Mother's Day & Other Thoughts

Mother's Day is a big day in Belize!  Everyone after the Board meeting yesterday was wishing a "Happy Mother's Day" to one and all.  But it was a bit disturbing to me at the Centre.  The children at DMCCC are really abandoned, for the most part.  A little one, 5 years old, brought me a card that he had made at school for Mother's Day.  It rather broke my heart.  Who can he give it to?  And the older children were writing poems about mothers, some of whom have no mother.  The whole thing was disturbing to me.

I will add a bit about education.  I worked with a 5 year old who is in our level of kindergarten., Infant 2.   He had to write 5 pages of 3 columns of the same word, over and over!  The poor little guy said that he was tired!  I tried to do things that he seemed to think were beyond weird, like "shaking your wiggles out!"  But after a couple of hours, he was finished!  The head of our activity center also thinks the expectations are way out of line, and her observation is that the children are done with school by the time they get to high school--bored and discouraged.

I took a couple of pictures of the primary school near our house.  It is a scary looking place without thinking about what is going on inside.  Corporal punishment has been outlawed, so that is good.  School doesn't look like an inviting place, though I am sure that some teachers are really good and inspiring.




Another issue that is forefront in the headlines right now is the issue of the Section 53 challenge to the constitution, which is the section of sodomy laws still on the books.  Any homosexual can be charged with "carnal violations," though my understanding is that it doesn't happen often.  A man has challenged Section 53 in the Supreme Court, and the trial is in process, having begun last Tuesday.  There are a number of civil rights groups in support of the challenge, and of course, the Catholics and the Evangelicals are supporting the Attorney General's claim that it is an invalid challenge.  Part of the reasoning is that the man challenging the law has never been arrested for the crime.  And another position is that the parliament needs to be the deciding body.  I listened the night before the trial began to 3 television stations with the issue being debated.  And I have read the newspaper articles.  Belize is a very religious nation (no separation of church and state, for sure) and the positions are so disturbing to me--the moral fabric of the nation will be torn asunder should the Section be declared unconstitutional.  Depravity will result, just like it does in the United States!  I don't know what is going to be the outcome, but I'll try to remember to post that when I know.

Today Dave and I played tourist, though everything is closed.  No museums or shops are open on Sunday (or grocery stores, for that matter), so we took pictures and plan to return to go inside these places on a weekday.  The nice thing about having flexible hours is that we can do that.  And the airport is not far from anything, in that the whole city is easily navigated in 15 minutes!  It was fun to go down where the cruise ships come in and to see the Belize the visitors see.  I am wondering what our visitors will want to see:  our Belize or the tourist Belize!  So here are a few pictures to entice you to come!

The first four pictures are of Haulover Creek entering the Caribbean with a motor boat heading out to sea.  A lighthouse stands in the Fort George area, and a park is across the street.  Just down the street is a beautiful building, the Caribbean Hotel, which I need to look up and see if there is a restaurant or something there that will get me in!

 Below are pictures of St. Johns's Church, an Anglican church established in 1812.  To the right is the Culture House, which was also built about 1812 and used to be the official residence.  Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip stayed there in 1994.  It is now a museum, only open during the week.

 Above are the Supreme Court Building, the "Town Clock" and the funniest roundabout with some guy "standing" in the middle!  Looks like a waiter to me, but I'm sure he is someone most important!  I tried to get pictures of the Rotary Club roundabout, which we pass all the time, and we turn to go to our house frequently at another named roundabout.  They can be hard to negotiate in heavy traffic, but generally, I like them.  I would say that Dave drives like he's lived here all his life!  AHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm still working on how to do pictures, if you hadn't noticed.  So to end on a humorous note, Maddy is just too furry for this climate.  And she has taken to sitting and watching the clock.  I'm sure she is wondering at what time it gets cooler!!!