Fix It

(Hey - we have two blog entries this week, so be sure to check out the one right after this for a taste of "real" Peace Corps life.)

Sunday was a fun day for the fix-it man hidden inside me. I went with our neighbors, Rafaela and her son Anthony, to her home village, Big Falls, near Punta Gorda. She owns property there, and she is renovating her building in hope of renting it as a commercial site. It has a good location right by the road.

The future Copa Cabana of Big Falls

It has a distinctive red zinc roof. There is a large room that could be a store or restaurant or night club and an adjoining kitchen, bath, and storage room.

The current project is electricity - no pun. The meter was tacked to the cinder block building with concrete nails and doesn't meet code. We used U-brackets and concrete anchors to screw it to the building. When we finished I thought it was ready to be hurricane-tested.

After the work was completed

They have not yet hooked up the water connection, so Anthony went across the road to pump a bucket of water to flush the toilet.

In Belize, it's usually the women who pump and carry the water.
We enlisted Anthony's help for this special situation - his mom is
8 months pregnant!

We went into Punta Gorda town to get larger brackets and more screws and also got lunch. It was spicy fried chicken in a place that was air conditioned. Wow!

I like the "timeless" clock tower in PG. None of the four clocks work, they all tell different times, and none of them are correct - except each is correct for one minute twice a day.

The clock tower and the town center

Back in Big Falls, Rafaela also owns a house across the creek, and we went to see it after finishing the electrical work. She has a renter there who was baking journey cakes (pronounced johnny cakes) to take and sell. The woman and her daughter (or granddaughter?) rode with us to Bella Vista (it's on the way back to Dangriga) where her son lives. We also visited with Rafaela’s brother before heading back home. I am not sure what her next project will be. She does parts as money becomes available for the work.

Rafi's house in Big Falls

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Weekly Dose of Pet Pictures

Murusun Mesu is growing! He seems to be the catalyst for a lot of interaction between dog, cat, Steve and Cathy!

Little Update

We have had a light week, but things are starting to pick up!

I gave Steve a haircut last week. This past weekend, he went to
work on highlighting my hair. MUCH more advanced than the last
time. We worked with FOILS!

Anthony brought us some bananas from the tree right here in our yard!
They are smaller and much sweeter than the Dole
bananas we usually get at the store. They're called apple
bananas, and they DO taste a little apple-y.

We made T-shirts with spray paint. It took me about two hours
to cut out the stencil. Each girl's shirt is a little different, because
the "glow" behind the letters is unique :-)

Murusun Mesu and Fu We Dog seem to be doing very well together. Poor Fu We puts forward a stoic face to the constant onslaught from the kitten.

Note how much BIGGER the cat has gotten relative to Fu We.

He's climbing a lot, too. Not quite brave enough for some places,
but it won't be long till he's up on the kitchen cabinets :-(

If you've been following this whole thing with the cat, you may have noticed that over the past few weeks I have called the cat a "he," then a "she," and now I'm back to "he." Well, it's tough to determine the sex of a cat, darn it! I looked online and found an article and pictures that told us how to locate body parts, with just a little bit of difference between the two. Well, I thought I had it figured out, but then Steve told me that the thing I thought was the vagina was really a mole . . . .

I leave in the morning for two days in Pueblo Viejo, a village in the Toledo District. I'm going down to help Mallory (the very first Belize PCV that we "discovered" once we knew we were coming to Belize) with her summer camp. We'll do Zumba each day, and then I'll just help with stuff. I told her, "Mallory, I don't really know anything about kids, you know." She said, "That's OK, I'm no good with 'em either." Maybe I'll get some pictures.

I do know that it's pretty rustic living down there - no "current," running water, or any kind of plumbing. So I'll get a little mini-taste of what a "real" Peace Corps Volunteer should experience.

Steve got a call today from PC Staff. They want him to give a speech at our 50th anniversary celebration - in Garifuna! Yay! He finally gets to show his stuff.

These are the pictures I couldn't find last week.
This is Steve's presentation to the teachers.

Well, not really HIS presentation. It was the Ministry's
PPT that he didn't see until about 90 seconds before beginning.

National Garifuna Council

Steve and I attended the bi-weekly regional meeting of the National Garifuna Council on Sunday the 19th. With Settlement Day only three months away, we were interested in participating in the preparations.

