Wow!!! It is officially one week that we have been living in Belmopan, Belize. It is the capital of Belize, which is an hour and a half away from Belize City. This month my team of 6 are collaborating with two other teams from our squad of 36- which means there 19 girls in total living and serving among each other. We have been blessed to stay at Belize Basecamp with our host and founder – Miss Mona.
Miss Mona is a very kind and hospitable woman who started this ministry about 8 years ago. In a nutshell, her mission is to serve God, and listen to Him in the different ways He wants her to reach out to people in poverty. She and her son partners with other organizations and churches in Belize who need support in specific areas. She also opens up her home and hosts many different groups from around the world -including the world race- and she pairs us up with different local ministries and groups who can use our extra support.
Some of the ways will be serving this month include: family planning for single moms, serving women who have been abused, doing VBS vocation bible school for children, helping reformed prisoners who found Jesus, and building a gate for her basecamp or beautifying a local Catholic school.
One of the local schools we are focusing on is a nearby walk from the basecamp. The students speak English as their second language even though Belize is mainly an English speaking country. Their first language is Spanish or Creole. Most of the students and their families are refugees from El Salvador and Honduras. There has been a lot of tension and strife in these countries for years that caused many families to escape and come to Belize for peace. Although it may be more peaceful, according to a few locals, there is still an eerie lack of hope in this country.
After talking with Miss Mona and getting to know the community we serve, it really seems like churches are the only organizations working to build hope, offer a way for opportunity, possibilities, community, healing from the past, life skills and building character. The population is well aware of who God is, but many don’t have a strong faith or are putting him as their guiding compass in life.
The principal of the Catholic school we are serving with explained how the education system works in Belize. Most families come with the mindset that this school is a only an optional small school when actually Belize requires all children to attend school up until 8th grade, and if not there are consequences like the U.S. Most children are way below their grade level. This has happened because some refugee families was unable to take their children to school back in their original country. Therefore, some students may have came to this school as an 8 year old without knowing how to spell their name.
On top of this, going to school is expensive. It cost approximately $125 in USD per year to go to an elementary school. The currency in Belize is the Belize Dollar and it is worth twice as much as the USD, So 4 USD equals 8 Belize Dollars. Therefore, it is $250 in Belize Dollars to just go to elementary school. All students are required to go to school up to 8th grade, and after that families have to pay even more money for their children to go to high school. However, since high school is very expensive, it is easier for students to just go to work instead of going to high school. I asked the principal what do students usually do after 8th grade if they cannot attend high school, and she says they usually work in the markets, stores, sell things, farm or babysit or have children of their own. Miss Mona partners with this school and helps sponsors many students to get them through to high school and even college. They believe that when a child is educated, they have the potential of ending the cycle of poverty. One thing Miss Mona loves about Belize though is that there are many students going to school these days filling up the maximum of classes. However, there needs to be more schools built and more staff.
So after talking to the principal, she encouraged us to try to instill hope and a value for education in the students we interact with. She had us organize the books in the library, paint the outside of the walls to beautify the school so that everyone takes the school more seriously and so that students will feel more motivated to learn. She also had us dig holes in the ground to put in poles to help others identify where the garbage cans are. This is a list of a few things she had us do so far, but there is still more to do.
These last few days, we have been working on the school, while some days we have been working on Miss Mona’s wall/gate to her driveway. Our schedule is different everyday. These next few days we will be working with Hope For Life – a center for pregnant women. I want to post more pictures of my time on my blog, but I am having a hard time uploading them. Therefore, I might just put them on my social media accounts. I hope the next time I post, I will figure out how to upload pictures! It’s been so great getting to know some of the locals who live here, and spending time with a lot of my teammates. I know this couldn’t have been possible without the financial support and prayers of the many people who believe I can do this work. So I want to say thank you all again so much. If anyone else feels led to give toward this mission of instilling hope to others, and helping us serve those who serve their community, then feel free to click on the orange donate button above. I need to reach another $3,000 by the end of November. Thank you all again, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions! 🙂
By the way, there are tarantulas just crawling around here like no big deal. 
I love you all!
