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!!!

Ramblings

I have been feeling stuck about writing on this blog.  How can life feel ho-hum already?  Amazing, the adaptability of humans.

Perhaps it is the heat.  Today I went to a board meeting of the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre.  Chair of the Board is Dorothy Menzies.  She has been on the Board for 22 years, which I would guess is the near lifetime of the centre.  Anyway, to return to the issue of the heat.  Everyone at the Board meeting was complaining about it, feeling that they wanted to just sit and do nothing.  Yesterday, I could hardly stay awake, then slept nearly 10 hours--and all because of the heat.  So the secret behind the laid back, slow pace of the Caribbean is the heat and humidity.  I think in Idaho snow these people would be racing around, too!

I introduced myself to the Board, sharing some of my many jobs.  And they shared their hopes...which is enough to scare a person!  I think they hope for miracles, but I think they will find that none occur.  I am ready to leap in now, having spent a good deal of time in the yard with the kids.  I would like to meet with each one individually for a few minutes and then decide the priority of kids needing more frequent therapy.

So speaking of standing in the yard, I had little children all over me--some stroking my arm, I'm sure for the contact, but also because they find my skin odd!  I love it!  They also said I was a little "scanty!"  I think they think I am a little thin!  The funny thing is that many, many of the people are thin, and I am not speaking of the children alone.  There are people who are overweight, but there are many who are not.  I told the children that I lift weights, and they thought this hilarious!  We are speaking of 5-8 year olds!  It was delightful!

But as I was leaving, again catching a ride with Giovanni from the Board, I learned that one of the 14 year old boys ran.  I couldn't believe it!  I could tell that he seemed angrier than on Thursday, but I did not realize what was going on.  So the police were called.  He will come back.  He just wants a visit with family.

Yesterday, Dave did not get a call.  It was nice to not be interrupted, as I did not work either.  We went to Courts, an air-conditioned furniture store, and bought a bookcase.  Then we went to the warehouse to pick it up, which just happened to be by the Travellers Bar & Liquor Store and a Mexican taco place!  We bought some light rum, then had tacos and quesadillas for lunch (with Coke Light)!  So nice to be in an open-air restaurant!  In the afternoon (when it was 103 degrees--without adding the humidity factor in) we walked to the meat market and to One-Click, a small general market up the street.  I spent some time looking at recipes on-line, and I am missing all spices  There is a spice company here in Belize, so I knew that the meat market had some to purchase.  Now I will make a Caribbean chicken stew for dinner.

Today Dave flew to San Pedro in the morning, and right after I got the the Centre, he left again for Punta Gorda and Dangriga--which is why I had to get a ride home or walk in my dress and good sandals (I was trying to make a good impression on the Board).  The children didn't recognize me!!

Speaking of looking decent, I lowered my standards and went to Walmart in Edgewood in sweats.  Well, I've lowered my standards further.  I have worn my hair pulled back in a very small pony tail, with no eye make-up whatsoever!  Eye make-up runs in the heat, and it is just too difficult to stand in the bathroom putting it on in the heat!  (By the way, the little girls kept pulling their hands through my very odd hair, too!  Getting to know this strange lady, Ms. Pat!)

Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre

I have been at the Centre nearly my 25 hours, the expected time.  They wanted more, but I am reluctant to do more.  It already is feeling like full-time.

I have read all of the files now, and spent time building relationships with the adults.  Ms. Augustine is the "House Mother," but really has the role of Director.  She is delightful to know!  She works way too hard and feels guilty when she takes a day off.  But she is taking Friday off to supervise workers building a cement fence at her house!  She cooks them lunch, then charges them, thus reducing the cost of the fence!  I love it!  She tells stories about her early years of working as a case worker in Belize, when she had to ride the bus or walk to homes.  She told a wonderful story of taking a bus to a village and then told that she had to spend the night in the public accommodations there.  As it turns out, those were the barracks for the military, and she was the only woman.  She decided it was not a good idea to take a shower!  In the middle of the night, she heard a familiar voice over the half wall.  Her brother was stationed there!  He stood guard so she could take a shower!  She tells stories of taking the bus, walking through a village with a teenage murderer to his court hearing.  By herself!  Belize is very different now.  Human Services has vans or cars for transportation, and teams of case workers go out, none alone.  I think Ms. Augustine thinks they are wimps!  LOL!

