Getting Plastered

Sorry, but I've got to keep the post short tonight. This morning we worked at the orphanage. As you know if you've been following, the bags stage of the construction was finished last week and we began wrapping it in chicken wire. On Monday a lot of the other team members began plastering the outside while I was doing some other things. I helped today with the plastering process, which is kind of fun. You flick the plaster onto the building from your trowel with your wrist, then smooth it out. Here's some pictures:

The lighter layer was done on Monday. The darker layer is from today.

That building sure is getting plastered, isn't it? ;)

So, mud-flinging and smoothing was fun. Later we had computer classes. We taught them about online business skills, such as how to sell on eBay, etc. We are going to hold one last class with them on Monday to review all the skills we've talked about and implement self-learning techniques so they can continue to learn after we leave. They've been so much fun and the class has really grown in popularity. I plan the curriculum for each class, but we like to give one-on-one instruction, and today we needed four teachers, most with 2 students each to cover all our bases! 

Kyle gives some individual attention to Lancelot.

Besides all of that, my other work for the day was all more boring computer stuff again, like usual--just trying to get everything done for my main projects. 

Well, I told you it would be short today, but hopefully you enjoyed the update, especially on the orphanage construction process.

Crunch Time!

This picture of flowers is a happy way to start my blog. This is necessary because the paragraph you are about to read is full of a fair deal of vented frustration (albeit with a happy, resolved ending).

Sorry if my blog gets more and more sporadic. Things are really picking up here in Belize as we try to tie up all lose ends and finish our projects before we leave NEXT WEEK!!! I have been running around like crazy talking to businesses and council members trying to get all the pieces in place for my project in Succotz. I didn't mention this before, but now that things have been resolved I will tell you a "fun" story that happened with the Succotz project. On Friday night, hours after we'd put in the order for street signs, we got a call from Gilly, the council chair telling us that there was a sudden voice of political dissent on the council regarding the project. Now, I don't want to publish details or names all over the internet, but suffice it to say that while most of the council was on our side, there were some who had... other ideas and they called for a re-vote on clearing the street names to stall the project. So, we called the sign printer to put the order on hold until further notice while the council met that evening. Needless to say, despite the fun I had on the weekend I was rather distracted by the thought hanging constantly over my head that nearly everything I've worked for the last 5 weeks was hanging in the balance dependent upon a few political conflicts. I was mad. I really wanted to be at the meeting on Friday night, but looking back I'm really glad I wasn't because I probably would not have been pleasant. Instead, having had time to mull things over and put myself in a diplomatic mood, I met with the council, and specifically the dissenting voices thereon (I wish to make it clear again that the majority was in our favor all along). We had a great discussion and I was able to plead my case. It worked for the most part. They became very excited about the prospects of the project, in fact. Once again, I won't go into some of the original political motives that spurred this set-back, but ultimately where they found it easy to bash the project to their fellow council members, it was not so easy for them to look the project's architect in the eyes and bring up very many legitimate objections. Ultimately, their dissent was boiled merely down to a matter of the street names--which they've had opportunity to bring up for the past 4 weeks, but were silent! Nonetheless, as one of them in particular was a very important person to have on our side, I chose the diplomatic route and explained that we needed to get the signs printed ASAP but would give him 24 hours to make any suggested changes to the street names. When I came back tonight to get his suggestions, he was just beginning to make his list for the first time. (Have you ever wanted to hit your head repeatedly against a brick wall?) So, to insure that the job got done, Kyle and I sat down and watched him until he was done. He carefully weighed the name of EVERY street on the map for about five minutes and changed 40% of them (it would have been more, but I said NO to some of his proposed changes and I think he realized that he'd already looked the gift horse in the mouth long enough). Luckily, most of his name changes weren't too bad and some were actually very good suggestions (that would have been nice 3 weeks ago when we ASKED for suggestions!). Furthermore, in a further effort to appease me, he actually proposed switching 2 names around to give the name "Steve Kenworthy St" (named after my father) to a bigger and more important road! :D An hour and a half into the process Kyle had to leave, so he left me with his phone and I spent the rest of the night in Succotz on my own to finish my tasks. The name-changing game lasted another half hour after Kyle left. Anyway, patience paid off ultimately and all is a go once again, and all of the village council member are now on our side, which is very reassuring. Political loyalties can run deep in Belize, and it is very good news to see opposite ends of the spectrum unite over ANYTHING around here; I am glad to know that my project finally has such a unanimous approval!

