Too Tired to Write. Pictures!

Lots of GLOW Girls, traveling up and down the road to Belmopan, woodworking, Zumba, eating, and writing.

Self-esteem activity

Making puppets

More puppet making

Puppet dogs

And more puppets

Charlie in front, Pen in back

Steve is making a cabinet for Pen Cayetano with the help of his friend, Charlie. We don't have a picture of any woodworking yet, 'cause it's still in the planning stages. This is a picture of Pen showing off his guinea hen to Charlie. I took care of his 15 or so chickens for almost TWO months!

Yum! Barbecue chicken!

Rafi cooked a big spread for us! Delicious!

I know Rafaelita is going to say that's a bad picture, but I think it's really cute.

We used this picture with an ad on cablevision.

When we started Zumba classes, we were exercising inside the Town Hall in front of Pen Cayetano's mural. After three weeks, just when our number of participants had exploded, the Town Council received a huge shipment of desks, chairs and tables (for the schools, I guess). Now that stuff is stored in the room where we were exercising. The last time they got a donation like that, a huge supply of books, it took them a year to distribute them. So anyway, we're dancing on the stage at Princess Royal Park. At least it's lighted. We really liked that Town Hall venue.

One more thing. A picture I painted of Aidra.

Aidra

Top 10 Lists for 2012

Happy New Year, one and all! We brought in the new year with lots of firecrackers (the loud kind), lots of fireworks (the pretty kind), an emergency siren (I guess that's just for fun), and an all-night rock concert. Everyone was celebrating except the dogs, who were trying to get under something and away from the noise.

FuWe Dog trying to deal with the loud noises.

 It's always good to reflect on the pluses and minuses for a year, and 2012 is no different. I think we will stick with the high points, just to keep us on the bright side :-)

First we have Steve's top 10 (eleven). They are in chronological order.

Jeff, Steve, Susan & Stephanie

1. Jeff and Stephanie came for a visit.
   
2. I was able to make my iPhone work in Belize.
   
3. I went to Sagitun and helped wash hair for kids with lice.
   
4. We started on the revision of the training manual for the community health workers.
   
5. I had a spring break in the US and saw all my relatives.
   
6. I worked at Sandy Beach doing simple woodwork projects to help them get ready to re-open the restaurant.
   
7. I helped the people at the clinic make an educational DVD to play in the waiting room.
   
8. I got to introduce a speaker at the Embassy in Garifuna. Aidra helped me immensely.
   
9. We had an October trip to the US to see Burke, and I got to spend some quality time with Jeff.
   
10. We enjoyed watching the election returns, knowing that we had voted early.
    
11. Five people from the Peace Corps office came to our health fair with the NGC (National Garifuna Council).

 And here's my list (only 9 so that makes up for Steve's extra one):

1. Jeff and Stephanie came to visit!
   
2. Jeff and Stephanie announced that they were expecting a baby!
   
3. Dad and Joyce came to visit!
   
4. We got an exciting assignment - to update the training manual for the Community Health Workers.
   
5. Garifuna GLOW Girls came into existence, and I discovered that I'm really bad at knowing anything about kids, but I like it anyway, and they don't seem to mind that I'm bad at knowing about kids.
   
6. Traveled to the village of Pueblo Viejo to work with Mallory Begley, another PCV. Found out what "real" Peace Corps life is like.
   
7. Our GLOW Girls won the national art contest sponsored by Peace Corps.
   
8. Grandson Burke was born and we got to go home to the States to visit everybody. Got to see my family and all my friends.
   
9. GLOW Girls performed at grand opening of Pen Cayetano's mural, and they had a float for Settlement Day parade.

Tummy Time

Everything is still pretty quiet here. Our next-door neighbor's house was broken into on New Year's Eve. She wasn't there that night. Guess with all the noise, and the fact that our dogs weren't outside to bark at intruders because they were cowering inside, it was pretty easy for somebody to get in. They can't figure out what was stolen, but there was definitely a break-in.

