Mostly Ups

The last two weeks have been mostly ups! With a serious big crasheroo right there at the end. Maybe I can write about yesterday’s unfortunate event and then do the flashback thing to complete this entry on a high note.

Yesterday, Sunday the 16th, was the day that Aidra and I and all the GLOW girls decided was a good day for our Christmas party. It looked like everything was falling together into a big beautiful bashment. Aidra and her sisters, Daytha and Norie, arranged for the place (Why Not Island), and the food (Norie does catering so she donated her time and skills), and some extra presents in case the some of the girls forgot theirs (Daytha had lots of things she had bought for her daughters that she had not given them yet) and dessert (Aidra arranged for ice cream and cones, as well as plates, cups, etc.) I was in charge of music and other entertainment – fun games! Just because I wanted to eat some, I made cupcakes with red and green sprinkles.

So I had a great time pulling together the games. We had a home-made version of Twister. Steve made the spinners and we used the rubber exercise padding for the playing area.

Twister - Peace Corps style

We also had the field hockey game (more on that in the flashback portion of this entry), a fun keep-away game that the girls had enjoyed before, and those games we used way back at Easter for the DYA fundraiser.

Bean Bag Toss - only we used the paper ball for the
field hockey game instead

All the girls remembered their Secret Santa presents (they were excited about that idea), but none had wrapped them. They all stood together at the end of the table where Aidra had brought wrapping paper and wrapped their presents in front of every other girl. Funny. 

The girls clustered around the table wrapping their
not-so-Secret Santa presents

I had four hours’ worth of Christmas and pop music, and certificates from Peace Corps congratulating them on winning the art contest.  (Yes, you remember. Waaaay back in September.) This was gonna be a killer party.

BUT . . .

We didn’t know that the Town Council had scheduled a Jankanu dance competition at Why Not Island. We thought it was supposed to be at another venue, Parrish Hall. Well, we found out on Saturday, the 15th of the changed location, but we knew it was supposed to be under a huge tent over at the basketball court – not at the shed where we planned to be. We figured there might be some noise coming over from there, but not enough to mess up our party.

Crowded under the shed at Why Not Island

There's the shed in the distance. You can also see all the boys
preparing to dance Jankanu.

When we arrived at the bridge to cross over to Why Not Island, we were met with a huge metal gate and two ferocious women who said we had no right to be there unless we paid admission for the big event. Fortunately, a police officer arrived (who I knew from the Health Fair), and she helped us straighten out the situation. We told them that a few girls would be coming in for the party and we could identify them.

What we had NOT counted on was that everybody assumes the shed is as much theirs to use as the other parts of Why Not. We were literally inundated with kids getting ready to perform. At any given time, there were between 25 and 75 boys and girls, and a few adults, from different schools under the shed with us. No room for our games. And the other kids kept interrupting, wanting to play. They also wanted to buy our food. “We no di sell no-ting!” They also decided that under the shed was a good place to do some last minute rehearsal with their drums. So forget the music that I brought. In fact, I turned off my big speaker and grabbed up my iPod so it wouldn’t “get legs.”

Steve had come with me. I invited him because I thought it would be fun, and he definitely deserved a good Norie meal for all the help he gave the club. After an hour or so of “not fun,” he decided to exit. Plus he was hungry, and the food wasn’t there yet. (We found out later that the taxi driver didn’t show up for a half hour after Norie called him, and then he couldn’t get through the crowd to get near the gate to bring it in – multiple trips.)

Now earlier in my service, I would have been going nuts because of the way things were not working out. Not so this time.

I had already been through craziness for the Settlement Day Parade and survived. I learned that things usually work out OK even if not the planned way.

Aidra was there with me, and she is like a Valium. She was in control and knew how to handle the non-party people. After observing her for a while, I knew what to say and do, and, at least on the surface, appear calm and collected.

To the end of this story. We only had seven of the 12 girls who were supposed to be there. The other five missed some or all of it for various reasons. The ones who were there seemed to have a good time and definitely had plenty to eat. We told them that we were taking the rest of the year off, starting back in January. Although  disappointed, they seemed to accept it as a reasonable thing.