I am only (barely) 23 years old, and sometimes I feel very young, like I still have lots of "growing up" to do. However, there are times when I feel so very adult-like. Facing off against a council member twice my age in a foreign country to defend a project I've poured hours and hours of time, energy, and concentration into definitely ranks up there in those "adult" experiences. Once all was settled I definitely had to pause for a moment and look around to see that this is the real life--is that ME doing these things? It's a weird feeling. I wonder if one ever grows accustom to feeling like an adult or if life's adventures continue to push one to more and more new experiences that  keep one wondering if it's for real. It is a weird feeling--this "adult" feeling, that is--that blends a happy sense of accomplishment with a wary sense of ever-pressing responsibility. When we were young, nothing we did truly mattered from a long-term perspective and even though it seemed like the entire world depended on Prom, we secretly always knew that our lives were completely care-free. It was a very free feeling, and I feel it less and less frequently now, but I think I like the greater depth of adulthood anyway.

Well, none of you came here to read rambling philosophical tangents, so I'll move on to more details from yesterday and today! But first, since I've addressed political matters in such a negative light thus far, I will balance with one happy political note: Sis. Medina won her election on Sunday to the San Ignacio/Santa Elena Town Council! She is now the first female Mormon in Belize to hold public office at so high a level! She will be an incredible member of the council.

Moving on now to other activities from yesterday and today, most of the first half yesterday was spent on the computer working on Succotz and Rainforest Haven (same today). Yesterday also had computer class and we taught them about email. Tomorrow will be our extra-long class on online business that all the students are extra-excited for. Computer class is definitely one of my favorite parts of being here. Our students are all very fun and intelligent and we've really been able to focus on useful skill in the class that will have lots of opportunity for use.

After computer classes, I headed to Succotz where I had my discussion with the dissenting council members, as mentioned earlier. We also did some final maintenance work on the adobe stoves and checked up on another stove that the village members have built all on their own at another location without any of our help! Isn't that great? They are building them for each other using the skills and design we taught them and now a healthier kitchen solution that vents harmful smoke out of the home is being employed at more and more locations in Succotz and the surrounding area without our having to supervise. I should have taken a picture of the new stove they built, because it also is very innovative and modifies the design brilliantly to accommodate specific circumstances. I'll get a pic next time I'm there.

Besides adobe stoves and my meeting with the council, I later met at the home of Jose Luis--one of the council members most supportive of our work and a good friend. (He's the one who's house is where we did Mackenzie's birthday after our tubing venture a few weeks back, and he often helps us out with anything we need when we're in Succotz). He had some additional business information for me to help the project. When I first got to his house, their adorable puppy, who was tied up, ran towards me but accidentally slipped and fell into the brand new 6-foot hole where Jose is going to install a septic tank and was essentially being hung by his own rope and collar. I jumped in the hole and saved poor little Negro (that's the puppy's name--it's Spanish, not racist). Their son Calvin wisely moved the stake where Negro was tied up to be a safer distance from the septic hole! By the way, Jose Luis has the two cutest kids in the world (at least for this paragraph). You've actually seen them before on the blog, but here's a new cute pic I got of them yesterday:

Calvin and Amy

Today, other than more computer stuff and the 2-hour street naming jamboree, Kyle and I visited some of the resorts near Succotz to solicit advertising for the brochure and had some positive responses. We also went to Benque Viejo Town to visit the print shop that is going to make the brochures for us. We go some samples printed, even though it definitely isn't done yet (after all, now I have to go back change half the street names!). The purpose of the samples was to see if the layout was correct for the folds and to see how the colors printed. Though they were only drafts, I must say I am very pleased with the quality of the print job! Take a look:

Now, the front pane on the folded pamphlet doesn't quite line up for the fold, so I need to adjust it. I also fully recognize that the front panel is as ugly as sin. Don't worry--it was a good concept gone terribly wrong and I intend to redesign it from square one (for the third time) tomorrow. However, the map looks gorgeous and We were very pleased. We are going to adjust a few colors on the map, but overall the design is just right!

After the naming meeting I attended (by myself--as you'll recall Kyle went back to San Ignacio during that meeting) I grabbed a quick bite to eat at Benny's kitchen (the best place to eat in Succotz, hands down) and then attended a meeting of the Environmental Youth Group of Succotz--a team of teenagers running an incredibly efficient and organized non-profit that is going to partner to build the up-coming Iguana Nursery for Succotz (similar to the one I toured a few weeks back). I was very impressed with how efficient they are and the initiative they show to get worthwhile projects done. If this group of young people (I was older than all 20 of them by at least 5 years--another one of those "old feeling" moments) is the future of Belize, then this nation is in good hands! After that meeting it was almost 8 (12 hour work days are exhausting!) and I took a Collective (long-distance taxi) back to San Ignacio.

