A Final Hoorah from the Barzakh Crew

The Barzakh crew has accomplished a lot since our last post.  We finalized our curriculum manual, surveyed the community in order to write our needs assessment, completed our final report, and presented to our UVM project partners regarding the development of the Barzakh Falah challenge course. At the end of our presentation, we presented Nancy with the gift of the trolley, which is a great team building and communication game that requires six participants to move in unison in order to move two 2"X4"X8' planks.

Testing out the trolley with some friends in the neighborhood

Unfortunately, much of our work on the development of the hexagonal structure was postponed due to a three week delay in the delivery of our poles and cross beams.  Demelza, bless her heart, even went to the length of baking the driver sugar cookies in order to persuade him to deliver our materials.  Ultimately, it took Dylan's daily visits to the lumber yard and numerous phone calls to get the poles delivered.

The beautiful challenge course site location

At this point, we have installed all six of the poles and two of the cross beams and begun to assemble the challenges on the sides.  We are trying to complete it in time for April 9th when Camp Elevate comes to Barzakh Falah to test out the curriculum manual for the first time.  The kids will have the additional treat of testing out the tree house platform that we constructed with Jaime's guidance and a generous donation from Pine Lumber.  It is approximately 100 square feet and located about 18 feet up a "stinky foot" tree which is currently in beautiful bloom.  It is a perfect location for reflection and healing. We have installed climbing grips up one side of the tree and also plan to add a pressure treated ladder up to the opening.  We also installed railings for safety.

John admiring our handy work

We have really enjoyed our time developing the challenge course at Barzakh Falah with Jaime and Nancy and hope to see it continue to develop under future volunteer groups.  We were thrilled when Nancy informed us that a group from the University of Georgia will continue work on the challenge course in the coming months.

Over and Out,
The Barzakh Crew
John N., Dylan E., Demelza L., Heather S., Julia P.

The Final Chapter at Saint Barnabas

Some students reaching out to the howler monkey. SO COOL!

          Wowee has our time at Saint Barnabas flown by! We’ve finally finished our time teaching at the school, with our final moments spent trying to cram in all of the things we'd hoped to do.

           In our last week of teaching at Saint Barnabas we covered the beautiful coral reef ecosystem. In an effort to continue our use of interactive lesson plans, we adapted the game “Red Rover” to demonstrate the effects of numerous threats to the coral reefs in Belize. One team represented different types of coral found in a reef and the second team represented threats to the coral reef. In the beginning of the game, we had students holding hands and then gradually we had them transition to just holding fingers to show that overtime the effects of threats on the coral reef make it more difficult for the reef to fight off threats.

            To do a final review of all the material that we covered in class throughout the four weeks, we answered the long list of questions that students had previously come up with concerning any of the material. We also handed out a final in class assessment based off of the set up of the BSNE test they would be taking the following week. After seeing the results of our students, we were extremely impressed by how well they did, considering how tricky we made it. Our students also later informed us that they felt very confident about the BSNE because, a large amount of the material that we covered in class was on the exam. We were so proud to hear the news!

Diana and Amber holding a boa constrictor!

Listening to info about the CBS in the museum

Our final day with our wonderful Standard 6 class was spent visiting two local conservation efforts. Our first stop was at the Community Baboon Sanctuary in Bermudian Landing. The original plan was only to go to the Community Baboon Sanctuary, but because of extra time and funds we were able to stop at the Belize Zoo on the way back to Saint B. We wanted to provide our students with an opportunity to observe a grassroots effort to conserve both land and species of Belize. The excitement that our students had when they were able to feed and scratch a howler monkey was priceless. Our last minute decision to visit the zoo proved to be successful, especially because most of our students got to hold a boa constrictor!

The whole gang after our tour of the Community Baboon Sanctuary

            The ladies of Saint Barnabas all attended our project presentation, led by their queen Ms. Shaw. We felt so supported with the entire staff of Saint Barnabas in attendance. Although all good things must come to an end, I think it’s safe to say that Saint Barnabas, Ms. Shaw, her staff and the students at Saint Barnabas will always have a close place in our hearts.

