked. People in the United States are never this trusting. The people of Belize are all so happy, friendly, and trusting. Why are we the way we are? We are always suspicious of each other, and this man who barely knew us had complete trust in us. This was amazing to me. Just to have met a man like this was a positive influence in my life.

PASTOR BETSON

            Pastor Betson was one of most influential people on this trip. It is very difficult to express what an amazing man he is. Together he and his wife, Principal Betson, run the Unity Presbyterian Church and Primary School. God is truly reflected through their actions. They allowed us to stay in their home for the week that we were there. He was so welcoming that I actually felt more at home there than what I do at my actual home. Every time Pastor Betson saw us, he would give us a hug and say, “I love you. You are special.” Now you would think that this would get old really fast and completely lose the meaning of I love you after a few times. The surprising part is that it never did. As he embraced you in his arms you feel his love and hear his sincerity every single time. It was the greatest feeling ever. I cannot fully comprehend how he is so purely good and completely committed to God, but it is proof that it is possible. To me, he is a hero and an inspiration. He is truly happy all the time, and makes a difference in the lives of so many people. I only hope that I can be half as true as he.

SWEEPING

            My trip to Belize was absolutely amazing. It was by far the best week of my life. I could probably write at least five hundred stories from just one week there. This seems to create a problem because as I share stories with my friends and family I attempt to tell them everything and that just seems impossible. So much has happened and it’s frustrating that my stories aren’t near as great as the actual experience. I want them to understand why it was so amazing, but I don’t know how to express it all. I have decided that as I blog, my main goal is to let my writing “breathe,” just as we discussed in class. I will try to focus on describing a few specific parts in detail as opposed to trying to cram in a little bit of everything. The following was written on my first day in Belize.

            We arrived by bus, pulling in through the gate that Waynesburg students built the previous year. We walked up to a building with metal doors that slid up like garage doors. Inside there were three people setting up for the church service. We tried to help the man align the pews, but at the same time we didn’t want to get in the way of their normal routine set up. I began to wonder around to take in all of our surroundings because this was where the majority of our week would be spent. There was a school and small playground outside, within the same gate. The school and church seemed to overlap. The church included the principal’s office in the back and classroom for the younger children.

After a few minutes, I returned inside the church where the man and his son continued to set up. They assembled a projector and put a microphone in the front. There was also a pregnant woman sweeping. Once she made it down the first row, she stopped and let out a deep sigh. One our team leaders, Martha, approached her to begin a conversation. When Martha asked her a question she just gave a little smile and responded, “I’m so tired.” Martha proceeded by offering our help. I was closest, so I took the broom from her and Andrew grabbed the dust pan.

Immediately I understood the woman’s exhaustion. Sweeping this building was an impossible task. I had a straw broom which was to gather all the dirt from the dirt from the ground. The problem was not the broom but the ground. Their floor was an old cement floor that was decaying into dirt. I swept the dirt forward and then would create more dirt by just moving my foot. Even if I did manage to create a pile, a gust of wind would blow through the build and spread it to a new area. Knowing that perfection would take forever, Andrew and I agreed to just get the majority, and then go see if we could play with the children.

At the end of our last row, we stopped to search for where we should return the broom. Then the man that had been preparing everything else approached us and asked if we were finished. He took the broom and went to work. He swept with such determination to get a clean floor. The way he went over each section of floor several times showed how much pride he had in his small church. He would have made a ground of dirt, dirt free just to worship the Lord.

One More Week

            From today, there is one more week I have to survive until I finally make it to Belize. That means seven days to wrap up everything here and get ready for life in Belize. I dedicated Saturday to wrapping things up here, and by that I do mean doing homework all day long. Then today I dedicated to getting ready for Belize. I went shopping to try and find everything I need. I desperately searched every rack to find cheap t-shirts and shorts. I couldn’t find anything. I know this seems absurd to think. I could not find shirts and shorts that could be worn to tutor and build fences. I’m not joking though, nothing seemed right. It was either too expensive, not light enough, or didn’t look nice. Five stores and four hours later, I gave up and returned to my room. It was then I realized that I have everything I need. I could just use my soccer shirts and shorts. Afterwards it seemed silly that I was searching everywhere for something special for Belize. It was unnecessary. Regardless, I have now packed up most everything I will need. During this next week I will probably unpack and repack a few times just so I’m certain everything I could possibly need is packed.

The problem I find with packing is that it is based on your expectations, and expectations rarely work out in real life the same way they play out in your mind. The next time I am able to blog I will be switching gears to tell you what the trip was like, so I feel that today I should share my expectations. I believe I will get there and I will work hard and have a good time. I am going to get to know some new people, eat some new and possibly not enjoyable food, get a bit of a tan, and see a new area. As with construction projects in the past, I will leave with a sense of accomplishment and tutoring will allow me to feel good about what I am doing. Also, I hope that I will be able to improve myself religiously and culturally.

COMING SOON: THE REAL DEAL!!!