The parrots who live at Benny's Kitchen in Succotz. Parrots can be either fun or annoying. These ones are domesticated, so they aren't so bad. The wild ones, you may remember from an earlier post, are the most annoying creatures known to man.

Futbol!

Today was great but largely another computer day. Today's post will be especially brief.

I worked a lot on the Succotz tourist map and have a preliminary draft done that I'm very pleased with. It reflects a lot of the data gathered in our recent "business tracting" venture in Succotz, organized and filtered for the most relevant entries and information. Take a look:

Can you find Iguana Rd?

We also had computer class and it went great! We started teaching about the internet today and how it can be used as a tool. Most of our students are adults who sell various things, often to tourists, and already are seeing the benefits of selling online. As they've done so well on everything so far, we decided that next Wednesday we are going to devote the entire class time to how to start a small online sales presence via eBay, Amazon, and social networking. This is all very exciting as it shows how our efforts at teaching these computer classes will not just give our students a mediocre introduction to computers in general, but real skills for application that will allow them to raise their standard of living.

In the evening, Katie had 7 more miles to run for the day to keep up with her Olympic-prep training schedule. I was her escort to the park and while there I ran into Pres. Lemos from the San Ignacio Branch of the LDS Church and his wife. It is fall futbol (soccer) season and he plays for San Ignacio United, one of the regional teams. These are very intense leagues, somewhere between intramurals and minor leagues in the U.S. From all of my observations, these leagues are a great blessing to Belize. Generally, the men who play on them tend to learn rigorous work ethics that translate into career habits since the leagues themselves don't pay so they have to make their living in other ways. It is a positive outlet for the men that can keep many of them from getting involved in gangs or drug rings. President Lemos is a really amazing man (and not too many years older than myself) and from what I can tell, the futbol leagues tend to be full of men of similar caliber. Tonight he and the others on their team began practice for the fall season and were setting up a bunch of cones and stakes to run maneuvers. So, I helped them set things up while chatting with Pres. Lemos and his wife as Katie ran her 7 miles (which only takes her 45 mintues--a consistent 6 & 1/2 minute mile pace and she never runs her fastest while just doing training runs). Anyway, it was great to chat with Pres. and Sis. Lemos, as they are both wonderful people. The evening made me wonder if Succotz has a team in the league and what a blessing that could be to their community.

These are the cones and pegs we set up.

Here are the players for San Ignacio United Futbol team, practicing their drills. Pres. Lemos is #4 in Blue.

I told you it would be short!

So...

So, have any of you noticed how often I begin my posts or even multiple paragraphs within one post with the word "so"? I've started to notice this unacceptable abuse of an unnecessary word, and will try my best to reform.

I have 2 weeks left in Belize to finish up the projects I'm leading while helping others finish up their own projects. It is crazy to think how little time is left and yet how much we have planned to make happen in those 2 weeks! Yesterday and today have been full of lots of little details and meetings with partners to make sure all the pieces are in place for these last 2 weeks to run smoothly and sufficiently to accomplish all necessary tasks. I'll get into some more detail, but first I have to rewind a bit and go back to Friday morning BEFORE the adventure to San Pedro and share 2 more birthday details. First is the happy birthday sign over the staircase:

This poster has been through a lot of birthdays! (I resisted a serious urge to start that sentence with "So,") It was put up originally over a month before I came for a team member from last wave named Shelbi for her 20th birthday. A few weeks later it was Sarah's birthday and the sign was still hanging, so they just put another piece of paper over the "helbi" in Shelbi and wrote "arah" over it to make it say "Sarah," who was also turning 20. That's what it looked like when I got to Belize. A week or two after I arrive, if you remember from an earlier post, it was MacKenzie's 20th birthday, so they put more paper over the name "Sarah" that said "MacKenzie." Finally, as it was still hanging for my birthday, they changed the "0th" in 20th to a "3rd", as shown above, and simply covered up the "Mac" and the "zie" in MacKenzie with yet more paper to make the resultant "Ken" shown above! To my knowledge, mine is the last birthday.

I also had one present to open in the morning before we left. There is quite a story to this. The week before last Lindsay's brother Jonathan came to visit for a week. He did a lot of adventuring around Belize, including a jungle trek for which he bought the standard instrument of choice of Belizeans: the Machete! He didn't intend to bring it back to the states with him as he had no room in his luggage and we joked about him giving it to one of us. He heard it would be my birthday 5 days after his departure, so the day he left I found this package on my bed:

 In case you can't read it, the note on this conspicuously machete-shaped gift says, "To: Ken It's a surprise! Don't open until your birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Birthday morning came and revealed this bad boy!