As background - Ms. Felicia Nunez, better known as Nen, had spoken to us about the meeting, asked us to attend and help with ideas. Nen's granddaughter was one of the GLOW Club girls for the summer, so we saw quite a bit of Nen. She is very active in the community, especially in ways that benefit the Garifuna culture. I would have to say that recently she has taken us under her wing a bit, to make sure we get the complete cultural experience while in Dangriga.

Felicia Nunez - Nen

We went over with Aidra Rodriguez, the co-leader of the girls club. When we arrived at the NGC building, the meeting had just started. We heard singing as we entered. After Steve and I introduced ourselves, the singing resumed. They had a song sheet with about 20 "celebration" songs, only two of which were in English. I did the best I could with the Garifuna, but Steve had no problem with it. Guess all those lessons are paying off! We sang about 5 songs. In Belize, it is traditional to begin a meeting with a prayer. This was the first one we attended that began with singing. Nice!

The president of the regional council is Phyllis Cayetano, another activist in Belize. She is also the head of Gulisi Primary School, the Garifuna school in Dangriga. Gulisi is Phyllis' passion, and she is very dedicated to the preservation of the Garifuna culture. As she says, "The children of Gulisi are the future of the Garifuna culture." By the way, she was our hostess when all of the PCVs came to Dangriga WAY back in March of 2011. Both of these pictures of Nen and Phyllis were taken on Culture Day.

Phyllis Cayetano

Once the business portion of the meeting got under way, things got very lively. They looked for ways to raise money (dues, raffles, casino night), and events activities to sponsor/raise funds for the next three months. They want to have a Garifuna fair for Belize Independence Day (September 21st) and a CultureFest for all cultures (Mayan, Mestizo, Kriol, Garifuna) in October. Of course, there will be MANY activities associated with Garfuna Settlement day on November 19th.

Steve and I were asked to create and run a health fair in early November. Steve will ask the Polyclinic administrator when we can have the nurses available for the fair to weigh, take blood pressure and blood sugar measurements. We want to pull together some good vendors and organizations that will be of interest and/or service. The POWA women can do HIV/AIDS and STI awareness. There are four primary schools nearby, so we will want to have some fun and interesting things for the kids, too. Not sure if there's room for games. We shall see. Nen told us she would help us with the fair.

By the end of the meeting there were at least 20 people there, some elderly, and some young. It was definitely a who's who of activists, and I loved meeting them for the first time or reacquainting with them. Looks like we will have some fun times with these new connections.

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GLOW Club:  Aidra and I went to the NGC meeting because we wanted to get our Garifuna Glow Girls club name out in front of everybody. That will help us with fund raising for our club, and give us more opportunities for activities for the girls. They will march in the Settlement Day Parade and are very excited.

We are planning for a fund raiser at a "checkpoint" in two weeks. That means we stand at a speed bump and ask for money from people driving by. Most will give a dollar, and it's amazing how much money can be raised in a short time! The girls want to look like an official organization, so this Wednesday we will design a simple t-shirt design and then make them on Saturday.

We've been crafting, too.

Making necklaces from recycled bottle caps

Hammer the cap flat, spray paint it with a background color . . .

. . . and paint a pretty design. String a cord through.

Also, this past weekend, a PCV, Natalie Macias, from Orange Walk came to help us with the graphics for our Community Health Worker manual. Since she was at our house Saturday, she helped with the club meeting. Just so happens that she was a scholarship soccer player in college. So she led the girls in some football. They loved it!

Football at Alejo Beni Park

Natalie

A Typical Peace Corps Day: Steve had an interesting time this week. This is the time of year when all the teachers in the country go to workshops - professional development. To keep the story short, I'll say that there were two aborted attempts at planning meetings, Steve made the conference room reservations, and nobody showed up. No calls, no texts, no mention of the fact that nobody showed up the next time he saw them.

So . . . when the week of the workshops rolled around, his counterpart walked in and said, "The workshops are tomorrow. Are you coming?" Of course, Steve said he would. Walked in the next morning, and Tylon said, "You can present NCDs, right?" That's Non-Communicable Diseases. Steve says, "Yes," and Tylon says, "That's good. It'll be tomorrow at 9:00."

Steve came home that afternoon and pulled together some Powerpoint slides and prepared for the presentation. Walked in the next morning and started to plug in his computer to the projector. Tylon says, "Oh, you're giving the Ministry presentation. The Powerpoint is on THIS computer." Would have been nice if he had mentioned it the day before, don'tcha think?

Anyway, at the end of the day, Steve had a few choice words with them, none of which I can repeat here.

