Mabil Ha

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We had learned what we could at the remote Belizean village. We had collected water samples and measurements from the beautiful spring a mile and a half from the school. We had done the same at the hand pump across the track where the women were collecting drinking water in five gallon buckets. We had looked, to no avail, for the village council chairman and the judicial alcalde. Now it was time to leave.

As we turned the rented Jeep around on the rocky track – you could barely call it a road – two men stepped out of the jungle in front of us. Both were short, compared to Americans; both carried long machetes and wore calf-high rubber boots into which they tucked grey trousers; both had now familiar smooth honey-hued complexions and angular Mayan features. The older and stockier of the two, carrying a large bundle of firewood on his back, approached the passenger side. Our Mayan host and guide lowered the window and opened a verbal exchange in rapid Kekchi.

We learned that the man in the blue t-shirt with the small “Best Buy” logo was the chairman and had invited us to his house for a meeting. We walked with him a short distance to a well maintained rectangular wood plank building. It had a tall peaked roof thatched in cohune palm fronds like most in the village.  He invited us onto the small porch by the front door. The younger man, his son, used a handmade broom to sweep it free of loose debris, while the father gathered from inside the house four epoxy deck chairs in forest green and blue, just like we would find in any state-side WalMart.

We explained that we represented Living Waters for the World and were interested in working with the village to find a way for them to provide clean water for their village for a generation; so that his son’s son could grow up always drinking safe water. The conversation proceeded, mostly in English, but with occasional rapid-fire exchanges in Kekchi between our guide and the chairman, as we discussed a range of issues involving how often kids missed school because they were sick and whether the community of subsistence farmers would be willing and able to pay a small amount for safe drinking water.

About midway in the conversation another young man rode up to the house on a sturdy bicycle with fat tires. He got off the bike with a big grin, and greeted our guide effusively in Kekchi. The alcalde, our guide explained, and the conversation resumed in an animated mix of English and Kekchi. I occasionally glanced past the chairman into the house and saw other family members, one with a baby on her hip, making corn tortillas with a press and cooking them on an open hearth in the bare dirt floor area at the back. At one point the chairman’s son graciously offered us, as honored guests, what looked like Tang in clean plastic cups. Our guide quickly intervened and asked if the water had been boiled. When the son said no, I smiled and said that we gringos had weak stomachs and couldn’t handle water that wasn’t boiled. Our guide took one cup and offered the other to the alcalde.

As the conversation wound to a close, we asked about how reliable the water supply was in the hand pumps nearest to the school: did they run dry at any point in the year? This prompted an extended conversation in Kekchi between our guide, the chairman and the alcalde. I listened intently to the cadence and the color of the language, hoping to catch the occasional English word that might provide a clue to the conversation. To my surprise, the words I heard from the chairman were ‘climate change.’ I watched our guide nod knowingly as the conversation continued and later the alcalde repeated ‘climate change.’ Finally the three of them reached a consensus and translated for us: the wells, and even the spring itself had dried up once during a drought four years earlier. But they were concerned about the effect climate change was having on their rain patterns and couldn’t be sure that they wouldn’t have more frequent dry periods in the future. Whatever decisions we made would have to take that into consideration.

I was astounded. In this remote village in the Belizean jungle, two hours from paved roads, where an eighth grade education was about all one could hope for, the villagers spoke knowingly and with grave concern about the implications of climate change on their way of life. Meanwhile, US presidential candidates speak derisively about whether we should be wasting our time in Paris climate meetings.

We concluded our discussions, promising to stay in touch through our guide and host as we work out possible approaches to partnership for providing clean water. As we drove slowly out of the village on the rocky one lane track, and back to our paved version of civilization, my mind swirled with the paradox of the powerful in the first world, whose mantra seems to be ‘more’ and the simple wisdom of the village with an eye toward self-sufficiency and ‘enough.’