Hmm. Now that I'm conscientiously trying not to start each paragraph with "So," I'm now having to resist the urge to replace every instance with "Anyway". Without using an unnecessary word, let's move on to yesterday and today!

Yesterday in the morning I finalized a street sign template for the street names in Succotz. We also went on a price hunt to different sign makers to get various quotes and find the best price on the job (as well as for printing the map brochures). It was a productive morning and really helped lay out the time frame for the rest of this project.

In the afternoon I did additional computer work, but also taught the computer class. One student, Orlando (the one I mentioned previously who only has 8 fingers) is progressing amazingly. Obviously he doesn't work much on typing, but when it comes to the other computer skills we're focusing on, he's doing really well. We learned a lot more about Excel and were able to focus on not only learning basic things it does, but especially how to apply those functions to basic problem solving in business scenarios. We made up a fictional company and entered in hypothetical transportation costs data and used functions in Excel to help us organize and use the data to make hypothetical business solutions. That way, he not only learns what a spreadsheet is and how to enter things, but thinks about ways to use its powers to solve a problem and help out a business.

After computer class, Kyle, Lindsay, and I went to Succotz to scope out every street corner to see how many already had poles infrastructure in place for the signs. We were delighted to discover that most of the street corners already have places to hang signs on the power poles (very common street sign place in Belize) and that will save us a LOT on costs! 

Rainbow: a good omen shines over the village of San Jose Succotz!

After scoping out the street intersections, we returned to San Ignacio for dinner just as the remaining vacationers from the team arrived from San Pedro. Our wonderful cook, Mama Kay, is out of town in El Salvador this week (I believe she went to go see the temple open house) so we are eating out each night, paid for by the team funds that we'd usually pay Mama Kay with. We ate last night at a really nice and fun Kriol-themed tourist restaurant in downtown San Ignacio called "Flayva's". I'd eaten there one other time. The staff knows all of us and is very friendly. After dinner we finished the night off with our usual Monday night planning meeting.

Today began with more work in Succotz on 2 different projects. I primarily went around recontacting some of the businesses we tracted out, soliciting for some of the larger businesses to advertise on the tourist brochure. The advertising is projected to be immensely effective based on the distribution plan of the brochures and comparison to the virtual lack of advertising structure currently in place. Furthermore, the funds generated from the advertising will be invested back into the village by providing the village council with more money to subsidize the cleanliness initiative, education, and public health. 

We also revisited some locations of a former project: the adobe stoves project. I haven't written much about this project as it was primarily the work of the former waves. This was a great project that gave better cooking facilities to various poor families in Succotz. They formerly would cook in enclosed buildings over little pit fires--i.e., lung cancer waiting to happen. The adobe stoves provide the user with a self-venting system which can cook much more than a pit fire at a time and more efficiently while getting the smoke completely out of the house and away from vulnerable lungs. We built 5 such stoves in Succotz this summer and some of them simply needed some revisiting to finish a few loose ends and improve their efficiency. Meanwhile, the sustainability of the project is already in full swing as various individuals in the community are teaching others how to build the stove and so now at least 2 more stoves are being built even without HELP International's involvement! I only helped a little at the end of the morning today as I was doing business contacting around the village, but I helped a little at the end.

 Here is Jake, doing some repairs on Natalie's adobe stove.

Here is an all-new adobe stove in the making, completely begun by the people of the village themselves at a new location! This is the real fruits of such a project--to know that we haven't just built 5 adobe stoves to benefit 5 families, but that we've taught members of a community something new that will spread after we leave to bless many more families than that!

My business contacting had some good results, as well as some interesting discussion in general about the Succotz Revenue Generation project and its potential effects as well as pitfalls. Considering potential weaknesses was especially important for two reasons. First of all, if we recognize weak spots, we can try to prevent some of them in advance. Second, as not all weaknesses are preventable, it gives valuable insight into the nature of development work. It can give insight into how a project might be improved upon when implemented elsewhere. Furthermore, it reminds us to be humble and remember that there is no "silver bullet" for development work. I am hardly the first person to attempt to reverse the tide of poverty in a village--even this particular village--and should not expect this project to solve every possible problem there! Knowing this helps us remember to remain specific in the goals we want to see come to pass and focus on key areas where our particular skill sets can make the greatest impact that could perhaps win a battle even if not the whole war. I would love to see poverty eradicated from San Jose Succotz, but this one project alone will not do that. However, I do expect it to make a difference. Ultimately, the results I specifically see coming from my project are as follows:

1. Increased revenue to the village council, enabling them to:

    a) Make improvements to village infrastructure and trash collection system in the short term

    b) Subsidize education and public health in the long run

2. Increase the tourist-based revenue flow to private businesses in Succotz, thus helping those willing to work who currently struggle despite their best efforts to provide for their families.