The three of us with our incredible project partners Ms. Shaw and Ms. Gonzales at our presentation

-Alyson Wall, Melanie Daly, and Diana del Solar

Final MOD Blog

After several weeks of hard work, we finally got to see the campaign in action! Our first presentation was delivered in San Antonio, Cayo District, Belize. At first there were hardly any women in the audience and we were nervous that no one would attend. We soon realized that the women of San Antonio were just on Belizean time. They finally arrived over an hour later, and the room was eventually packed!

Our main responsibility was to take care of the children and run activities while their mothers watched the presentation. We brought various arts and crafts including paper, markers, paint and coloring books. Unfortunately we underestimated the number of children attending and were cleaned out of supplies within the first half hour!

A "full house" at the first presentation in San Antonio!

All of the kids LOVED having their pictures taken!

Artwork from one of the kids in San Antonio painted

Overall the first presentation was a success. Ms.Anna received 4 new clients and will be reviewing their cases at Mary Open Doors. She believes the information delivered in the presentation opened their eyes and made them realize they were in abusive relationships.

Later in the week we traveled to Cristo Rey for the second presentation. Although less women attended, we had to consider the population of the community, which is significantly smaller then San Antonio. Even with the smaller crowd, it was still a great success and Ms.Anna gained 2 more new clients!

-Storm Leland, Jordan Walsh, and Hayley Williams

Final Weeks at Faith Nazarene!

One final hello from Faith Nazarene! So much has happened during our final two weeks, but we will try and cover all of the highlights!

Final Planting:

Planting Day!

In our last posting, we had just finished building the raised-bed garden and were finally prepared to place the transplants we acquired from Chaa Creek into the bed.  During class on Thursday the 15th we brought all of the plants including, mint, basil, sweet peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and some flowers!  The students of Mrs. Patty's class got their hands dirty and together we filled up the bed with the plants very quickly.

Kayla watering a newly planted flower

Some of the boys planting in tires

The next week we brought in the rest of the donations from Chaa Creek, including plantain trees, coconut trees, chaya (a native plant similar to spinach), and cho cho (another native plant used in soups).  During class on Monday, the girls dug holes and planted the plantain trees and on Tuesday the boys dug holes and planted the coconut trees.  Expanding the garden even further, next to the raised-bed, we used old tires (donated from Chuc's garage in San Ignacio) and planted okra, carrots, and zinnias from seed.

Classroom:

Playing Plant Jeopardy!

Though much of our final class work time was spent outside working in the garden, we did have one final session inside the classroom.  On Thursday the 22nd, we tested our students on all of the material we covered during our time here, through PLANT JEOPARDY!  We split the class into two teams and tested the students on their knowledge of seeds, fruits, vegetables, planting, and a "random" category! Both teams demonstrated their understanding of all of these categories and in the end, everyone was a winner, getting fresh watermelon as a prize!

Planting Party:
On our final day working with Faith Nazarene besides planting in the tires, we brought a special treat for our students, chocolate bananas!  All of our students loved them, and for once they went silent for at least five minutes as they ate.  They then proceeded to have a dance off, and showcased some of their funky moves right in the middle of the classroom.  It was a great way to leave our class and we all left with bright smiles :)

Final Presentation:
To wrap up all of our hard work in each of our projects at Faith Nazarene (garden, classroom, and basketball) we compiled a 15 minute presentation.  We spent all of last week practicing and perfecting our presentation skills and finally on Thursday the 29th, along with the other three service learning groups, we presented at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel.  Our group was extremely lucky that all of our project partners from Faith Nazarene including members of the PTA, faculty, and staff came to watch our presentation.  We felt very honored to have all of them attend and could not have asked for a better way to end our project!

Faith Nazy crew with the best chocolate bananas in San Ignacio!

-Dan Devlin, Molly Nagel, and Julia Stratton

Saint Barnabas-post #2

To say that we’ve had a great two weeks would not do our time at Saint Barnabas justice!

