april adventures

on april 17th, one hundred and fifty youths from every corner of belize participated in the third annual national chess olympiad. the afternoon before the big event, coy and i boarded the village bus with 11 children in tow, as well as the vice principal and one dedicated parent. we arrived at caves branch after dark, with our fellow northern chess players from the corozal district. after a delicious plate of rice and beans and stewed chicken, we headed over to sibun camp, where we would spend the night.

the lodge at sibun camp

coy and the chess players walking down the main path at caves branch

everyone rose early the morning of the olympiad, eager to meet their opponents and see the nation’s capital (many of them were traveling to belmopan for the first time!). after breakfast, we boarded a bus with the corozal crew and headed over to the university of belize gymnasium in the beautiful garden city (belmopan). coaches lined up to register their teams, as kids from around the country proudly displayed their banners and t-shirts. ambassadors from all over the western hemisphere joined in the opening ceremony, where each district paraded their teams “down the gauntlet” to the castle, where they shook hands and were greeted and congratulated by the diplomats, as well as the “king” and “queen”. stann creek district stole the show when their teams entered through a cloud of smoke and were proceeded by a marching band and dancers, as well as a traditional garifuna drumming and dancing group. each participant played five rounds of chess to determine the nation’s best players. in between games, there was face painting, a practice corner, puzzle area, clay sculpting, and refreshments.
the eleven students we accompanied from guinea grass had the honor of representing the entire district of orange walk. while we didn’t walk away with a trophy, they can now say that they’ve played against the best chess players in the country. we are proud of all of them for having the determination and courage to participate in such a huge event.

our very own rook masters of orange walk


stilt dancer

the UB gymnasium full of chess mayhem!

since elias’ visit last month, when he artistically constructed garden beds and boosted the soil with manure and compost, coy has been in gardening heaven. he has planted everything from sunflowers to okra, and works diligently each day to maximize their growth. unfortunately, growing organic is as not as easy as it sounds, and the leaf cutter ants have taken a liking to nearly every seedling they come across. in spite of their trail of wreckage, coy insists on refraining from spraying pesticides, which is what most of the neighbors recommend. if we end up with a garden full of exclusively marigolds and tomatoes, then so be it.

our awesome horseshoe shaped beds

leaf cutter ants determined to thwart our gardening vision!

as a celebration of the completion of our world map, we decided to plan the first ever earth day event at guinea grass pentecostal school. we wanted to plant mahogany trees around the school yard (the mahogany is the national tree), and we needed a way to tie that in with the map. i did a little research, and decided to teach a brief lesson about deforestation. the original settlers to belize came to log and stripped the land of most of the mahoganies, so there was a connection to the global concern. maestro pabel identified five students to help us deliver the speech, and the principal helped to distribute the tree seedlings. each class was named guardian of a tree, and will be responsible for watering it and creating a small fence around it. students were introduced to new places like brazil, indonesia, congo, and madagascar, and taught the importance of protecting our natural resources.

standard 2 students helped to lead the lesson on deforestation

the whole school lined up in front of the map for our earth day celebration

the principal congratulates preschool and infant 1 students on their tree planting

students pitch in to transfer seedlings to the ground

standard 6 teacher and students transferring their mahogany seedling

the past few weeks, i have been shifting my focus from school onto a group of young women from the community. after several failed attempts at starting a women’s group, i decided to target a younger population. i spoke with my friend elisa, the women’s director of her church, and she was thrilled to get things started. we have 14 girls in the group, as well as two women who regularly attend meetings and events. elisa is teaching us a variety of crafts, including sewing, and making flowers out of ribbon. the girls love it. in order to raise money for materials and activities, the girls coordinated a garnache sale last saturday evening at the football field. each of them donated something for the garnaches, like beans, cheese, cabbage, or tortillas. we raised enough money to charter a pickup truck for our first outing! on mother’s day, we took a fieldtrip to the nearby mayan ruin, lamanai, to investigate what the local women’s group there was doing. we met with two different women from the group, and got a tour of their village workshop, as well as their gift shop at the ruin site. the girls were excited and inspired by what they saw and heard.

trying to figure out "whose the leader?"

delmi and loreny at the top of the high temple

afterwards, we took a trip around the ruins, climbed the highest pyramid, and swam in the lagoon. elisa and i snuck in various teambuilding activities, and encouraged the girls to take note of the cooperation and support needed for the women’s group to prosper. while we are still figuring out exactly how we want to structure our own group, we do hope to continue learning crafts as an eventual way to gain income, and include lessons for the girls on major life skills like self-esteem, decision making, and setting goals.