3. Create a platform for further development projects especially via the increased link to the tourist industry, relevant national government agencies, and other partner non-profit organizations.

Not everyone will see a major business increase, but some definitely will. Not every child's education will be improved or decreased in costs, but some will. The public health system will not be completely perfected, but it will be improved. Ultimately, I believe that the impact will be very real, even if there will still be more to do for a very long time. 

After the morning in Succotz and a quick bite to eat, the whole team headed to the national capital of Belmopan to spend the afternoon at an orphanage, where we dropped of a number of care packages sent from the states with supplies such as toothpaste and brushes, clothes, hygiene items, etc. This is not a long-term or continuing project, but rather something we focused on just this afternoon. There were about 30 children there, all very eager for attention and most of them extremely bright. Once again, we are not in a long-term partner arrangement with this orphanage this year but were last year and the team last year recorded that they were not a good partner organization at all. We saw that for ourselves today. Our focus is on sustainable projects with continuing impact. There are literally scores of organizations who come to countries like Belize, do some sightseeing, visit orphanages and take pictures, then go back victoriously in the name of development work. Certainly visiting orphans is nice, and today was wonderful, but to come for a day or two and then leave does not make much lasting impact on the conditions of the lives of those therein, hence why today's visit was a one-time thing since we had care packages to deliver anyway. We quite enjoyed it, but it made me want to cry to see the poor conditions that these children grow up in. To change the orphanage would come down to somehow changing the hearts, minds, and methods of the rather irresponsible caretakers there. From all our observations today and in a needs assessment visit some team members made last week, the caretakers mainly just talk in the kitchen all day while the kids run around wild all day with absolutely no structure to their lives. They desperately need parental CARE but indications reveal very little available to them. Fortunately, other organizations do exist which focus specifically and entirely on orphanage reform around the world and I hope someday they visit the orphanage we visited today and focus on making long-term lasting changes there.

On a positive note, not all orphanages in Belize are like that. In fact, you may have been following the orphanage construction project we are working on I've written about several times before. That orphanage, where we are building additional small single and double room housing units, is a very trusted operation which provides a much better atmosphere for the kids living there than the one we visited in Belmopan today. I've focused a lot in this post on the sustainability of the projects we are involved in as it is very important to me that non-profits focus on making real change in the communities where they work. Too many international groups promote "volun-tourism" where people just visit sights and orphans, as described earlier. To be blunt, I believe this is largely a waste of the funds of those who invest in such organizations. There is already too little by way of funding for work like this to use it ineffectively! I know that may sound somewhat harsh, but I strongly believe that significant reforms are needed in the NPO/NGO world if the goals we all desire for humanity are to become a reality.

I'll get off my soap box now and conclude with some pictures from our orphanage visit. Once again, though not a long-term focus, it was an enjoyable afternoon and eye-opening to additional problems which still plague this struggling country. The kids were all great.

Ashley and Maren (not pictured here) led this mini-project and before our visit put together a small activity to help the kids focus on life goals and plans. In this way, even though we were only able to visit this one time, our visit was able to hopefully at least do a little bit of good for the kids beyond the supply drop-off. It was a great success, as you can see here the kids eagerly participating.

Sarah gives some one-on-one attention to an adorable 3-year-old named Jamesey.

 The kid in blue is Edgar. As part of the activity, we asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. After he told me he wanted to be a police officer, I told him I wanted to be a ninja when I grew up. He looked and me and said, "You're already grown up. It's too late now. You can never be a ninja!"

So, (sorry--old habits die hard!) overall yesterday and today have been particularly thought-provoking. I have been so grateful for the chance to help here, despite the limits that exist to development work. I am grateful to have been raised in a loving home and not an under-cared for orphanage. I hope with time we will someday see problems like that disappear forever as well all pool together to make one small difference at a time, specifically differences that are long-lasting and life changing!

Succotz Revenue Generation Project Phase One: DONE!

