Another Happy New Year

Happy (belated) New Year from Toledo, Belize! For the holidays, I decided to take some time out of the village to get away, relax, WATCH CLEMSON FOOTBALL! and, yes, catch up on all the blog posts and other work that I’ve been needing to get done on my computer.  As far as blog posts are concerned, I feel like every time I finish one, I have two more to do, so sorry that this one may seem a little outdated.  Anyway, taking my New Year mini vacation gave me a chance to think back on all that 2015 had to offer.  It’s crazy for me to think that just a year ago, I was still a novice PCV getting to know my site, nervous at the thought of what the next year had to offer. 

Over the past year, and in particular, the past few months, one of my main focuses has been on providing latrines for the people in the village.  As of now, the Community Health Worker (CHW) and I have educated 34 people, not including the students, on the prevention and management of diarrheal disease.  Twenty nine of these people have also received education on how to build and maintain latrines, with 20 of them getting materials for their latrines and materials for the other nine on the way.  So far, nine families have completed building their latrines and the next 20 should have theirs built within the next month or two.  I’m also excited to say that the village leaders, CHW, and I have plans to continue this project for the rest of the villagers who don’t have latrines or who need them renovated.  Thanks to the help of my church back in the States, Trinity Episcopal Pinopolis, as well as Dr. Gibbs and Potties for the People, the funds for this project have not only been met but have been exceeded! None of the work that I have done with toilets would have been possible without these two groups.

Building latrines has not only been great for the villagers, but it has also allowed me to work with many of the villagers and build relationships that may not have existed before.  One of the people that is receiving materials for a latrine is a single mother of five.  Since there’s no husband around to help dig the hole, I’ve been able to work with the oldest son on getting this done.  One of the age groups that I haven’t been able to bond with as much is the high school aged kids, so it’s nice to have this opportunity.  Unfortunately, I found out after the fact, my hands are still very q’un (soft) so after the first day of digging, I came back with 12 blisters that had been ripped open.  It made it difficult to hold anything for about two days after that.  I decided that the next time we dug, I should be in charge of a different tool.  This seemed to work much better. 

When I’m not working on latrines, I feel like I’m doing something with the boys from the village.  The boys club that I’ve gotten started is going well.  I’m finally starting to get a consistent group coming out.  This means that it’s time to start getting some of my work partners from the school out to the meetings.  One of the difficulties so far with these meetings is that I’m good friends with almost all of the boys, so they always want to play around, even when I’m trying to give a lesson, say, on self-esteem.  For the lesson, I introduced the topic and then gave the boys a sheet of paper and told them to draw a picture of themselves and write ten things that they’re good at or that they like about themselves.  I clearly hadn’t put enough thought into this.  Do you know what happens when you give adolescent boys paper and pencils?  They draw penises on everything.  I’m hoping that having a work partner present will help to alleviate, or at least minimize, problems like this.

In early December, I ran a half marathon in Placencia.  Since it had rained a month and a half before hand, I didn’t train too much going into the race.  I just wanted to run about a 1:30 (which I did) in order to hopefully win the race (which I did not).  I was still happy to finish third and get a trophy that I could give to the school to add to its ever increasing trophy collection (yeah, we have some athletes).  I also figure maybe this will give the school something to remember me by.

After the Half Marathon

Anyway, the boys saw this trophy and decided that they wanted to start running, too, so we put together a track team at the school that will hopefully be able to go into PG again to compete for a chance to go to nationals in June.  Anyone who knows me well knows that when it comes to running, I can get pretty intense as well as a bit obsessive.  Now that I’m coaching the team, I have begun to project this onto the boys.  Obviously, like anyone who is coaching a team, I want to develop winners, but I also want them to enjoy it.  Since I’ve been able to develop a relationship with the boys, I can use this to determine who I should push harder and who I should ease up on.  I know which boys may quit if they get discouraged, so I’m constantly encouraging them to continue even if the workout seems a little difficult. 