After 3 hours of pandemonium, Aidra and I were able to pack up and head for home. Steve made two trips on his bike so we didn’t have to try to get a taxi. By the time I walked in the door to our house, I felt like somebody had picked me up and slammed me against the wall a few times. Whew! Glad it was over. Stevie brought me a big cold Belikin!!

So let’s hop back one week to when we were planning our party at the GLOW girls meeting. It was fun, and the girls really participated and were helpful and cooperative with each other. Also, we tried out a “field hockey” game with brooms and a paper ball to see how it worked. Steve and I were planning to use it in a training on Monday and Tuesday of the coming week, so we wanted a dry run.

On the right you can see Ava Hacker and Aidra seated, and
Daytha standing just behind them. The girls are learning about
Secret Santa.

I thought we had pictures of the field hockey, but no. I thought we had pictures of them working together to make little individual pizzas (tortilla crust!), but no. Here’s a chance for you to visualize.

Here are the girls making Christmas stars again. One of the girls made one for me. How nice!

The girls worked so well together

The girls who had made stars the previous week helped the new
ones.

So all day Sunday, Steve and I worked on our presentations for the HECOPAB Educator training, slated for Monday and Tuesday. Arlette Sheppard had invited us to do two sessions. The Monday night session was “Fun in Learning,” and then Tuesday morning, we had two hours to introduce the educators to the CHW Training Manual. 

We were pumped! The event was held at the Banana Bank Lodge, a nice resort outside of Belmopan - gorgeous landscaping and a small zoo with a healthy-looking jaguar and some exotic birds. We had a beautiful cabana all to ourselves. They had a large dining hall where they served meals family style. And they were healthy meals with lots of vegetables.

The dining hall

Our “fun” session went very well. They enjoyed the field hockey. (They scored 1 point if their team made a goal, and 10 points if they answered the health-related question after it.) They liked the team-building exercise with people blindfolded and trying to find something on the wall with their team members helping them. But what they liked the best was the role play of “mom” and baby. Belizean people love stories, and this played right into their enjoyment of a story. 

A mom and her two-year-old son

Ms. Arlette, mom, and her nine-month-old daughter

On Tuesday morning, we spent some time talking about the manual, and we had one module that had been printed up so they could follow along to learn how to use the manual. Then we taught a small lesson exactly the way it was supposed to be taught according to the book. 

Arlette Sheppard and me between sessions

Action shot

The participants

Well, the topic was diabetes, so who better to explain the complexities of that disease. Steve was marvelous, and everybody absolutely LOVED the way he taught. The only thing that I did was lead a small group activity that focused on what family and friends can do to help someone with diabetes.

The MAN!

We were very pleased with how the training worked out. This was our first time to present this new tool to the HECOPAB folks. We were the only "outsiders" invited to participate, so it was an honor and acknowledgement that they felt we were a part of them.

Hangin' Out at the Speed Bump

Our Garifuna Glow Girls finally had their fundraiser last Saturday. We had been planning it for more than a month, and I'd say it went pretty smoothly.

The premise is easy. Hang out at a speed bump on a busy road and try to get money from folks as they pass. It's a very accepted way for groups, especially kids' groups, to make some money. People are used to seeing this kind of activity, and usually have their change out and ready to drop in the bucket :-)

We got started only 40 minutes late. We had made two big posters to advertise our reason for being there, and all the girls but one wore the Garifuna Glow Girls shirt. At first they weren't sure of what to do. I said, "Just get out there and ask for their support." They still didn't know what to do. So I walked out to the middle of the road (I was holding a poster, but didn't have a collection bucket). "Good morning! Could we ask for your help for our club?" Within a minute every girl was out shouting, "Good morning" and asking for a donation.

People skills - they might need a little work in that department, but by and large the girls were cute and mostly polite. Aidra and I had to remind the girls to THANK them when they gave money, and to wish them a good day even if they declined.

PICTURES!!

We made $223 BZ begging at the speed bump. At first the girls talked about the trips they wanted to take, and all the things they wanted to get with the money. In the past week, though, it sounds like they DON'T want to spend it, but to hold on to what they have to make sure they get the best thing. Ha haaa. Reality sets in.

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Work! I wrote some new materials for the Women's Health section of the training manual. I'm pleased with it and hope to hear back from the head of the project soon.