Sorry for no post yesterday. At the end of the day I just had lots and lots of little loose ends to tie up for things related to school and my business back in the states and I just never found the time to blog. However, yesterday is pretty easy to summarize. In the morning, 7 of us went to Succotz to finish up the business tracting project there, and finish we did! My companion for this third round was Maren. Overall during the three days we went to Succotz, we collectively gathered information profiling 67 businesses or notable public buildings/organizations in Succotz. That was a very exciting accomplishment! (See my previous posts on Succotz to get more information about this project if you're just joining the blog--it is my personal lead project and the flagship project of my entire experience in Belize).

However, in writing most of my day yesterday and much of today seems rather boring. Besides a break in the afternoon for computer classes at 3 (wherein the students continued to learn about Microsoft Word, specifically how to add and use objects like shapes and pictures), I spent most the time yesterday pouring through the 24 hand-written pages of collected information and entering it into an Access database with corresponding symbols of various kinds filling up a computer copy of the map I created, plotting where each business is located. Pretty boring from the outside, but as the project lead it was very exciting to see some of the fascinating discoveries and trends unfold as I sorted through all the information. This continued into today, interrupted at one point by a shorter-than-usual shift at the orphanage construction project, which I'll talk about a little later in this post. By 6:00 this evening I was finally done compiling all the information. For a taste of the madness of this project, let me show you a screen clipping of the map which has all my annotation symbols on it marking the locations of these various businesses by their types.

Besides the orphanage trip, the other trip I made beyond my computer today was to do some brief research on street sign prices. Rin and I went out to get some price quotes and although we managed to get information from the San Ignacio mayor's office about where they had the nice signs like the one below made for the streets of San Ignacio, we were unsuccessful at contacting the man they referred.

A loverly street sign in San Ignacio. Not sure what the origin of this street's name is, but it sounds awfully familiar...

Speaking of street signs and names, allow me to address that topic once more in relation to Succotz. As you may remember, I worked with the village council to come up with names for the streets in Succotz. The street names in the map I showed you above are mostly accurate, but a couple have changed and a handful have just been traded around. A final map will definitely be given later and tomorrow morning all street names should be final and we will send in our order for the street signs. If you examine the names on the map above closely, you'll find a blend of names with local significance (like Jose Luis St) or traditional association (like "Good Shepherd lane, which leads to the Good Shepherd clinic or Church St. which runs by the large Catholic Church at the center of the village); you'll find names from Mayan mythology (like Itzamna and Kukulkan); you'll find names of native Belizean animals (like Jaguar and Tapir); you'll find Belizean national figures and leaders (like George Price, Manuel Esquivel, and even Queen Elizabeth). You'll also find a couple surprises. I will not comment on or explain these surprises at present, but will showcase them in a later post. 

Now, as I mentioned, we worked a little bit today at the orphanage we are building as well (you may want to see previous posts for a description of this construction project). We had to start late due to rain and finish early because we all still had other afternoon projects to attend to. However, it is coming along nicely and hopefully should be done just in time before we leave Belize! Because it has been raining so much the last couple days, everything was super muddy today and we all came back pretty caked. The muddiest, of course, was our increasingly dwindling dirt pile, where our dirt crater became a lake we had to work around as we shoveled out the number of buckets of dirt we needed for another row of bags:

In the background you see Sarah and MacKenzie leaning over some worms that were found, as we are also still trying to acquire more worms for the soilet project.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Tomorrow should bring the beginning of Phase Two of the Succotz project, more computer classes, and an overnight visit to the Resort with the entire team for the Rainforest Haven project! That reminds me--I'm forewarning you that there will most likely not be a post tomorrow night because I won't have internet access. If I DO post, it will be because the weather is still too bad to make the resort trip worth it and I am thus still at home in San Ignacio. So, let's cross our fingers for good weather and I'll write again on Thursday! :)

Hard Times

So, today I've been here now 2 weeks. In a way, they've absolutely blown by, while in another I've been surprised that it's only been 2 weeks. I almost feel like I've been here forever and am a part of Belize now. I no longer walk around with that tourist look in my eyes, but rather see the tourists come through and feel like they're visiting my home town. This is just such a welcoming place and I absolutely love it here.

I've been introduced to something fantastic: Hard Times. Hard times are the unofficial national cookie of Belize. They are, as their name suggests, rather hard (perfect milk cookies) like an extra-hard cross-breed of shortbread and sugar cookie. They are perfectly medium in their sweetness level and deliciously addicting. The best part of the story: You can get an enormous bag of 50, like the one pictured below, for $1.50 Belize (that's just 75 cents US!)