Well, I had some pictures of him at the workshop, but I must have put them in a really safe place . . . .

Peace Corps Core Expectation #3 - Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service.

Zumba: We have started back with classes. I will try to get a better place to hold class. For now, we will hold it at Alejo Beni Park on the stage.  I'm going today to talk to the Mayor to see if we can use the Town Hall.

Tag Team Blog Entry

Cathy: Every so often, we don't have a lot to write about - HA! very often. That gives us a few choices -

1. Don't write anything, but then we'd lose track of those little everyday things that make this adventure SO very wonderful ;-)
2. Write something with a theme - about the culture or an economic or health situation or some other meaningful issue.
3. Or filler. Steve and I both scribble down some things and let that pass for blog entry. 

Lucky you - you get option 3 today! Do not expect any cohesiveness whatsoever.

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Last week, our Medical Officer sent us all an email letting us know that she would be in a meeting all week. Thought you'd enjoy reading some of it.

Greetings to all,

Please note that I will out of  office next week August 6-10 as I will be attending  a Peace Corps Medical conference in Belize City.  Peace Corps Belize has the honor this year of hosting about 60 doctors and nurses (Peace Corps medical officers ) from several Peace Corps countries.

Since I will not be in office, please be kind and don’t drink to excess, eat any bad food,  have unprotected sex, ride in back of any trucks or play any sports, ride a bike without helmets or break up with your boyfriends/girlfriends.. smile…although this is would be the time to get sick with all these medical personnel coming.

Dr Craig will have the phone to assist with any medical issues . Kent will be in the office to help with supplies.

Have a great week to all.

Regards,

Jackie

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Steve: Last week, Hurricane Ernesto came and went. On Tuesday, August 7, we were summoned to consolidate in Belmopan. 

It was boring, but we had air conditioning, electricity, running water, and WiFi at the Garden City Hotel. 

The Garden City Hotel got mad at Steve

This picture has nothing whatsoever to do with the next two
paragraphs of the blog entry!

While in Belmopan, I was able to attend a focus group on reporting sexual assault in Belize, facilitated by Peace Corps officials from DC. The emphasis was on finding ways to ensure confidentiality and take appropriate action on behalf of a volunteer who had something to report along those lines. They are still trying to improve their function (and their image) after several horrendous attacks and a murder, most recently reported in 2010 - ABC Investigative News Report.

Hooray for Peace Corps’ concern for volunteer safety.

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Cathy: When I found out we were going to Belmopan, probably staying until Thursday, I called Aidra to let her know we couldn't have GLOW club on Wednesday, asked her to let the girls know. Unfortunately, I neglected to give her the list of telephone numbers.

The Security Officer let us come home a day early. There was NOTHING - no wind, rain, NOTHING - in Dangriga or Belmopan. Which put me here on Wednesday afternoon. Not only did the girls show up, they came an hour and a half early! I had nothing prepared, but the girls didn't care. They played with the pets and made coffee filter flowers (again), and were happy with things. Wanted to do Zumba, but I had to chase them away so I could get work done.

Aidra and I are trying to make some big plans for the fall. We want the girls to have an act in the talent show for Independence Day (mid-September) and march in the Settlement Day parade. More on that later.

On Saturday, only three girls came because there was a lightning rainstorm.

The three girls who braved the storm
This week's project was to make bags that everybody wears to carry their stuff.

Malicka - her own design on the embellishment of the bag.

Shinoah - Malicka's older sister.
She liked the flower so much, that she copied it.

Skylar - She's visiting here from the States. Her grandmother is
our neighbor and a local Garifuna activist. We enjoyed having Skylar
be a part of our club while she's here.

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Steve: In Belize we have a semi-official website PCBelize.com. It was nicely put together by a volunteer, Nate Thompson, who finished his service last June. 

I have been entrusted with maintaining it since then. I had a personal triumph with successful posting of a new article on the “News” page with an image. Nate would be proud of me. I will probably never be a “webmaster”, but I qualify to be a “web amateur” for a site already created. 4th of July Celebration

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At the Dangriga Polyclinic the administrator asked each section to put together an educational DVD to play for patients in the waiting room. The medical chief of staff put his together with minimal help from me, just a little coaching here and there. Both of the nursing units put together videos with help from tech-savvy relatives. 

I think the nutrition section probably has the best video. I was able to ignite the interest and creativity of my work partner, Tylon Tillett. He is the social worker in charge of the malnutrition prevention project for the Southern Health Region. (Cathy: It IS good!)