My Zumba classes are in such demand ;;-))) that I'm going up to Orange Walk this week to teach some ladies there. It's about time I got to see more of this country!

Steve has been busy with the video project (it's growing!), and he is definitely appreciated now because of his expertise in that area. I'm glad that the staff there is FINALLY recognizing his worth and showing him a little more respect.

He went to a funeral (the sister of the lady who teaches Garifuna), was Mr. Fix-It for about six people around the neighborhood. And helped ME with several projects for the girls club.

Most importantly, he's got all our tickets and travel arrangements made for our trip to the States next month!

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September is a big month for holidays. Today, Monday, September 10, is St. George's Caye Day. Tomorrow is Carnival Day. The 21st is Independence Day. And on the 26th, Peace Corps will celebrate 50 years of being in Belize. We'll probably say a word or two about that when it rolls around.

That's about all I'm going to write tonight. 272 days, folks - that's how much time is left till we come home for good.

Another Exciting Week

The last 10 days have been busy. Last Saturday we went to a workshop for community health workers from Cayo District. The purpose of the meeting was to test-teach the prenatal chapter in the women’s health module that Cathy had written. She did most of the teaching with help from one of the HECOPAB (Health Education and Community Participation Bureau) educators. The training activities seemed to go over well. We have yet to see the scores from the test we gave before and after the sessions. It will be nice to know if the training was effective. The people certainly seemed to like it. We got great feedback about language and cultural nuances that need to be changed in the manuscript.

Arlette Sheppard is at the front, asking for feedback about specific
wording in the manual.

The facility, Camalote Camp, is very nice and perfect for meetings.
From left to right, Arlette, Cathy, Rose, and Christina (Rose and
Christina are HECOPAB educators)

One group presenting

Another group presenting with Rose Anderson supervising

A second room (air conditioned!) where we worked

My work partner, Mr. Tillett has been working furiously with me on a video about child nutrition and Incaparina. The Ministry of Health He had asked him to give a presentation at a  meeting in Belmopan. He gave the presentation even though there are still improvements to be made to the video. According to what he said, it was very well received. They have asked him to finish the voice-over parts and then publish it to be widely distributed on DVD. I am proud, and very happy for him to get recognized for the good things he is doing for children in our district. It is great to be a part of that. 

Tylon Tillett working on the voice-over for the video

We are both very grateful to our friends and relatives who have enlivened our lives with care packages of goodies. Jeannie and Larry, Joyce and Holly, Toni and Stacey, Carol and Nancy, and Charlie - THANK YOU! We realize that it is expensive to send things and that you have to wait a long time for stuff to get here before you hear the delight in our voices when we offer our heartfelt thanks.

Hot Off the Presses!

Hey, I know we just posted yesterday, but this is big news!

We just learned some important news about our work and Peace Corps Belize! Our Country Director called us to give us this news, then sent out an email telling the rest of the PCVs.

I am pasting our Country Director's announcement below. If you don't want to read the whole thing, skip down to the section in BLUE! We're proud and excited.

Program Direction 2013

In the fall of 2011 we embarked on a very comprehensive program review to determine the strongest programming potential for Peace Corps Belize. As you know, after years of focusing on 3 plus projects, like most other posts, we decided it was necessary to scale down. Our intent was to focus in on one key sector where we could target our resources for optimal results.

Throughout the nearly month-long program review, approximately 100 stakeholders provided us with feedback. We conducted surveys of work partners and reached out to many Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and presently serving Volunteers. We carried out focus groups throughout Belize and met with numerous top government representatives from nearly every ministry and community leaders from the NGO and business sectors.

Through it all, we heard many common themes expressed by stakeholders. Certainly our evaluation reaffirmed the need for Peace Corps in Belize where Volunteers can add significant value. Engaging young people and strengthening business and organizational systems at all levels were identified as pressing needs in Belize, as were continued improvements in health and education.

“To Collaborate:  to work together to realize shared goals; it is a deep collective determination to reach an identical objective.”