Since coming at to Saint Barnabas, we’ve felt nothing but love and hospitality at the school, making our time teaching incredibly enjoyable.  We’ve finished three weeks of teaching at Saint Barnabas, focusing on a different ecosystem in Belize each week. So far we’ve covered rainforests, savannas and mangroves.

Megan, Marcella, Idalia and Tamara with their mangrove diorama

This past week we held a “Feel Good Day” which focused on trying to create a learning community for the Standard 6 students at Saint Barnabas. Going along with the school’s desire to give the oldest children responsibilities, we had the Standard 6 students cook and serve a meal for the Standard 5 students. They made us proud with their Emeril Garcia- like cooking skills. The “Feel Good” day also featured a nature solo; time dedicated for each individual student to spend time in nature, enjoying it in whatever way they felt was best. This time was also used to collect natural materials to create a mangrove diorama, which featured the different  species of mangroves, as well as the creatures that inhabit them.

Giovanni and Idalia working on the salsa

It's hard to believe but this upcoming week is our last week at Saint Barnabas! We’re excited to end strong  by teaching about coral reefs and going on our field trip to the Community Baboon Sanctuary!

The gang on their way to the creek for their nature solo

Tiil the next time we write,

Saint B’s Group (Diana, Alyson, and Mel)

News from Faith Nazarene

It has been a very productive two weeks!

On Saturday we finally constructed our first raised-bed garden and today we finally collected all of the resources we need to start planting and growing!

Getting the Lumber:
Dan and Jay went on an eventful trip to the lumber yard. We were able to get the lumber donated to our project, but unfortunately that meant we would be working with odd scraps of wood that were all different shapes and sizes. They attempted to get the wood home by strapping it to the roof rack on Meg and Jay's rental car. Upon piling the lumber onto the roof rack, it snapped! Luckily, Dan and Jay were able to recruit one of the lumber yard employees to drive the lumber to Faith Nazarene in his truck.

Molly and Julia getting a tour in the buggy from Mick

Constructing the Garden:

Dan nailing down gardening fabric with Myran and Adonias

Once we got the lumber we were ready to build...sort of. When we started construction on Saturday, our spirits were low.  To tell the truth, we were very unsure about our abilities to complete the bed. None of us have very much experience with construction (and by not very I much I mean NO experience). Not only were we inexperienced, but we were unsure that the lumber we had would be efficient for our purposes. We had already decided that our original plan to make two beds was unrealistic given our limited resources. The process started slowly...We were using borrowed tools: two hammers, and one saw so dull you could saw your skin without even nicking yourself. Luckily, Jay went out and bought us a new (sharp) saw and the work really picked up. We slowly started to feel more confident in our abilities and after hours of work and really bad sunburns (despite applying sunscreen) we were finally done! We were astonished by how well our finished product looked.

Finding Soil:


Julia with our brand new transplants!

 Originally, one of the women from the Faith Nazarene PTA, Mrs. Elia, had volunteered to let us dig up soil from her farm. The only catch was we needed a truck. After asking around for weeks if anyone could lend us a truck, we eventually decided that our best option was to carry the soil in bags in the back of Meg and Jay's rental car. When we called Mrs. Elia to come by her farm for the soil, she was unavailable and suggested we use the soil by the river instead (soil from construction projects around San Ignacio gets piled by the river). We took Mrs. Elia's advice and filled up several bags with the dirt from the river. We then brought them up to the school, where some of the kids from class offered to help us fill the garden with it. We laid down a short layer of sand at the bottom to allow for drainage. When we went to put in the soil we had taken from the river and were disheartened to see that our "soil" was really more like clay. That wouldn't do! So we decided to put off our soil issue for a little while.

Green house at Mick's organic garden

Acquiring Transplants:
Mick Fleming is an angel! We were lucky enough to have Mick Flemimg, the owner of Chaa Creek (the resort we stayed at for our first 4 days in Belize), donate some small, already blooming plants to our project. Julia, Molly, and Jay took a trip to Mick's organic garden in order to collect the transplants. Mick gave us a tour of his garden on a little buggy while Landy, his garden manager, boxed up some transplants for us. We got a great variety of plants including basil, mint, chaya, plantains, chocho, and coconut palms. He even gave us bags of his home-made compost (YAY, soil problem fixed!...with the addition of some soil we bought). The day was great and left us feeling ready for transplanting our plants into the garden with our class tomorrow!

