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A Kind Farewell (Part 2 - Succotz Style) We returned to San Ignacio late in the afternoon and, after a brief stop at the Chiclero lodge, we piled back into the vans around sunset and headed west once again, back out to Succotz. Our first stop there was at the current Succotz library, a small building stuffed to the rafters with books and magazines. The new library we were building, which lay a few hundred yards away, will be about twice as large and will have a much stronger roof, allowing it to double as a hurricane shelter for the villagers. The librarian, a cheerful Belizean woman in her 30s, was in the current library and greeted us with smiles. Though very proud of her tiny library (which included the village’s only public computer), she was looking forward to moving into the larger and more secure building someday.
Our group had carried with us from North America piles of donations for Belizeans, such as books and medical supplies, including a dozen large OB-GYN packs. I'm not sure what the Customs officers at the airport thought about our strange collection, but after giving us some quizzical looks they waved us through. The previous day we had given half of our trove to the villagers at San Antonio, and we unloaded the other half that evening and left them with the Succotz librarian, who promised to distribute them throughout the village. Her face lit up when she saw all the useful goodies.
After handing over the donations, we got back into the vans once again and drove a short distance to the new library site where we had worked all week to fill in the foundation with dirt so a concrete floor could be poured. I had worked with half of our group at San Antonio on the previous day, Thursday, but later I learned that our Succotz group had poured the concrete floor that day. I got out of the van and saw the new floor, still a bit damp as it was curing but now solid enough to walk on. It was impressive and gave each of us a tremendous sense of satisfaction, considering all the blood, sweat (and even a few tears) we had spent here during the past week.
But our evening wasn’t over yet. We got back in the vans and drove a quarter-mile to an open-air café down by the highway, where we sat at the tables and shared laughter (and more cold Belikin, of course) with the villagers. The locals were cooking a barbeque chicken dinner for our group as their way of saying “thank you,” just as the teachers in San Antonio had said “thank you” with their tour of Barton Creek Cave earlier that day and their farewell of kind speeches during our memorable lunch there on Thursday. The chicken dinner that the Succotz villagers cooked for us was delicious, but even better was their warm and smiling company.
They topped it off with a small award ceremony after dinner. The town’s mayor stood up and gave a short but heartwarming speech, telling us how much he appreciated the work we had done. And then, one at a time, he called each of us up to receive a personalized certificate of appreciation. I was touched. Our group leader, Cecelia, then stood up and gave an impromptu speech, telling the villagers how much all of us appreciated getting to know them and how much we enjoyed being able to help build their new library.
After her speech, Jonny, the ProBelize leader, stood up and told us how much he appreciated our volunteer effort, coming down from North America to help them out. He admitted, though, that he initially had some doubts about our abilities. “I usually work with American college students on these projects,” Jonny told us, “and over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of college groups. So I have to admit that when I first heard about you folks and saw your ages – 47, 51, 72 – I became a little concerned. Frankly, I didn’t think a ‘mature’ group like you,” (he grinned at that comment and we chuckled), “would get very much done this week.”
Jonny continued, “But you folks worked harder than just about any group of college students we’ve ever had here. Unlike most of our college students, your group wanted to work instead of socialize, so you got more done than just about any group I’ve ever worked with. I was really impressed with everything you accomplished this week and it was much more than we ever anticipated. Heck, we weren’t planning to pour the library floor for another month or two but you folks did it in one week. So from the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you.”
With that, our group from Portland gave Jonny and the Succotz villagers a hearty round of applause. The feeling of appreciation was mutual because from our week's work in Belize, every person in our group, I believe, got back much more than we ever gave.
Above left: Jonny and Laurie bringing donations into the Succotz library. Above center: Jean and Jonny in the library. Doris, a nurse in our group, had collected lots of blue OB-GYN packs in Portland and we had carried them down to Belize in our luggage. Above right: Enjoying our Friday night barbecue at Succotz.
Above left: The Succotz mayor passed around architectural drawings of the new library. Here's what it will look like when it's finished. Above center: Friendly (and I'm guessing, hungry) villager at Succotz. Above right: After dinner, the villagers at Succotz held a small ceremony for us and gave each of us a certificate of appreciation for all the hard work we had put in that week. This is Urban, our group's project manager at the Succotz site, receiving his award.
Above left: Cecelia got up afterwards and said a few words of gratitude. The woman in the white shirt is the town's librarian. Above right: Jonny then spoke and told us how surprised he was by our group's accomplishments. It was a "win-win" for everyone involved and a week that I'll never forget.
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