As part of our review we also looked very closely at the strongest possibility for establishing the type of meaningful partnership that would promote a positive foundation for the work of Volunteers. We know that our work simply cannot happen without the support of Belizeans. Yes, that support has to manifest itself at the grassroots level, but it also needs to be guided by a deep-rooted commitment at the very top. Successful Peace Corps programs have to have authentic government level buy-in. What we have been searching for is a tangible commitment, a shared vision, joint planning, collective resource allocation, and equal excitement for the program.  After much searching, I am thrilled to announce that we have found a strong partner.

Beginning in 2013 Peace Corps Belize will collaborate with the Ministry of Health to implement a health project primarily in rural communities throughout the country!

Our twenty incoming Trainees will be assigned to rural communities and work alongside a cadre of co-champions, including the community health worker, rural health nurse and school leadership to promote health education. This program is currently being designed with great care and in true alliance with key Ministry of Health representatives who are just as excited as we are and who are actively engaged in giving life to this initiative. We believe resolutely that this type of collaboration marks a new beginning for Peace Corps in Belize. It will ultimately translate into a more rewarding experience for Volunteers, who will now work at the grassroots level in communities identified as those most in need. We also believe that this will increase the probability of success and impact in the communities.

Global Peace Corps health project activities now fall under four project areas: 1) support to HIV prevention and care; 2) fostering improved maternal, neonatal, and child health; 3) promoting healthy homes and communities; and 4) promoting healthy living. Peace Corps Belize and the Ministry of Health are in the process of defining the activities, which will ultimately be dependent upon local conditions and priorities, and host country public health strategies.

What about the youth?

While some of you may be disappointed that our future project is not focused on youth, you should know that our work in health will directly impact young people in every community where Volunteers serve.

A New National Health Training Manual

Two Volunteers are already working effectively with Ministry of Health representatives on a very exciting project—the development of the new national training manual for over 250 of the country’s Community Health Workers. Given our new program direction, this health training manual will be crucial to our more streamlined approach. It will provide Volunteers and Community Health Workers with an updated and standardized source of information. The manual will be used during Pre-Service Training where Ministry of Health officials will play an important role delivering PST sessions throughout the eleven weeks of training. This will ensure that Volunteers have a broad cultural and technical context from which to draw.

I really want to thank Cathy and Dr. Steve Burnham for their tireless work on the national health manual. Up to now the Burnhams have been working only with the Ministry of Health. I invite those of you with education or health backgrounds interested in supporting this effort to reach out directly to Cathy or Steve. It is not often that Volunteers have a chance to be part of such a landmark initiative. The document represents not only the earliest positive example of collaboration between Peace Corps and the Ministry, but it also symbolizes a joint venture that will serve as the foundation for future work assignments of all Peace Corps Volunteers in Belize.  I hope you will lend your talents to the National Health Manual Task Team!

We will be celebrating the official signing of the MOU with Belize for the new health project on Wednesday, September 26^th during a ceremony to take place at the Ambassador’s residence.  We sincerely look forward to seeing you all there!

All the Latest from Your Friends, Steve and Cathy

Steve’s news

After Easter I had a quick visit to the US to see my adult children and the grandkids. It was a wonderful trip. I was there for my granddaughter Olivia’s birthday, and took cupcakes to her class at school, and went out for her birthday dinner. My daughter Laura took me to see my dentist, which was a real treat. It’s the small things ;-)

With Olivia, 9 years old

My sister Nancy took me to Huntersville to stay with my son Chris for the other half of my vacation. She and I caught up on stuff during the trip. With Chris, I got to see two of Jim’s baseball games. He was the team’s MVP for one of the games. Chris took me to get a real haircut before I got my driver’s license picture made. We also shopped for some things not available here.

Chris, Kaleigh, me, and Jim

[From Cathy - When Steve got back, I asked him what the most striking thing about the visit was. He said, “It was cold – 58 degrees and I had to wear four layers.” Well, admittedly that was in part because he took only a very light jacket. But he needed three shirts under the jacket to be comfortable. Now that’s proof that he’s truly acclimated to Belize.]

Last week Cathy and I went to the Peace Corps office for two days of in-service training and got re-energized for the coming year. On the last evening we participated in a forum on “site challenges.” [From Cathy - The PCVs who have been disconnected from their original assignments participated. There were 15 of the remaining 35 in this forum who participated. Granted that’s a hefty percentage, and not typical of other Peace Corps installations. They are working hard to repair the situation so that we all can have a “true Peace Corps experience.”]

