Not Much Happening

No pictures this week, and in general, it was a rather ordinary week.

One of the best parts of my week was getting a call from an acquaintance, Mary, who has lived in Belize for a couple of years.  She was a UCC minister in the States, and she belongs to Rotary, where I met her.  She had a friend in town, Jovanna, from Hawaii, who is a psych. nurse who had been working for a couple of weeks in a village in Guatemala.  The three of us went to Celebrity Restaurant near the Sea and had a wonderful time talking!  Both women are quite active in human rights movements, and we had a great time talking about progressive politics.  As we were leaving, a man coming in gave Mary a big hug!  He was an actor/director/producer from Belize who was here from his home in L.A. for the Belize International Film Festival!  I had actually seen him in an interview this week on television!  What a fun evening!

Other than having to block the door while a psychologist worked with one of my clients who had run away and was threatening suicide, it was a fairly usual week at the office!  The psychologist was called in because every psych. nurse within the health department in the country was on a retreat!  I thought the girl should be hospitalized, but after one of the staff took her (with a letter from me) to two clinics and the hospital emergency room only to learn that no one could see her, the private psychologist was called in.  She did an excellent job of working with the child, for two hours, until she was able to get her to agree to not run away, not hurt herself, and to take her medication.  Now she is on a 24-hour watch at the Centre, which meant that we had to hire extra staff.  Grrr....  Sometimes, working here is a little challenging.  Every psych. nurse on a retreat?!?  (I might mention that we have no psychiatrist at this time.  The last one left the country.)  I now sleep with my phone in case I need to respond to some emergency!  I am very attached to these children, so it really is not a sacrifice for me.

Today Dave and I went and had photos taken for our work permits.  The man who owned the shop was absolutely delightful, and Dave and he studied his problems with a voltage regulator!  I might add that Belize is a very small world.  One morning, Dave was trying to get out the door early in the morning to buy Johnny cakes for breakfast as the "Johnny Cake lady" was pedaling by.  He managed to get out without shoes, and gave her a shout!  She said:  "I heard you coming, Dave!"  Now, how in the world does she know his name???   Anyway, Dave was buying fruit at our local fruit stand when a man engaged him in conversation.  The man had lived in the United States and wanted to know where Dave was from.  He apparently had lots to say, much to the irritation of the shop owner who had probably heard the stories before and really wanted these two old men to leave!  Dave's father, who always knew the life history of our neighbors within hours of arriving to visit, would have felt right at home here!  And we would probably have a lot more neighborhood friends!