Life goes on. We still need haircuts. Notice the calendar!

Zumba starts up again next Monday. This time we will be working out at the Town Hall, in front of Pen's mural. We are hoping that the indoor, roomy venue will encourage more people to come. It is a further distance, however, so I will have to take a taxi in order to get my speaker over to the Town Hall. This time I will have a small charge ($2 per class) that will help defray that expense. I am also adding a little strength work, or toning, to the workout in an effort to draw more folks.

A lot of people have asked us about the training manual. Of course, it's several hundred pages, so far, with probably another 100 or so to go.  Here are some screen shots of the first few pages of the Women's Health Module.

Not Quite So Integrated as I Thought - and Merry Christmas!

Ah, Christmas time. 'Tis the time for good company and good food, Christmas songs and . . . firecrackers?!? The folks around here, mainly children and young men have been setting off LOTS of those poppers. I don't remember it happening last year at Christmas time. Yesterday, however, we heard not pops, not cracks, but B-O-O-M-S! Right in the street in front of our house.

I hollered at the kids to stop or to take it down to the riverside, that if they didn't stop I would call the police. Normally, I would just groan and put up with it, but these were beyond loud and were very scary-sounding, like a big gun. And there was nothing pretty to see, no big spread of color and light; the sole purpose of the "toy" was noise. Now in all my time here, I have only called the police twice, and it was when the music was blasting at 1:00 or 2:00 o'clock. They have a law that the "racket has to stop by midnight."  This time, in the afternoon, when the blasts continued, I called Dangriga's finest. Nobody came. As time went on, night fell, and more people started drinking, the whole situation escalated.

So I called a policeman I know, who came by to where most of the drunk group was hanging out (across the street) and rousted them. After he left, one of the guys came over a "cussed me out" big time, and so did his mother! How stupid am I? I was scared with how aggressive they were, and it occurred to me that this incident is the kind of thing that would cause Peace Corps to jerk somebody out of site.

Anyway, within a half hour, it was back up to the craziness level again, and I could hear it going on all over town. It was at that point that I realized that it really is the way that Belizeans celebrate Christmas. All our neighbors just put up with it, assume that nobody will get their arm blown off or lose an eye. The "celebration" continued until after midnight, and then was quiet until about 8:30 this morning, Christmas morning. It's been going steady ever since, not always on our street, but always close enough for good volume.

The dogs didn't like it. They are flat-out terrified of the explosions.
Stayed in the house for most of the last 24 hours. The dog at the
top of the picture, Princess, is FuWe Dog's mom. They both
stayed stuck up against Steve or me so they could feel safe.

We made Christmas cookies, a BIG batch to share with friends.

Steve did the rolling and sugar coating

Aidra and her husband came over for dinner on Sunday the 23rd.
Stew chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, and some stir-fried
broccoli, string beans, and onions for dinner, and cookies for
dessert!

And here's a Christmas card that my friend, Ingrid, sent to me. So pretty! Of course, if you've been following the blog, you recognize this as the mural painted by Pen Cayetano for the wall of the Town Council meeting room.

The original painting is about 25 ft X 12 ft

Merry Christmas everybody. We miss you and would love to hug you in person!

Settlement Day - Unveiling of the Mural AND the Parade

Monday was Garifuna Settlement Day (a national holiday in Belize) and the day before was full of preparations as well as its own events. The biggest Sunday event was in the evening with the unveiling ceremony for Mr. Pen Cayetano’s mural on the north wall of the town council hall.

Cultural entertainment played a big part, and the GLOW girls performed a short version of the Chumba, which is a traditional dance. They looked great in their matching traditional dresses, and all the practice seemed to have paid off since they were nearly perfect.

On the way to the performance

Nervous girls just before dancing

These boys focused on the view of the sea

After the unveiling, Mr. Cayetano spoke about the culture and the ancestors and explained all the parts of the mural including who the characters were and what the events meant in the history of the Garifuna people. Several times he mentioned that during the months of working alone with the mural he sometimes did not feel alone. Instead he felt that the ancestors were all around him as he worked.