Team home safely and thankful

By Monday noon, 10 members of the Belize mission team were safely home. Dvera Hadden-Ford picked up her daughter Ellie at the Knoxville airport around 11 a.m., and Herb drove everyone else home. On Sunday Teresa declared the mission trip successful, based on her husband Ray's criteria for Boy Scout outings--no broken bones, no trips to the hospital. Our team had bug bites but no Medevac flights.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. Thanks to you we built relationships as well as tables in Belize. Thanks to your prayers we had a safe visit and returned safely. Even the travel insurance industry owes you big time!

Five stuck in Atlanta

BELIZE TEAM UPDATE: As far as this blogger knows, all members of the Belize team, except the Haddens and a Krause, arrived safely in Knoxville on Sunday night. The remaining five were on a flight booked last November. You would think Delta-Alaska Airlines had plenty of weeks to get our plane ready for a 9:10 p.m. flight from Atlanta to Knoxville on March 17. But no, the pilot couldn't get an engine started after taxiing a long way down the runway. So the plane taxied all the way back and dropped off the passengers at the gate, allowing them to eat yogurt and watch a CNN special on tar sands. A half hour later, the flight was canceled. Five members of the Belize team were stuck in Atlanta. They were given vouchers for a Holiday Inn stay and a new flight on Monday morning. The Haddens got a suite in the hotel. The blogger asked for a room next to the Haddens. So she got an equally large room to herself--what she called the suite spot. It was much more luxurious than the cabin in the jungle. "I could get used to this," she said. The only problem was that she had to sleep in her clothes. There ain't nothing sweet about that.--ck

Church blogger patted down on her birthday

An FPCOR blogger was patted down on St. Pat's Day. It happened at the Atlanta airport Sunday. TSA reported that they wanted to help Carolyn celebrate her 68th birthday, but they didn't know any other way to give her the special attention she deserved than to pat her down. For an extra special treat a TSA hand inspector wiped her palms, read the lines, and predicted that the Belize team would arrive home safely. Carolyn wanted to thank TSA for the special treatment on her birthday, but she tends to feel insecure around security, so she said nothing. But she felt good about the whole experience. Even the body scan was OK because it didn't FEEL invasive and she saw herself as one of the Frozen Chosen trying to do a jumping jack. She declared to Mary: "The tourists have won."

Final Boarding Call

 Sunday morning - A quick post to let everyone back home know all is well (so far).
I board in 10 minutes from Philip Goldston International Airport to Houston and then back home late tonight. Everyone else is flying Delta an hour later thru Atlanta.
We finished the trip last night on a high note, with all of us chartering a sailboat for a sunset cruise, followed by Happy Birthday Brownies for Carolyn.
We're all looking forward to being back home and sharing our adventures face-to-face.
See you Wednesday if not sooner.
- d

Not yet "boated" off the island

Today is our last full day in Belize. Our Wifi here at the Conch Shell Inn on the Ambergris Caye is much more reliable than the satellite service at Jaguar Creek. That's my excuse for late posts. This morning after our devotionals and breakfast on the beach, Dan led the group on a half-mile walk to the Holy Cross Anglican School for first through eighth graders. We met Mr. Freddy, who gave us a tour of the school, which has 450 students, making it the second largest school on the island. We saw the cafeteria and two classrooms with kids. They were attending Saturday school to prepare for a major test. He then showed us the Living Waters system that Dave Mullins, Douglas Flores, and Dan installed inside the school last August. Dan pointed out the pipe that brings sometimes unreliable, chlorinated city water into the school and the pipe that carries rainwater collected in a tank to the LWW system. Inside two vertical blue cylinders next to the wall are carbon membrane filters of different sizes to filter out particles and some bacteria. Ultraviolet light is beamed into the relatively clean water to kill the remaining bacteria and viruses, or at least disable them so they cannot reproduce. But there's a problem. The Belize health department told Douglas that the school would be shut down if the rainwater was not chlorinated before being used by the school. So the Belize unit of Water Missions International (for whom Flores works) will eventually install a chlorinator that will be inserted into the delivery pipe. Dan expressed surprise that the health department called for a chlorine level of 2-3 ppm (parts per million) since 4 ppm is the maximum allowable level in the U.S., and the LWW-treated water is perfectly safe to drink without chlorine. Also it tastes better; many people don't like to drink chlorinated water. Hmmm. Is it possible that the local water vendors don't like the competition? Who knows? In 2003 Bowen & Bowen, which distributes Crystal bottled water, donated a half million dollars to the prime minister's campaign. In Belize the politics of water may be colliding with church efforts to bring clean, less expensive water to poor Belizeans in small villages. May God help us combat this social injustice.--ck