I sat in on an evaluation of a first year social work student's evaluation with Ms. Karen Simplis, a professor of the social work (bachelor degree) at the University of Belize.  Right now there are only 3 professors, though they are set up to have six.  They have some adjunct professors, but there is such a shortage of social workers that they have only half that they need.  The evaluation was rigorous.  I really like the young woman, a mother of a four-year-old who works full time at the Immigration Dept. I was a little taken aback by the level of criticism, though she took it in stride.  The staff at the Centre were much more supportive than the professor.  The bad news here is that she is one of my supervisors.    I'm anticipating some critical supervision, which I'd say I'm not used to.  I have had the good fortune of having supportive supervisors (for the most part) throughout my career.  And I took exception, gently, to one of Karen's examples of using self in therapy, advocating for more boundaries.  I only said that due to my own experience of early counseling students, and I have to be cautious about the cultural differences.

On the other hand, I am being treated at the Centre with uncommon generosity.  I told Ms. Augustine that I am rather uncomfortable with it.  I have a new office, small with a huge desk, which of course is not where I would normally sit.  The office is so small that I don't think that I can turn it around!  Plus I am cornered should one of the teens take exception to me.  I have a brand new lap-top (eat your heart out, NM Solutioners!), and a printer.  And I have an assistant who manages the files.  I have insisted that she needs to have the file cabinet in her office, as well as the printer.  A board member will install a wireless router once we get internet wired to the office building, this week, we hope.

Now I must go inspect my laundry.  Today I did laundry like the Belizeans.  I washed it, and hung it all out to dry!  No dryer today!  However, wouldn't you know that the landscape guy came to mow and weed-eat.  I may be doing laundry again now.

Pictures of home

Good morning!  And again it is a hot and humid one!  Since the locals are complaining about it being too hot, may I join them?  So far I have not had to walk the half mile to or from work, but Dave almost stranded me there last night.  He was in Punta Gorda for the second time yesterday, and I was ready to leave the centre.  Fortunately for me, Giovanni, who is in Rotary and works for a construction company that just completed our building, was out front in his pickup--so I hitched a ride home!

I'm going to include some pictures of the neighborhood and house.  This area is such a mix of homes and businesses in homes.  I have seen a "boutique" sign in front of what looks like a house.  Another house seems to have a computer repair business, but it is so diskempt that I'll not go there!  There are many churches with schools attached to them, in addition to the technical high school, seemingly all in the same area!

 To the left is a picture looking up Hopkins Street from out front our house.

 To the right is Dave getting into Rattletrap.  Rattletrap does not
look too bad, but it is SO rattly and noisy!  And dirty.  I wish
Dave would clean it up!  All in due time, I'm sure

 To the left is the outside of the house.  Our unit is on the right, and Angelo lives in the unit on the left.  He is seldom there.  We saw him for a week, and now he is in Mexico and the UK until July.  However, he has Arlette, the housekeeper, come over frequently.

 To the right is the center courtyard with our door to the right.

This is the house across the street with the mango tree laden with fruit!  There are several schoolboys who climb the fence after school daily to steal the mangos.  I frown, to no avail!

To the right is the technical/vocational high school across the street from us.  High school fees are high, ranging upward from $400 or $500 depending on the prestige of the school.  In fact there are fees at all levels of education, but the high school fees are high enough to preclude many students from attending.  High school is not mandatory.


We walk two blocks down the street behind the high school to arrive at the meat market.  The store is air conditioned to the max, so it is a refreshing place to visit!!  Around the corner from them is an ice cream shop.  Up the street about three blocks is the fruit/vegetable stand. We have shopped at the big air-conditioned stores, which carry much of what you'd find in the U.S.  I have also been to Publics, which is not air-conditioned and has cheaper prices.  Belize is said to be the most expensive of the Central American countries, and I would confirm that.  The economy is a difficult one to figure out.  A young medic told Dave that he cannot figure out how to find an affordable, but nice place to live.

And update on the airplane saga:  Dave took the plane for its routine maintenance, and it was proclaimed in great shape!  Then he went out yesterday for 3 runs, and on the last one, one of the two brakes failed!  He was picking up someone, or dropping them off in Dangriga, and he had to figure out how to maneuver turning only one direction.  Then he could not park the plane once arriving at home base, as he drives it into the hangar--and he couldn't stop in a straight line!  (You'd have to see the configuration of the hangar to understand the challenge!)  Anyway, he called the mechanic and is at the airport with him examining the problem.  I have not heard back from him or seen him in a couple of hours (and I really want a ride to work in a few minutes)!  So Dave has transported 10 patients in 9 days, logging 23 hours, and handled the plane missing a brake!  I'd say he is a pretty accomplished pilot!

Dave & his plane

Here is a picture of the plane Dave flies for Wings of Hope with Ronya, a medic, sitting in the area for the patient--waiting for said patient.  They are parked on the San Pedro airfield.