Hayawadina Wayunagu
(Literal translation - Imagery of our Ancestors)

Pen's interpretation

Monday started early for us, but it was not the re-enactment of the arrival at dawn that occupied us. The float for the parade later in the day was over at Norielee’s house where she had worked her magic on a simple trailer. She had turned it into a small jungle with real plants that are part of Garifuna culture. Cathy and I took the giant tissue paper flowers that she had made. We attached them to each post of the side wall of the trailer. On the way back home we passed people who had been to the river for the re-enactment which was over.

Norie was "fluffing the stamens" on the tissue flowers.

At mid-morning we wolfed down a snack and prepared for the arrival for the GLOW girls to get dressed again in their traditional costumes to wear in the parade.

When the float arrived in the staging area, I took the banner to hang on the front of the truck so none of the girls would have to carry it. It was covered with small tissue paper flowers of black, white, and yellow. Norielee was there making last minute additions to her mini-jungle, and fortunately I had brought twine and lots of duct tape. It was certainly a MacGyver moment.

The handmade-duct-taped-on banner

When the float moved into position, I called Cathy who came running with the girls to hop on the float. Several girls were late, and one girl just forgot about the parade. Aidra arrived for the second half of the parade and took over so that we could come home and sit and re-hydrate.

And the parade begins. Norie really ran the show.

Aidra and Cathy. Aidra made all the dresses.

That night, Ava made a pot of spaghetti and meat sauce and brought it over for a relaxed supper.

Here are just a few pictures of those beautiful girls.

Deshanae

Vaughnya

Comani and Shae

Nicole

Shaniah

Leannah

Settlement Day 2012 - Chumba Dance Rehearsal

Did I mention in yesterday's blog that we are pretty busy during this November? As soon as we finished cleaning up from the NGC Health Fair, I had to jump right in to the next fun activity - the GLOW girls' dance rehearsal.

First a little background: Pen Cayetano, international artist AND musician, has painted an historic mural on the wall in the Town Hall. It depicts the history and people of Garifuna culture. I've seen it (while he was working on it) and it is fantastic. It WILL become a Belizean treasure. The unveiling of the picture is slated for the afternoon of Sunday, November 18, and Pen asked our GLOW Girls to perform at the grand opening!!! What an honor.

More background: Pen has a boy's group that meets with him once or twice a week. He teaches drumming, life skills (mainly by setting a good example) and Garifuna culture and values. You might notice some similarities in what he's doing with the boys and what we do with the GLOW girls. He and I talked about each other's groups a couple times, and Ingrid taught her thread painting for one of our activities.

While we were in the US, Ingrid and I corresponded and she told me that Pen wanted the girls to dance. Yay! So Aidra took the girls' measurements, bought fabric for dresses, and will make 12 very authentic, very traditional Garifuna dresses. We will also use them when we walk/ride the float in the Settlement Day Parade. So the girls came by yesterday afternoon, and we walked to Pen's house/gallery/studio so they could learn the dance.  The drumming was great and the boys and girls were so cute. The rest of this blog is a picture story. Enjoy!

Pen and the boys demonstrated first.

And then the girls gave it a shot.

The Chumba is a traditional Garifuna dance depicting women's
work. In this dance, the girls make cassava bread, wash laundry,
hang the clothes, and sweep.

And jump!

You can see the studio walls from this shot. The art matches
the characters in the children's book written by Ingrid and two of
her children.

It took a little practice till they got it all together :-)

Then the boys showed us some moves.

Jankanu dancing. The boys dance (individually) and the drummer
follows the lead of the dancer.

Well, all I can say is, "You had to be there."

Lots more going on this week, folks, so maybe another entry sometime Saturday. Sunday is the unveiling, and Monday is Settlement Day. Stay tuned :-)