From wildlife to a wild ride

Dale, Chuck, Mary, and Carolyn rose at 5:45 a.m. and drove to nearby Blue Hole National Park for a birdwatching walk with a guide and bird expert married to a Jaguar Creek staffer. Equipped with binoculars, we saw hummingbirds, orioles, tanagers, robins, warblers, hawks, a toucan, and a social flycatcher. We walked to the Blue Hole, which is a sinkhole flooded by a tributary. Seven of us left Jaguar Creek at 9:30 this morning to head for the airport. On the way we drove through Armenia and continued along the road. We noted that many of the small houses are built from concrete blocks with or without stucco or from wood. Most houses have either thatched roofs or corrugated metal roofs. Our next stop was the Art Box, where we bought some presents. Then we enjoyed a visit to the Belize Zoo, which is still directed by founder and environmental activist Sharon Matola. (Read "The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw" by Bruce Bartow to learn about her.) Hannah drove Anne, Ashley, Caleb, Carolyn, Ellie, and Teresa to Cheers for lunch. Then we headed for the airport and got a driver for the van at the car rental place to drive us through congested Belize City to the water taxi port. We took a water taxi across the Caribbean Sea to Ambergris Caye, an almost two-hour ride that was quite noisy. We were joined by Dan, Chuck, Dale, and Mary. We ate at the Blue Hole Grill and stayed at the Conch Shell Inn, close to where the water taxi docked.--ck

Completion of two missions Thursday

Hannah's Gang of Four--Anne, Ellie, Ashley, and Caleb--completed building and painting 12 tables for kids, with the help of Jaguar Creek staffer Abraham. Table colors are green, orange, yellow, and purple. Similar colors ended up on the arms and legs of the Gang. School Principal Brian Watson, formerly of Colorado, sat on a table after its plywood top was nailed, screwed, and glued to the four legs. Wearing his quality assurance hat, he approved the construction job. At 11:30 some 400 students walked outside the two-story green school for an assembly. They lined up and stood quietly when Brian raised his hand (they raised their hands, too). Brian expressed his gratitude to Hannah and her Gang of Four, who were asked to stand in front of the assembly at an elevated level. Kids in their green uniforms brought large hand-made cards to the FPC team. Each illustrated card was signed by all the pupils in a class. Each little Belizean bringing a gift hugged the FPCer receiving it. Ashley said the hug was the highlight of her day. The FPC group also watched boys' and girls' soccer matches between the Armenia school teams and teams from a Belize City school. The Armenia school girls' team won easily and the boys' team lost by a shootout.

Dale held her third clinic in three days. She saw 15 patients at the clinic in the Armenia Development Center and 26 at the dilapidated but partially painted clinic in St. Margaret.
The indoor lavender paint had no noticeable odor. Mary signed up patients and took weight and temperature measurements. Teresa played pharmacist and again enjoyed having Elvis, the motorcyclist, as her Spanish translator. Carolyn, deemed recovered enough to work for rather than sign up for Dale's clinic, resumed her role as the Mean American. She pricked brown fingers and drew red blood drops for blood sugar measurements. Her patients smiled forgivingly at her if their results were below 160 when she said, "Buenos." She also learned to take blood pressure measurements with a sphygmomanometer, making her homesick for the automatic BP machine. Dale reported that she saw a lot of diabetics and patients afflicted with fungus. Teresa said the Mennonite couple, who have family in  Tennessee, paid her with bags of lettuce and cauliflower.