Dave has averaged a trip a day since we arrived (one day without a call and one day with two calls).   We live about 5 minutes from the airport, but sometimes the call comes when we are out and about.  Brodies stocks pretty much everything a person could need, or get, in Belize, sometimes at high prices. We have made numerous trips there to pick up cleaning supplies and kitchen things.  On one such outing, Dave's phone rang, and we had to rush to the cashier and out the door for him to get to the airport!  He missed his 15 minute window that day!  One day he arrived at the hangar to find about a 3-4 foot long iguana, basking in the sun!  Dave startled him, and the iguana quickly dove under the hangar.

Flying is really challenging for Dave.  The Cessna 206 is slow, handles very differently from our plane, and needs some maintenance.  (He is taking it to the mechanic at the International Airport tomorrow for some maintenance, and at least a diagnosis!)  He seldom has to do a go-around on landing our plane, but is irritated with himself that he has had to twice do go-arounds in Punta Gorda.  The plane is not easy to land, and he doesn't have a lot of room to spare.  Did I mention that Punta Gorda also has two streets running across the runway, and the children/people love to walk on the runway!  Makes for a challenging approach!

Fields are also being burned.  With the high humidity, the haze is constant, complicated by the smoke from the fires.  Dave flies as close to the ground or sea as possible due to low visibility.  And he can't understand a word that the other pilots are saying (he doesn't speak Kriol)!!  Right now, Dave is meeting with Stanley "The Saint" (that is what he goes by), a young Kriol pilot, who is going to try to help Dave with identifying some landmarks, patterns, etc.  The whole country uses one unicom frequency, and if it is hard to understand what airports pilots are approaching, it is dicey knowing when/if one should be looking for them at the airport you're landing at!

Medics rotate responsibility, and only one or two absolutely hate flying--and refuse to do so!  Some of the others are silent, some more talkative.  Interestingly, they all have reported "loving" their job!  And they are paid no better than the EMT''s in the U.S.

So while Dave is transporting patients, I have been cleaning.  This apartment is so much more than I had imagined--very comfortable and pretty.  I think that it would seem less so if I placed it in the Airpark, but we really are living in comfort.  Plainly furnished and equipped, but very nice.  However, I know for a fact that only bachelors have lived here for the last year, and there are signs that it has not been cared for a lot.  So I have deep cleaned the whole house, moving all of the furniture, washing the baseboards and the floor, washing the curtains, cleaning the Levolors (yes, they really are Levelors!), etc.  I finished at 2:00 PM today, and now I can relax on that front.  The house is very livable, and since I have to go to work tomorrow morning, I don't have to worry about cleaning.  The only daily/hourly/minutely need is a Swiffer for the cat hair.  I have never seen two cats shed this much fur in my life!  I would think that they'd be bald by now, but no such luck for them or for me!

And for those classy, professional friends, who are as embarrassed by this as Dave is, the upstairs television works (the downstairs one does not)--and I found NASCAR!!!!   So I have been watching the race today as I clean and as I type.  Could be that my writing reflects my lack of attention!

Good morning!  I think I'll just capture some bits and pieces of living here this Thursday morning.  And this morning has been an interesting one that illustrates the anxiety producing mission this can be for Dave.

First of all, to the left is the first thing I noticed walking into the house for the first time--the beautiful wood stairs!  The couple of houses that I have been in here all have beautiful wood work, dark cabinets, staircases, doors.  Really beautiful.  On the first floor of our townhouse are kitchen, large dining area, living room and bath with a tiled shower.  Upstairs, and to to left in the picture, is a loft/landing area with a small couch and a desk.  The laundry room, two bedrooms and a full bath are on the second floor.  Tiled floors are throughout the house.  The yard is small and surrounded by a fence, which this morning bears the bags of garbage accumulated since Monday.  Garbage pick-up is twice/week, which is really nice, and my neighbor across the street has one small bag set out, while I attempted to lift two huge bags onto the
fence, really tweaking my back in the process!  Bad news....one bag fell off immediately, so I took the small bags of garbage out and placed them individually on the fence.  I am afraid to look out again...I'm pretty sure that the other big bag has fallen by this time, and I am just hoping that the stray dogs don't get into it before the garbage truck arrives!  (Or Dave, who will be VERY irritated.)

Maddy has been getting Dave up early in the morning (4:00 AM), to his dismay.  But today, he slept in till 5:45 AM, which was a big mistake.  As he was getting the garbage ready to go outand waiting for the coffee to brew, his phone rang with an emergency in Punta Gorda, his farthest destination.  He always has his flight bag ready, but he had to get dressed (he wears sports shirt and pants, generally, looking as professional as possible).  I noticed that he did not even get his first cup of coffee.  He is to be at the airport in 15-20 minutes, but I think that it was closer to 30 minutes this morning.  I heard the plane take off with the medic at 6:35.  He is to be in the air in 5 minutes after arriving at the airport.  I will wait to hear what the emergency was, but my guess is an accident this time with the sense of urgency communicated.  As you may imagine, the call to rush can be pretty disruptive, and the call can come from just before daylight to dark.  Dave is setting a limit that he won't go anywhere after 5:15 PM, as the sun sets about 6:00 PM and there is virtually no dusk in which to later find the airport.