Giant bag of hard times!

So, this morning we made lots more progress on the orphanage. The walls are about 9 ft high now, and the windows have their places held by some tires that we put some dirt-brick-bags around in keystone arch fashion today. (For a description of the unique construction process for these buildings, search under the click on the "orphanage" tag at the bottom of this post and it will show you all my posts describing the orphanage project).

 The walls are getting higher!

Building keystone arches around the windows

So, the architect of these unique buildings, Jaime, told us we should finish the bagging part of the construction this Friday, though I'm a little skeptical of that claim. My own estimate is Monday, but Friday would be cool. I'm excited to see the next step of this process. Besides, we're all getting REALLY tired of this phase. It was cool at first, but now it's just tiring hard labor out in the sun with no shade getting dirt all over ourselves. At least it's a worthwhile cause!

After getting back from the orphanage project (and showering to get the sweat and dirt off) and eating lunch it was time for computer class again! Maren was still in Belmopan on another project, so I took Katie with me instead to teach. We had another 2 new students including a nice older man who is missing 2 fingers on his left hand. Katie was showing him how to place your hands on the keyboard and he held up his hand and showed her the missing index and middle fingers. She was stunned for a second and then said, "Well, you can just type however you want to!" I don't think we'll be using Mavis Beacon for him. However, he did make good progress on the skills we learned today. The class is formatted so that the first half they practice their typing and then the second half we learn a new computer skill. Today we began teaching about Microsoft Word. It was very fun to watch them learn about the amazing world of word processing for the first time ever. After explaining the purpose and navigation of the program and the page we started showing them how to do basic formatting changes. At first they nodded their heads as we showed them how to make words bold. Eagerness grew as we showed them italics. Downright excitement emerged with underlining. Before long they could change color, size, font, and alignment and make both numbered or bullet-point lists. Watching their eyes get wider and wider was so fulfilling as a whole new world of possibilities opened up to them! We had so much fun and look forward to picking things up again on Monday. 

After computer class I did some Succotz stuff on my computer for the rest of the working day. At five I went with Katie to the track so she could run her 5 miles for the day while I read a book. We came back for dinner and then all did our own thing throughout the evening. It's been a pretty good and fulfilling day. Tomorrow is looking to be exciting and full as well, like usual. Tune in then, same Ken-time, same Ken-channel!

P.S. I'll bet you all thought this would be a depressing post based on the title. Ha! Fooled you! Hard times are just tasty cookies! :)

Wayeb!

So, according to the Mayan calendar, today was supposed to be the most unlucky day of the year. The Mayans followed a lunar calendar, but they recognized that this did not match with the solar year, so the five extra days that don't match up are called Wayeb and they fall from July 21-25. These are unlucky days of limbo when Xibalba (hell) is allowed to unleash its worst demons who wreak havoc everywhere. The last day of Wayeb (today) is especially unlucky since the demons have to get the last of their evil out before being reigned back in the next day. Well, if today was the least lucky day of the year then that is incredibly good news, because I thought it was pretty good, so the rest of the year should be spectacular!

The symbol for Wayeb on the Mayan Calendar

Although it was a good day, it was another one of those boring ones where I did a lot on my laptop again. I worked a lot more on the Rainforest Haven website, which is coming along amazingly and also did further research and paperwork for the Succotz revenue projects. Tomorrow should be a really exciting day for that one, as about half of the team is coming to Succotz with me to tract out the businesses there and start creating our in-depth business profile of the village. I'm really looking forward to beginning the real work of this project! :)

Monday is also one of the days for our computer classes, and I'm happy to report that the advertising we did last week worked and we had four eager learners at our class today! Two of them had never used a computer in their lives! It was kind of weird but cool teaching things like what a monitor was versus a computer and how to turn each of them on. I taught how to use a mouse and what programs and files are and Maren started the class on typing lessons. We are excited to see them all again on Wednesday. We've planned a great 4-week course to introduce the students to basic computer knowledge, typing skills, Microsoft Office essentials, and the internet. It was exciting to see how much progress they made in just an hour today!

Our computer students use "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" 

Overall, it was another fulfilling productive day in Belize, even if this post is rather boring! I hope you all survived the days of Wayeb in relative safety and have a happy Mayan New Year tomorrow! :)

Back to work!