After the forum, were invited to a dinner event at the ambassador’s residence. He is a very impressive person. [From Cathy - His name is Vinai Thummalapally (rhymes with monopoly). He was Barack Obama's roommate at Occidental Collage one summer! He was SO charming. Went around serving wine and chatting with everyone.]

With the Ambassador (P.S. That's water I'm drinking.)

After the dinner we were hosted overnight by Donna and Barry who are career foreign service people. [From Cathy - Donna is from Goldsboro, so we felt a connection with our home state. Barry, from Oklahoma, looked the part with his crisp black cowboy hat and boots. He is involved with law enforcement in his current assignment. He regaled us with funny, and scary, stories about the goings on in Belize. What a treat to be back in a beautifully furnished home, air conditioning, and – get ready for this – a real bathtub. I took my first real bath in a year. (Bucket baths don’t count.) For breakfast, we had individually-baked asparagus quiche that Barry whipped up. Well, shame on us for not getting a snapshot of them. Here are their Facebook pictures. Thank you, thank you, Donna and Barry!]

Donna and Barry

Now we are back to work. The revision of the training manual for the community health workers is shaping up to be a big deal, and we are really enthused about this project.

Next month we are looking forward to a visit by Cathy’s dad and his wife.

The super big news is that Cathy’s son Jeff and his wife Stephanie have announced they are expecting a baby in October. So that means a trip to North Carolina for us. This will be the first grandchild on Cathy’s side of the family.

[From Cathy – Just a couple other things from me.

We felt our first earthquake on Sunday, April 22. It was such a little rocking sensation, just two separate tremors, but there was no mistaking what it was. One of the pictures hanging on the wall was barely swaying, but that’s about the only visible sign I saw. The next day I found a website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/)  that pinpointed the epicenter in Guatemala. It was a 4.4 on the Richter scale. At first we doubted ourselves, but the next day when Steve went to the clinic, people were talking about it. I asked our downstairs neighbor Rafi if she had felt it. She showed me a new BIG crack in the wall next to the shower. People here just take it in stride.

Last Friday I gave a short presentation to our Business Organization sector PCVs. It was an hour of tips and shortcuts using Excel as a database. I was pretty skeptical that they would be receptive to such a topic. It had been requested by one of their group, but I assumed that most would be experienced on the topic. That wasn’t the case, however, and the presentation went very well. Some said it was the best of the two days. Go figure?!

I’m working on one of the modules of the CHW (Community Health Worker) training manual in anticipation of our first team meeting next Friday, May 4^th (MAY? How did it get to be May?) So far we have Steve and me and another woman from the PC office on the PC side. From the Ministry of Health side there will be two HECOPAB educators, a public health nurse, and the Director of HECOPAB. Yes, I am nervous about how my work will be viewed. Oh, well, you have to start somewhere . . .

Oh, yeah. Last Monday my Zumba class had 30 people!

FuWe Dog is getting big!

Back to Work!

After celebrating for two weeks, Belize has settled back down to its regular routine. Kids are back in school, businesses are back to their regular schedules. A lot of people leave on holiday, but the majority have returned.

And Steve is BACK from the States. He returned Monday, the 16th (is that tax day back home?) from a fun visit with kids, grandkids, and his sister, Nancy. I asked him what he thought about the differences between here and there. He said it was cold (down to 58 degrees, and he was wearing four layers), and it was hard to find things in the store because there was so much in the stores.

Well, I felt like I worked a lot during the two Easter weeks. Dangriga Youth Alive (DYA) beach bash took a lot of effort and time. I also helped one of the DYA members apply for a training in cultural tourism (which she won!). DYA had a debriefing meeting to talk about what worked and didn't, how much money was spent and how much was earned. Ah, me, there wasn't a very large net - just a couple hundred dollars :-( But several to-dos (big ones) came out of the meeting, and I will have a role in helping them with all those things. I'll write about them as they come up.