This weekend I combined all of their DVDs into one movie project, with small transitions between them to make the whole thing cohesive. I burned it to a DVD that will play automatically and will loop back to the beginning to play again. "Look Ma, no hands!" 

It seems like not much when I write it here, but I spent long hours tweaking and perfecting this project. Even so, every time I watch it, I see one more thing that I could improve. 

Tomorrow, it "premiers" on the waiting room TV. Can't wait to hear the feedback.

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Cathy and Steve: We continue to be entertained by the pets. We re-evaluated, and decided the cat is a female. It's tricky.

Our new name for the kitten is Murusun Mesu, which is Garifuna for “a little bit of cat." We call her Murusun (mu-ROO-soo - "N" is silent). She will probably grow out of that name at some point, but I guess we'll stick with it.

A New Family Member and . . . Chapter Done!

Well, lookee here! We have rescued a kitten!

This little guy was all eyes (gummed up and runny) and
ears. I doubt he weighed more than six ounces.

Kitty after 5 days on the Burnham diet.
Look at that fat belly!

His mother abandoned him with two others at Why Not Island.  I go over there a couple times a week to visit my friends Aidra, Norie and Daytha.

Norie told me how that same mother cat had abandoned a kitten there about 10 weeks ago. Luckily for that kitten, Norie’s dog had just had a litter, and was lactating. The dog, Sweetie, said, “OK, what’s one more?” and let the kitten nurse. The puppies went to other homes and the kitten stayed. The mother dog and kitten get along really well J. I frequently see the kitten sleeping on TOP of Mama Sweetie.

Well, this time when the abandoned kittens showed up, Sweetie was not interested in the wet nurse role. I didn’t see the other two kittens (thank goodness), but one of the kids brought him over to me. He was just bones and fur, and I thought, “This kitty is going to die today or tomorrow if I don’t do something.” So I brought him home. Figured he was between 3 and 4 weeks old.

Fast forward to today. We couldn’t be more pleased with the kitty’s progress. He’s grown up and out, and is definitely comfortable here at our house. FuWe is happy for a new playmate. The cat is Steve’s cat, and he will name him when he has “earned” a name. 

FuWe knows a little about being a mom. She's really good at licking the
kitty's butt. Kittens need it to help them move their bowels. Better her than
me having to wipe his bottom to help him out. But you can pretty much
assume that FuWe will NOT be giving me any more kisses.

The kitty feels pretty confident around a dog that weighs about
100 times its weight!

And if FuWe wants to rest and kitty wants to play - well, guess
who wins?

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The bad news is that the day this all went down was Tuesday, July 31. The deadline for the Children's Health Module for the Community Health Workers training manual was due on July 31. I managed to send it in by noon the next day. What a relief! I'm so proud of the writing.

Steve wrote one section, on vaccines. I had to dumb it down, of course, but he did the hard work. Thank you!

So . . . load off our minds. Only thing left will be finding the right illustrations and edits. We now have the three modules required for training in September. The Ministry of Health has some money coming in from the World Bank and another NGO, intended to focus on children 0-5 years old. The other two modules have been reviewed by all the Ministry folks who need to clear it. We have received some excellent feedback and suggestions from them. Looking forward to seeing the published chapters.

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We needed a getaway! Off to Placencia for a couple days of R&R. Easy easy time. Lots of rest and play, and eat and drink!

We met a delightful couple from Bedford, Virginia - Sharon and Scot. They were enthusiastic and fun. They were in Belize with a group that brought supplies (several hundred pounds, I think!) for schools here. They had already traveled to Dangriga to deliver supplies to Gulisi Primary School, and got a good dose of Garifuna culture while here. We enjoyed an impromptu chat at a coffee/pastry spot, and a good long visit at dinner on Friday night. By the way, Scot is a veterinarian, so I was able to get all my "rescued kitten" questions answered.

Enjoy the beauty of Placencia.

View from our veranda

Steve and I are two of the VERY few on earth who don't think
a hammock is comfortable. Nevertheless, I spent about an hour
in this one.

Sunrise

Picture of our new friend, Scot, and a pretty little girl.
Postcard-worthy, doncha think?

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Steve is now the de facto video expert at the Dangriga Polyclinic. He helped five different departments with their videos. Then he created a compilation of all five that can be played on the TV in the waiting room. Every time I see him, his head is over the computer, making one last tweak to perfect the videos.

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Garifuna Glow Girls are meeting twice a week now. They continue to ask, "Miss, will we do Zumba today?"

