Dean won't keep us down

i write today as an official Peace Corps volunteer. no longer a piddly little trainee/initiate/pledge, i have joined the ranks of the illustrious PCV family. Hurricane Dean did his best to slow the progress of BZ45 toward this lofty goal, but we beat him back, and in the end were delayed by only one day.

our country director, Eileen, upon getting confirmation that Dean was indeed likely to make landfall in Belize, ordered all trainees and current volunteers to consolidate at the Garden City Hotel in Belmopan. all 65 or so of us were told to procure emergency food and water rations, fill our bathtubs with water and wait out the storm on lockdown. it was a recipe for much rowdiness, but we woke the next morning to find that Dean had left little impression on the southern 2/3 of the country. Belmopan got hit with some rain, but it wasn't even enough to wake me from my slumber. the north didn't fare quite so well. Corozal district, and parts of Orange Walk got heavy rains and wind, which took out their power and water services. i spoke with my host family in Orange Walk, and it seems they were all put back together after just a day. the last i heard, however, the volunteers serving in Corozal were on their way up north with Eileen to assess the damage and see if they could move back into their homes. haven't heard since then. papaya crops in Corozal were completely destroyed, and one statistic claimed that 2000 people have lost their homes. it's a sobering moment for those in the north, but the majority of the country is breathing a sigh of relief at a close shave. in all the coverage leading up to landfall, i couldn't help but notice that the U.S. news stations barely made mention of Belize, and seemed to be focused entirely on potential damage to tourist resorts in Jamaica and Mexico. kinda twisted, if you ask me...

but, despite Dean's arrival, 36 of the 38 BZ45 trainees (so named because we're the 45th group of volunteers to serve in Belize) swore in as volunteers on August 23. Marc returned home a couple weeks ago after deciding that this wasn't the right time in his life to make a 2 year commitment overseas. Dave is still in the hospital in Pittsburgh, after suffering severe heat stroke several weeks ago and being flown home for medical treatment. his absence was deeply felt - we all wore blue ribbons to keep him with us, and the director of Peace Corps in Washington sent him a letter naming him as an honorary volunteer along with all of us. the morning following the ceremony, we all packed up our things and headed out on buses for every corner of the country. i'm sad to see them all go, knowing that i won't see many of them again until December. i can't say that i feel like a different person on the flip side of swearing in, but with training over, my friends scattered around the country in towns and small villages, and facing the prospect of my first day on the job tomorrow, life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is finally starting to feel like a reality. it's taken a while to get here!