What we're working on now is Thank You's to the sponsors and donors of the event. I wrote a message text that will be put on cable TV which included the names of them all. I think it's $16BZ to have a message played all day. There are one or two channels that run them - obits, job opportunities, happy birthdays, etc. I personally don't watch those channels, but some people keep their TVs on those stations most of the day, listening to the music and reading the messages. We are also going to make handwritten thank you notes for each sponsor. Steve brought back a PRINTER!!!! and I will make some nice note cards with the DYA logo (which I created for them). Yeah, that's the Drums of Our Fathers sculpture in the middle there, recognized easily by all Dangrigans.

On the day that Steve flew back, I was in Belmopan attending a meeting with the HECOPAB (Health Education and Community Participation Bureau) health educators. These are the people, like Mariza with whom Steve works, who train Community Health Workers. There are eight of them right now, with two more to be hired in the next few months. My purpose at the meeting was to meet them and discuss the training manual/training plan that is our current project. They are a very dedicated and enthusiastic group, and I feel that we'll get a lot of help from them.

The leader of this group is Arlette Sheppard. I am so impressed with this woman. She is new to the position as director of HECOPAB. I found out she was one of 10 nominees for Belize's Woman of the Year for 2012, an award sponsored by the US Embassy. Here's a little write-up I took from the awards speech made by Ambassador Vinai K. Thummalapally.

Arlette Sheppard serves as Director and Health Education Officer of the Health Education and Community Participation Bureau.  Her work at the Ministry of Health consistently reflects her professionalism, enthusiasm and humanity.  She oversees some 250 community health workers who provide health education, services and care to towns and villages which have little or no access and which otherwise would have to do without.

Well, this group has a very ambitious schedule for the project, and we're looking at just three months to produce the first four chapters, and do a trial run with a group of Community Health Workers (everybody here says "CHWs"). There are currently 247 CHWs in the country, all of whom they want to retrain. But the plan is to have one CHW for every 250 people in a village, and that's going to mean recruiting A LOT more people. For instance, the village Steve and I lived in during pre-service training, Camalote, has one CHW now. The population is about 1500, so theoretically they would add another five CHWs.

There is to be an inflow of funds from the World Bank and a Japanese NGO that will be focussed on children's health. To carry out the project, they need trained CHWs. That money starts flowing in September. Yikes!!

Needless to say, I'm writing, I'm editing, I'm working on graphics. Steve is the team leader. He is recruiting writers, short- and long-terms team members. Our big need is someone who can do the illustrations. HECOPAB members really want the pictures to be culturally appropriate, not just some random graphic from the Internet. And we don't have any money to pay an illustrator, so we need an altruistic illustrator. Please ask your friends. Anybody in the world (who has access to Internet) can do this job; it doesn't have to be someone in Belize.

New topic: I'm so glad to be back teaching Zumba after a two-week break. Feels so good, and the group still grows - routinely more than 20 at each class :-)

OK, I'm done wrote-out. Sorry we don't have art this time, not even any new puppy pictures. The next two weeks promise to be extremely busy with meetings in Belmopan, so it will probably be awhile till our next entry. Everybody take care.

Nit-Picking

It's Steve again. We learned that parents in Sagitun, a nearby village, were alarmed about head lice among the school children. It was my privilege to work with the response by teachers, parents, and Ministry of Health. My work partner from HECOPAB (Health Education and Community Participation Bureau) and I got a ride to the village with a public health inspector who was collecting water samples in the region. We were packing three cases of shampoo bottles laced with 1% permethrin as well as a ten-minute slide show on lice infestation.

I gave the presentation starting with Infant I (kindergarten) class. It was more pictures than science, and I walked through the rows of desks showing the laptop picture to each student as I spoke. The teacher (who is an angel) repeated the message with each slide, and then she lined them up and led them to the playground for the “activity part”.

The treatment plan was a shampoo, then a ten-minute wait with lather in the scalp, followed by clean-water rinse and fine-tooth combing to remove more eggs attached to the hair. Repeat treatment after 3 days is recommended.

At first, the three of us worked on each child. Several mothers were recruited by texting, and they brought towels, buckets, and more fine-tooth combs. While I moved on to address Infant 2 class, the assembly line kicked into high gear, and in less than four hours, we had taught and shampooed over 100 students.

We left two cases of shampoo for a follow-up treatments.