Tomorrow we are leaving the Jaguar Creek Mission and Conference Center. We will miss the jungle music, especially the birds. The howler monkeys were less appreciated; they sounded like a monster gasping for breath in the middle of the night! The food here was wonderful, and the Belizean staff members were gracious, kind, and accommodating. Carolyn especially appreciated the elevated boardwalk that allowed her to walk comfortably without causing discomfort to the snakes in the grass below.--ck

Elementary, Mr. Watson

Thursday- I met this morning with Brian Watson, principal of the Armenia Government Elementary School. By his count, he has 404 students in his charge. They call him Sir Brian or Mr. Watson, and they always say please if they expect to get anywhere with him. We first met Brian when he was principal of La Gracia Elementary near Yalbac where we installed our first water system. We were surprised and delighted when we discovered that he had been transferred to Armenia. He was impressive in La Gracia and he's impressive in Armenia.
A year ago, Peggy met with Brian and asked what he needed. He said white boards. We raised $600 from you, the congregation, and began exploring white board quality and shipping options. Ultimately we decided it was better to trust Brian to know what he needed and to purchase them in country. We transferred the funds to Brian last fall and waited to hear what he did with them.
This morning Brian apologetically explained to me that he and Marin Rosado, his vice principal, had spent a good deal of time researching white board quality, both in various retail outlets and other schools. They ultimately decided to build their own. We sent them money expecting to finance two 4x8 foot white boards. Instead, he and Mr. Rosado built one 4x12 white board and installed it in a new classroom. They have money left to build two more for classrooms that don't yet have windows.
I asked him how we could help with additional white boards. By way of answer, he told me a story. He explained that the second floor of the school was scheduled to be built eventually by the government. There were no immediate plans or funds available and he needed the classroom space. He went to his parents and said we need to build it. Many said it's a government school, that's the government's job. He said you're the government; you elected them, you pay their salaries through your taxes, you have the power to build the second floor of this building. He found funding for materials from a variety of sources, and got the community to do much of the work on weekends alongside him. It's almost finished, and lacking only windows and doors for one more classroom and several offices. He said the estimates came in at $16,000 Belize for the rest of the materials. He told his parents that if they could raise $8,000 of that, he had an American donor who would match it. The fund-raising thermometer outside his office currently stands just below the $8,000 mark. He says there are a number of pledges still out.
I asked the obvious question: would a dollar match work for white boards? He answered with an emphatic yes. He says it's critical to get buy-in from his teachers and parents, even if it'll take longer. I asked how many and how much. He did some quick calculations: 11 boards at $400 Bz each is $4400; divide by two for your share is $2200 Bz, or $1100 US. Doing things indecently and out-of-order, I committed our congregation to that amount on the spot. He said don't hold your breath, we need to recover from our building drive. I said we'd wait to hear from him. He promised: you will. And he grinned.
- dan

Elvis, you rock

Wednesday, March 13. Carolyn, one of the members of the medical team, woke up with the Jaguar Creek runs (just as the Roane Staters had earlier in the week). So she decided to stay in the cabin and finish a book about Belize, walk around, convalesce, and blog, so she wouldn't be declared a slacker. Hannah drove the medical team to the dilapidated but spacious medical clinic in the village of St. Margaret. She registered 43 patients, mostly adults; Dale saw 15 in the morning and 28 in the afternoon. Mary and Hannah handled getting the vitals--height, weight, temperature, pulse, respiratory, blood pressure and glucose measurements. Hannah also drove the table team to the elementary school in Armenia. At the clinic, "pharmacist" Teresa was pleased with her translator, Elvis, 16. She said, "Elvis, you rock," breaking down cultural barriers. The team learned that two female students from Texas Tech and Virginia Tech and three men had obtained permission from Miss Lillie, a community leader in St. Margaret, to install windows in and paint the clinic, which has four large rooms and a bathroom that needs a lot of work. (Apparently, they represented a group that wants to "adopt" the clinic.) They painted it on Tuesday and returned to apply paint today. Teresa, who had persuaded a representative of the Ministry of Health that our medical team was providing a good service, also negotiated with the college students to hold off their painting till Thursday morning, even though the FPC team will hold a half-day clinic there in the afternoon. Will the fresh paint be a problem for the medical team and patients? Stay tuned to the next blog. Speaking of painting, the team of Anne, Hannah, Caleb, Ashley, and Ellie spent today painting the nine tables they completed with help from Jaguar Creek staffer Abraham. They will apply a second coat, build and paint three more tables, and distribute the tables to the preschool and elementary school in Armenia on Thursday. We can't wait to see how much paint they get on their hands and old clothes. Some observations: March is one of the months of the dry season in Belize, but we have had heavy rain here on Monday night, Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning. That's good for Belize villages because they need the Caves Branch River water for washing clothes. Belizeans drink bottled water but it is terribly expensive for these low-income, poverty-stricken people. That's why the FPC team is striving to build relationships here and install Living Waters for World systems to make collected rainwater safe to drink and inexpensive. In Belize a few control the wealth and many have little. However, like the country folks who have lived near the Smokies, the Belizeans we are seeing are poor but, with the jungle and Maya mountains, they live in a rich natural environment and have close relationships with each other.--Carolyn

