|
Who Am I? | Site Map | Music | FAQ | Contact Me |
Returning to Succotz During our outdoor breakfast on Tuesday morning I split the group up into two crews again and we worked at two sites that day. My group worked at the Esperanza orphanage, a few miles east of San Ignacio, where we installed a railing on the second floor balcony. As an American, I'd never seen an orphanage because the American system uses foster care, so it was interesting to see how it ran. About a dozen of us worked there that day, we made a lot of progress and the caretakers, Luis and Maria, were extremely grateful for our help.
That evening after our group dinner at Log Cab-Inn, Marlynn, Alyssa, Kelsey and I took a taxi into San Ignacio, first stopping at an Internet café to catch up on our e-mail. They headed out afterwards to walk around town, but I had a lot of e-mail to return, so I caught up with them on the street an hour later and we took a taxi back to Log Cab-Inn. Even at night, San Ignacio is pretty safe (as long as you stay in a group). And it's much safer than Belize City, parts of which I won't walk through even during the day if I'm alone.
On Wednesday morning, we split up into two groups again and my group went to the village of Succotz near the Guatemalan border, where I had worked the previous year building their new library / storm shelter. It was great to see my amigo, Carlos, again who I'd worked with during the previous year in Succotz, and I was happy with the progress the villagers had made on the library over the past 11 months.
Before I left Succotz a year earlier, I'd given Carlos my business card and was happy to receive an e-mail from him shortly afterwards: "Hello, Mr. Del. This is my very first e-mail," it read. There's very little work in Succotz, or in most Belizean villages, so Carlos volunteers with the police department in Succotz and hopes to join the force there someday as a paid officer. He's a great guy, very quiet and shy, and it was nice to see him again.
Our group worked on the Succotz library until about 4 p.m., when we hopped on a passing bus and headed back to San Ignacio, had dinner, and got ready for our big night out. It was New Year's Eve that evening, so all of us PCC folks piled into a van – somehow cramming 14 people in one van – and went into San Ignacio, where ProBelize was hosting a New Year's Eve party on their building's roof. Jonny, Michael, Adrian and the whole ProBelize crew put on a lively event for us and at midnight the fireworks went off, ringing in 2009.
Jonny, the ProBelize director, is a great guy and came to ProBelize shortly after graduating from college in Connecticut, but he told us he was soon moving to Peru, where he was going to be the country director for ProPeru. I was sorry to hear that because, for several years he had been the heart and soul of ProBelize. But I'm sure they'll be fine.
Above left: Spencer, Elaine and Michael working on the new railing at the Esperanza Orphanage. Above right: Justice, an orphan at Esperanza, helped us out. He's an American and wants to move back to the U.S. when he turns 18 to "be Obama's chef." He's a great kid.
Above left: We installed the railing on the second floor balcony of the Esperanza orphanage so it's now safe to walk there. Mission accomplished! Above right: Steff and Alyssa packed in the back of the car after a long day's work, ready to head home.
Above left: There's a large Mennonite community in Belize. Mennonites, like the Amish in the U.S., shun many modern conveniences, including cars. Above right: Dinner on the patio at Log Cab-Inn. On the right in red, that's Jonny, the director of ProBelize. He's now working with ProPeru.
Above left: Jonny, the director of ProBelize, with a pal in Succotz. Above center: Here's the new Succotz library that I had worked on in 2008. But now it has walls! Above right: Power saws always make me smile.
Above left: During lunch at Succotz, Carlos showed me his family photos, some of which are decades old. I was very touched. Carlos, quiet and shy, is a great guy. Above right: That night was New Year's Eve and 14 of us squished into a Honda van for a ride into town. That's Spencer on the right. Kelsey and Alyssa had to sit on laps. Shortly after I took this picture, I sat in my seat and David inadvertently slammed the front door on my hand and locked the door. Ouch, that hurt!
Above left: The PCC group looking for fun on New Year's Eve. Above right: And we found it in a bar. From left to right, that's Elaine, David, Spencer, Kelsey, Alyssa, and yours truly waiting for our nachos.
|