Well, the weekend is over and we dove right back into work again with another amazing, busy day in Belize. My time was basically divided among 3 projects:

First, a pretty large portion of our team went about 5 miles out of town to help with a continuing project of building an orphanage. We actually are working on some smaller buildings that will be for 16+ year-old girls who are kicked out of orphanages for being too old and need somewhere else to go. When I first saw the type of buildings we are making, two pop-culture references immediately came to mind: The Flintstones and Planet Tatooine from Star Wars. Take a look:

Admittedly not the best picture, but I'll get a better one when I'm there next time.

The process for making these unique buildings is very interesting and I've photo-documented nearly every step (at least those that we did today). So, here's how it works...

First, we get 40 buckets of dirt. This dirt had lots of fire ants in it. Fun times. (Luckily I didn't get bit--I'm slightly allergic!)

Then we add some cement...

...and water...

...and mix it all into a moist dirt lump. 

Next, the moist cement-dirt goes BACK into the buckets...

...and is transferred to these bags...

...which will dry into these bagged bricks. They get their squared, brick-like shape by...

...FIRST: pounding them on top with one pounding implement and then...

...SECOND: beating them on the sides with another.

So, that was my morning project for the day. Once we finish all the bags they will be covered in some sort of plaster to make buildings like those shown above, but I haven't witnessed that step yet. This is an interesting form of construction work that I'm sure I'll get to know a lot better in the coming weeks! :)

After 3 hours of working on the orphanage, I went back home to grab a quick lunch and had to slightly alter my lunch plans after discovering that my bread had gone bad after only one and a half days. :-/ Luckily I still had to tortillas, peanut butter, and one more banana (a genius combination!)

Anyway, after lunch I went with Kyle and Lindsey to a nearby village where the team has done a lot of work known as San Jose Succotz (Just plain Succotz for short). This town is where the Xunantunich Mayan ruins I saw on Saturday were. Unfortunately, despite being attached to the second-most popular tourist site in Belize, Succotz suffers from massive poverty problems and is far worse off than San Ignacio/Santa Elena. This is a very complex problem and thus far the team's projects in Succotz have focused largely on fighting small portions of poverty and its effects. These projects have been quite successful, but the three of us went to Succotz today to begin research and work on an idea much larger in scale. So, today I officially became a team lead on our newly inaugurated "Succotz Revenue Generation Project." We met with the village chairman (basically the mayor of Succotz) to talk about the lack of financial capital available to the village council to fully provide the services that will stave off poverty. It is a very complex issue, but the three of us who went feel we have some great ideas to renovate the financial system of the village council/public funds in order to set off a domino effect chain of events that will ultimately lead to a wide-scale improvement in the standard of living in this charming little village. The explanation is a little lengthy to include in this blog post, but don't worry... you'll hear lots more in the coming days as I think this will be my main project personally. If successful, the model we implement with stimulating the revenue stream in this village could be implemented in lots of other villages and have a massive impact on fighting poverty. It is very exciting work and I'll be sure to keep you updated. You'll hear lots more about Succotz in future posts.

 Google Maps' image of Succotz was just a blurry mess. This is the much better Bing Maps version. We're going to use this to create the very first ever MAP of Succotz!

At 3:00 fellow team member Maren and I went to the Cornerstone Foundation, a local community outreach center, to teach computer classes. We inherited this project from two other team members who just finished their time in Belize and went home. We didn't really know what to expect except that usually 5 or so people come and they are all on completely different levels. (By the way, it's really fun to place "expect" and "except" side by side in a sentence.) We decided we'd get a feel for the class and just wing it, but soon discovered that there wasn't much to worry about; for the first 20 minutes nobody showed up! Finally, two girls showed up but they weren't actually very interested in the computer classes, and just ran themselves through some typing lessons on the classic old school "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing." Maren and I decided we would take the opportunity to at least take some pictures with the girls at the computers being "taught" by us so that we could make some flyers and generate some more interest in our classes. The class was never previously publicized or advertised in any way, so hopefully this will generate some more students before our next class on Wednesday afternoon and we can turn these classes into the most hoppin' joint in San Ignacio! :-P

Publicity shot of Maren teaching

Publicity shot of me teaching

Both of us outside the Cornerstone Foundation (by the way, San Ignacio is built on an enormous hill, as you can see!)

After computer class, I spent most of the rest of the day doing research for the Succotz revenue project, with a wonderful dinner from Mama Kay (did I mention yesterday that she taught the Sunday School lesson and did a fantastic job?). Tonight she cooked us a very American meal of macaroni & cheese, fried chicken, rolls, and vegetables. Overall, it was a very busy, wonderful day. One last evening picture:

At the end of the day, Maren, Katie, and I relax in the kitchen, update our blogs, etc. 

(By the way, can you find the iguana?)