We are set for a fundraiser on Saturday, September 1st. They voted to do a "checkpoint." That means they hang out at a speed bump, hold out a bucket, and get dollars.

They listed their expectations of each other - be polite, be on time, participate, respect each other, don't fight.

Here are some pics of the girls in one of their crafts activities.

Update from Dangriga

From Steve: My work at the Polyclinic has been really fun this week. The administrator has asked each of the groups of workers in the clinic to produce an educational video to play through the monitors in the waiting room. For the Child Nutrition Project, I made a video with pictures and text, using some catchy music (Watina and Baba by Andy Palacio, Anaha Ya by Genera Valerio, Zimbabwe by Bob Marley, Chaiyya Chaiyya by Singh and Awasthi) for the background. My work partner, Tylon Tillett, will do the voice-over for the teaching narrative. I have high hopes for a good quality product.

Jemma Perez and Tylon Tillett, social workers for the
Child Nutrition Project in Toledo and Stann Creek Districts

Word got around that I knew how to create videos, so now I seem to be in big demand. Last Saturday I went to Hopkins village and worked with Dr. Amos Ojo (our medical chief of staff), who created a teaching video based on a Powerpoint presentation he had polished. He has a powerful speaking voice that lends great credibility to the video.

Dr. Ojo and me. He is originally from Nigeria. A lot of Nigerians
settle here in Belize. There is even a Nigerian DVD store!

Several of the nurses groups are also making teaching videos, and I have been able to advise them, too. One of the nurses told me that it can’t be that hard to do because her daughter in high school made a DVD last weekend. Naturally, I recommended that she get her daughter to help her, also.

We have been reading about the hot weather in the US with great sympathy. It makes our weather sound like paradise. We have rain at least once every 24-hour period, but often it is at night. Our temperatures range between 77 at night to 88 during the day (with that ol' "feels like" up to 102). Our house seems to stay comfortable all the time, probably because of the see breeze. The air conditioner at the Polyclinic has been out for over a week, but it is nice to sit in the breezeway between the clinic and the in-patient hospital.

Our Peace Corps co-worker, Ava, casually mentioned that she told her son to look at a website about the  40 best Peace Corps blogs in the world since it included hers. We all said, “Wait a minute! You have to tell everybody about that.” So we are doing our part to spread the good news.

Ava Hacker

Ava's Peace Corps Blog

The 40 Best Peace Corps Blogs - She's mentioned down there about #17. I don't think there's any significance to the numbering.

That's all for now. Let's give Cathy a chance . . . .

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Well, as we say when we get on the bus, "Good maanin', Ev'ybody." 

Steve and I are moving along in our little routine here in Dangriga. My training manual is limping along, maybe not quite as fast as I would wish, but I seem to hit writing blocks now and then. Usually it happens when those boys next door decide it's time to break some eardrums.

Our girls club met yesterday for the second time, this time at Why Not Island. Ms. Norielee Rodriguez, Aidra's sister, got the girls going making maracas (Belizeans call them shakas) from the fruit of the calabash tree. The girls had to scrape the green stuff off the outside with a piece of glass or a knife. After that, Norie drilled a hole in each side of the fruit. The girls used those holes to poke and scrape out all the pulp from the inside.

The "Scraping of the Green"

Still scraping. That's Aidra in the light green t-shirt.

Some places are better to work than others :-)

Norielee taught the girls how to make maracas. She is also the
maker of the famous Rodriguez drums.

Pushing out the pulp

Getting the pulp out without damaging the outside of the fruit
was a tedious process, but the girls didn't seem to mind. It's a
Caribbean version of the quilting bee.

We had snacks, of course.
This time I tried to get creative with the fruit kabobs.
I could tell they liked the chocolate chip cookies better, though.

We finished up with another Garifuna lesson. This time Aidra talked about community spirit. She's really great when speaking about traditions and values, and I think the girls feel very comfortable with her.

The lesson is in Kriol and Garifuna.

Beautiful lady.

Next week - we paint the maracas!

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Let's hear it for do-it-yourself hair care! I scalped Steve and he highlighted me.

Side 1

Side 2. I may have to get a little creative with my combing %-)

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Just a couple more pictures:

Animal life at Why Not Island. This kitten was abandoned by her
mother. The dog had just had puppies, so she just adopted the kitten.

Steve is telling FuWe about all the cool doggie stuff in our
package from the States.

Sea breezes and our curtains create an atmosphere we love.