Aside from work, I’m continuing to integrate with my family and other villagers.  I have gone out twice to plant, once with my host brother-in-law, once with the chairman.  I’m happy to say it is now something that I can do, though not necessarily very well or very fast.  Hopefully, though, I will continue to improve over the course of the next few months.  I have also gone out with my host dad to burn his field.  Before planting beans, you burn the field, making it much easier to plant and better for the beans to grow.  The hike out was awesome, and it was great to spend time with my host dad!

Planting with the Chairman

The hike out to the farm with my host dad

Burning the field also allowed me to experience a tradition that I hadn’t seen among the Q’eqchi people before.  When my host dad and I first arrived at the field.  I heard him yelling something, but I assumed that he was calling either my host brother/health worker or one of the workers.  He did this over and over again, though, and no one ever came.  I finally asked who he was calling because it seemed clear to me that whoever it was wasn’t hearing him.  It turns out, though, that he wasn’t calling anyone.  He was, in fact, calling the wind.  The thinking is that the more you call the wind, the harder it blows. The harder it blows, the better and faster the fire burns.  I thought that was a really cool tradition that some of the elders in the village still hold on to.  

Burning

Sometimes, though, I think my host family is getting a little too used to me.  My host nephew usually watches me eat over my shoulder and then as soon as I finish, he attacks anything I leave behind.  Well, one day, I had some cucumber, and he asked if he could have a slice, to which I obliged.  Then he asked for a second and third, so on and so forth.  You know, you give a mouse a cookie… Around number eight, I look at him and say, “Okay, last one!”  I need my vegetables, too!  For some reason, though, he asked for number nine.  This time, I responded, maybe a little harsher than I intended, “No, bwai!”  Yeah, that’s some of my “Kriol.” It comes out a little when I’m angry (and also after I’ve had a few drinks I think I can talk Kriol, but really I’m pretty sure I just sound ridiculous). 

Well, after this, he was a little hurt.  He looked at me with these big, brown, puppy dog eyes and goes, “But I just want to grow big like you…”  How can you say no to that?

“Okay, take three.”

Holidays in the village are always a little bizarre mostly because I know what I would be doing in the States more or less, and it is nothing at all like I do in the village.  For example, on Christmas Eve, instead of relaxing and feeling the excitement of the holidays, I went to each of the churches and watched as they slaughtered four pigs.  Instead of going to a nice candlelit midnight service and singing Silent Night and other Christmas hymns, I sat home and watched Les Mis on my computer with my host nephew.  I had just finished the book so I wanted to know how the movie compared.  Don’t worry, though, the church is right beside my house, so I was able to fully appreciate the (very loud) Q’eqchi/Spanish songs they sang that I personally did not find very peaceful.  I was also able to catch some of what the pastor was yelling to the congregation.  Afterward, instead of opening family gifts as I would have done in the States, I was with the villagers from the Baptist church as they ate piping hot caldo pork at 1:00 AM following their five hour service.  All in all, though, it was nice to relax and hang around the villagers.

I decided not to spend New Year in the village, however.  For starters, Clemson was playing in the Orange Bowl for a chance to go to the National Championship.  I wasn’t going to miss that!  What an awesome game, too! I’ll admit, I was a little nervous after OU’s quick score to start the game, but the boys turned it around and locked in on defense.  After a mediocre first half, it was good to see the Tigers come out ready to win the second half.  For the National Championship, I obviously came into town to watch. Couldn't miss that! Though the outcome was a little disappointing, I was still really proud of how the team played.  It was one of the best National Championship games of the last 15 years and Clemson made it as the third youngest team in the country!  Also, if you take away the two major special teams miscues, Clemson could have been leading late and possibly won.  I can't wait to see what next year has in store, and I'm excited to be in the States so that I can really follow what's going on!

Aside from watching football during my New Year holiday, I’ve had a lot of time to just relax and reflect.  My friends and I decided to stay at a sustainable farm instead of in town.  This has given me even more time to disconnect and clear my mind before heading back to site.  Little did I know that in a year, I would have the opportunity to provide latrines for the village, work on a farm, help guide the students in a direction that will hopefully allow for them to be successful adults, and feel like I was a part of the village that I have grown to love.  Yes, 2015 has been a year that I will never forget, and here’s to hoping that 2016 brings even more unexpected, life changing events! So with that, I say cheers and happy (belated) New Year!