San Marcos RC

Part of my job entails visiting schools in the Cayo district to assess implementation of the Health and Family Life Education curriculum (a national primary school health and life skills curriculum organized around the themes of Self & Interpersonal Relationships, Sexuality & Sexual Health, Eating & Fitness, and Managing the Environment). My counterpart Joe and I try to visit schools to check on whether teachers have HFLE in their class schedules, what types of topics they're covering, the presence of health-related visual aids in the classroom, etc. We also spend a minute talking with teachers about the challenges they face in implementing the curriculum, and what sort of support they could most use from the District Education Center. Information gathered through these visits allows us to create targeted trainings in the areas of greatest need, and is helping me to collect materials for an HFLE-related teacher resource center.

Joe and I recently visited the Catholic school in San Marcos, a small village in the Spanish Lookout area. Spanish Lookout is home to a large Mennonite community, and is a hub of agriculture and dairy farming. Immigrants from around Central America have settled in the area to work on Mennonite farms, and have created a ring of small villages surrounding Spanish Lookout. San Marcos is one of these (though strictly on the grounds of bizarre naming practices, my favorites are Duck Run 1, Duck Run 2 and Duck Run 3). The school has three multi-level classrooms (Belizean primary schools cover the equivalent of kindergarten through 8th grade), one of which is taught by the principal, Mr. Cabb.


The whole Spanish Lookout area sits atop rolling green hills. The majority of the land has been cleared for crops and grazing, so the views are spectacular. This is the view looking across the road from the school.


We take a look around classrooms to see what sort of visual aids teachers are using. This varies a lot from classroom to classroom, and is one thing I've heard about from many teachers. In a resource-poor country like Belize, access to good teaching tools is limited. Many teachers know their students would benefit from good visual aids, but they don't have the resources to get them. It's one of the things I'm hoping to provide in the resource center. (If anyone knows of good sources for health-related visual aids and DVDs, let me know!)


Many schools use gardening as a way to teach about plants, water cycles, the environment and nutrition. Some just plant seedlings and send them home with kids. Others have full school gardens, and sell the produce as a fundraiser, or use it to supplement their school feeding programs. The Chief Education Officer for Cayo recently asked me to create a survey to assess interest in school gardening initiatives. She is hoping to create a district wide program if there is sufficient interest on the part of schools.


And then there's just the fun of seeing what's going on... After lunch, Mrs. Cabb's lower division students line up to sing the national anthem before returning to class. It's no joke to memorize - the thing is LONG!











'Nuff said.

La Ruta Maya

this past weekend i served on the support crew for Peace Corps Belize's one and only team of racers in the annual Ruta Maya River Challenge. the Ruta Maya is a four-day endurance test (of both physical stamina and sanity), which involves canoeing the 170 miles from San Ignacio, down the Belize River to Belize City. Todd, Marcel and Johnny took on the challenge this year, and we set off from my house on Friday morning with just an hour and a half to locate the canoe they'd borrowed from a Cayo resort, find a ride for the support crew and all our gear, and send the guys off down the river. with just minutes to spare before the starting gun, they were in their beast of a boat (which was not exactly built for speed) and Alli had worked her southern magic and secured us a ride with her friends from BATSUB (British Army Training Support Unit Belize, that is). we spent the next four days riding the less than smooth side roads of Belize with the boys of her majesty's armed forces, stopping along the way to throw water and snickers bars eainto the canoe from perches on the banks of the river. my stats are probably a tad less than accurate, but our boys paddled somewhere around 8, 10, 6 and 4 hours each day from friday through monday. approximately 95 canoes entered the race, 70ish completed it, and team Peace Corps came in somewhere around 60th. the weekend was a haze of bumpy roads, river banks, tent villages, rain, mud, snack food, waiting crowds, army green, sore muscles, and arguments about who speaks real english.



waiting for the starting gun in San Ignacio



and they're off!



supaat kroo members Nicole and Ashli



Todd, Marcel & Johnny take on the Ruta Maya - day 1



Phil tosses water to one of the BATSUB boats at a checkpoint on day 1, near Spanish Lookout



you find ways to amuse yourself while waiting for the boats to arrive at camp - Banana Bank, day 1



the boys inhale dinner after 10 hours paddling - Bermudian Landing, day 2



jockeying for prime start position, day 3



Shirley mops out the tent after a particularly soggy night in Burrell Boom



spectators cheering at the finish line in Belize City



the sight that greeted many paddlers as they stepped out of their canoes. yum.



in addition to hauling us around for four days and granting us free access to their endless supply of snickers and water on ice, the boys from BATSUB served as official timekeepers for the race at each of it's four stages. he may be a bit hard to find, but that's Witz under the pink umbrella, recording finish times in Belize City.



done and done.

preschoolers on parade

the other morning when i came in to work, Alma, the early childhood education officer, asked me if i wanted to go to a parade with her. it's Child Stimulation Month here in Belize, and so it's all about raising awareness about the benefits of preschool. well, who am i to say no to the chance to watch a slew of preschoolers parading through town?



this is the youngest son of George, the guy who owns the South Indian restaurant Ashley and i (and anyone we can convince to join us) have become obsessed with. he's frequently the one who comes to hand me my menu as soon as i arrive.



float crossing the Hawkesworth Bridge



children dressed up to represent Belize's various cultural and ethnic groups



this one's a Mennonite