If you look closely, you'll see two hot and unhappy cats.  Maddy and Izzie made it fine on the trip, but they have had a difficult time adjusting to the heat and to our attempts to change their food.  Designer cat food is not available, so we are encouraging them to eat Friskies.  Izzie didn't eat for two days, but hunger won over.  Maddy is more likely to complain, while Izzie cannot be found during the day.  She has finally walked downstairs, and the two cats actually played together for a few minutes last night.  I feel sorry for them with the heat and their fur coats.  I looked yesterday at the temperature in Belize City, and opposite of the wind chill factor, the station said that it was 91 degrees, "feels like 104!"

As I sit in front of the dining room table and a fan, I watch the children dressed in yellow shirts and brown pants, walking to school.  I'm not sure where the elementary school is, as there is one that I know of in the opposite direction that the children are walking.  Many mothers are walking with their children.  A large technical high school is across the street.  I love hearing the kids at lunch or P.E. and walking home from school.  The bell rings at 8:00 in the morning.  While elementary school is free, many run by churches, high school has a fee.  What happens in late summer at the Children's Centre is that an influx of "abandoned" kids show up, the ministry pays for the high school fees, after which the kids go home!  I thought it a rather clever way to get state-paid education, but it is a huge burden for the centre.

I have realized how extraordinarily quiet Edgewood is.  I live in the city now.  Lots of noise...not unpleasant, but city-like.  I've actually appreciated the music coming from the house behind us, especially when the mom puts on "The Wheels of the Bus," etc. for the kids (who are so cute) in the afternoon.  Our TV is not working whatsoever!  Yvette says that we have 150 channels, but we can't get the TV to change channels, so listened to the same news for two hours out of Long Island, NY yesterday afternoon!!  I really wanted Belize news!

With the kitchen immaculate and the dining room and downstair and upstair bathrooms clean, I will begin work in the living room now.   I need to make another run to Brodies today (imagine a Target), and I want to walk over to the meat market.  I think I need some more vegetables from the fruit stand, too!

 I thought that I should start near the beginning of this journey.  It took a mammoth effort within a 6 week window of time to arrive at the day that the bags were packed and the movers were here to put the furniture in the hangar for storage!

Many issues had to be dealt with.  Dave had to go to St. Louis to spend 10 days learning how to do short landings and take-offs in grass fields.  He was able to get under the hood of planes in the Wings of Hope hangar with a mechanic, as the expectation is that

he will do some of the maintenance of the airplane here in Belize!  (This is not a sure bet!)

In the meantime, I quit my job, we sold two cars, we found a property manager to rent out the house, and we spent many wonderful evenings with friends, saying good-bye.  While it sometimes seems that we were only in New Mexico for a short period of time, we were actually there for 7 years and developed a wonderful network of friends whom we will miss.

So the day finally arrived to have movers pack up our things and move them to the hangar.  We have not rented out the house, so we had to make a decision that we would have to rent it out sans the hangar.  Now if a pilot wants to rent the place and needs the hangar, we will have to arrange to have the movers return, put the stuff in a truck and take it to a storage facility.  Honestly, the house remains a problem.

On April 25, 2013 (or as I should say now, 25 April 2013), we left the house with 6 large suitcases and four carry-ons plus two irritated cats in new carriers in the car our neighbors loaned us (thank you, Brad  and Janice Gabel).  First problem was immediately encountered:  the radio said that a head-on collision occurred in the canyon near Tijeras at 3;00 AM (over 3 hours earlier) and the entire westbound I-40 freeway was shut down!  Mind you, there is only a two lane alternate, Route 66, and it took over one hour to go one mile!  We had been very proud of ourselves, actually leaving on time, but "on-time" was not early enough!  The freeway finally opened, and we drove to the airport.  Fortunately, a porter was very helpful and the American Airline person was competent.  We had a lot of paperwork to do to get those cats paid for and on the plane!  We literally got through security and walked onto the airplane bound for Dallas!  Whew!  (We trusted that the cats were on board, too, as we did not take them in the cabin; their yowling would have resulted in our being immediately kicked off the plane!)

A similar fire-drill awaited in Dallas, but executed flawlessly--arriving, hopping on the train, getting off at the correct gate, grabbing a carry-on bite to eat (we hadn't even had a cup of coffee and it was noon!), and climbing onto the next plane bound for Belize!

Which takes us to the arrival at the Belize International airport!