Tennessee Volunteers

At our medical team's clinic at Armenia, we benefited from having three volunteers from Roane State Community College in the morning. Call us the Tennessee Volunteers in Armenia. Sue, an RSCC occupational therapy teacher, served as a Spanish translator. Roane State students Kayla and Jessica took and recorded weight, height, pulse, and blood pressure measurements. Mary, who registered patients in the morning, and Carolyn took over their jobs in the afternoon. Carolyn pricked fingers, transferred blood drops to test strips in a glucometer, and recorded measurements of blood glucose. Only one of the 55 patients we saw today had a high glucose level; Dale determined the reading was due to the woman patient taking Prednisone. Teresa served as pharmacist, and Dale saw the patients, including many cute children and babies. Filberta of Armenia served as Dale's translator. She can speak Creole, Kekchi, Mayan, Spanish, and English, of course. The clinic is in the preschool building. Hannah, who drove the van, took the medical and table-building teams to Armenia, both in the morning and afternoon. Anne, an industrial engineer, organized the table builders into an assembly line. She, Ellie, Caleb, Hannah, and Ashley, working with Abner and Abraham, completed eight tables and part of the ninth. They worked in one unfinished room of the new second story of Armenia elementary school; kids were in classrooms on most of the second floor. (Martin told me that the school has 1000 kids and Armenia has a population of 4000.)
Caleb played soccer with the boys during two recesses. He also helped the medical team by     moving heavy tables and carrying the bulky medical supplies suitcase. After sanding tables, Hannah visited the preschool and registered patients at the medical clinic in the afternoon. It was a successful day.
-Carolyn

Power Brokers

Mike Bowen
On our first trip to Belize in 2005, we discovered Belikin beer. On following trips we discovered Bowen and Bowen, purveyors of Belikin, Guiness, Coca Cola products and Crystal water. Basically, if you drink it and it isn’t a milk product or a fruit juice, Bowen and Bowen makes it. Founded by patriarch Barry, B & B is a business dynasty in Belize. In addition to drinkables, they grow coffee, farm raise shrimp, make a line of hot sauces, and run a resort in the middle of the jungle near the village of Gallon Jug.
Barry, a Belizean senator much of his adult life, and a private pilot, died in a plane crash several years ago. His estate was divided amongst his kids, several of whom were called back from the States to take on roles of responsibility in the company.
Today Chuck and Mac Kelton and I had lunch with Michael Bowen, Barry’s son and President / CEO of Bowen and Bowen. Joining us was David Vasquez, a Regional Sales Manager. How this came about is a long story worth telling at another time. We had no idea what to expect, and neither (I guess) did he. Michael was younger than I anticipated; probably late 30s. He and David were also both much more open and personable than I had hoped. We had an interesting and wide-ranging lunch discussion, covering a wide range of topics. They even included water! David and Chuck got involved in a detailed discussion about communities that we should investigate for water needs between Belmopan and Jaguar Creek; Mike and I discussed access to their water labs in Ladyville, and whether B&B could help us buy water bottles. Mac and David worked on getting Crystal to provide water for the clients at Jacob’s Farm.
All in all, it was a worthwhile and enjoyable encounter. And, I hope, the beginning of a long and beneficial relationship.
- dan