-Molly N., Dan D., and Julia S.

Mary Open Doors Update!

Along with all of the other service-learning groups, those of us working at Mary Open Doors (Jordan W., Storm L., and Hayley W.) have had a very busy couple of weeks! We have been working almost every day to develop a campaign titled "Domestic Violence and the Link to HIV/AIDS" which will be distributed to the rural villages in the Cayo district of Belize.  Domestic violence is a HUGE problem in Belize, as approximately 7 in 10 women report being abused in a past or current relationship.  Similarly; the HIV/AIDS rate in Belize is currently over 2%, the highest in Latin America!  So far, we have created:

-A flyer to advertise the date/time/location the presentations
-A PowerPoint presentation which defines domestic abuse, explains women's rights in Belize, describes the importance of a safety plan, informs women about the link to HIV/AIDS and lists all of the available resources in Belize
-A pamphlet with information about domestic violence and the link to HIV/AIDS and available resources
-An emergency contact card (with a list of relevant organizations and phone numbers) which will be handed out at the presentations

Since about half of the villages surrounding San Ignacio are primarily Spanish speaking, we also have been working to translate everything into Spanish. Luckily we have some Spanish speaking friends around town!

Jordan working with our friend Johnny to translate the pamphlet into Spanish 

The first presentation is scheduled for Thursday March 22nd in the village of San Antonio. We have been working very closely on this campaign with the two women who run Mary Open Doors, Mrs. Carmen and Mrs. Anna. They are both very passionate about this project and help us in any way they can.  Below is a picture of the three of us working with Ms. Carmen outside of Martha's (our usual breakfast spot)

We are also starting to sell raffle tickets to help Mary Open Doors raise money for a carnival/fair they are going to be throwing in May. This carnival will help raise awareness about domestic violence in Belize.  Unfortunately we aren't going to be around for the event...but we trying our best in the next couple of weeks to fundraise for them.  We are also attempting to create an AlertPay account (a program similar to PayPal) so that they can easily access (much-needed) donations.  We've got a lot on our plates but we're really excited about our project we can't wait to see how the first presentation goes on Thursday! We've been working hard and we're learning a lot so until next time...Thank you for your continued interest and support!

  From left to right: Storm, Hayley, and Jordan at our "home away from home" Mary Open Doors

The Scoop on Barzakh Falah

Things are picking up for the Barzakh crew as we continue to work on building a low-element challenge course for at-risk youth in Belize. Over the last two weeks our team has taken on a number of projects. We started putting together a needs assessment to better understand the community need for a challenge course as a therapeutic outlet for women and children who have undergone abuse or neglect. We have also begun a 'games & activities curriculum' that Barzakh can use when they run their "fun camps" for mothers and children. The curriculum will be filled with low-infrastructure games that help build self-esteem and teamwork skills, as well a section that provides information on future structures that can be built into the challenge course. Our last project consists of designing and constructing a challenge course structure that Barzakh can use.

Here's our main design for the structure so far.....

"The Hexagon"

       "The Hexagon" will consist of 6 sides, each with its own challenge for the children to complete. Some of the challenges we plan to build are a suspended log bridge, a wire traverse, a swinging tire traverse, a hanging ropes traverse, and possibly a ropes net.
        We have also set up "The Hexagon" so activities can be added to it by future volunteer groups. Some of these plans include  a 15 foot high climbing wall, and a possible zip line that will run from a nearby tree to one of the hexagon's poles. The structure will have a diverse range of uses.

 This Monday, the crew went out to Barzakh to begin building our hexagon. We spent the morning digging holes, gathering and smashing rocks, and wheeling loads of sand. And that was the easy part! By early afternoon we were ready to raise the 18 feet high poles that will act as the corners of our hexagon structure. With the combined brute strength of the Barzakh crew (along with some tricky maneuvering of  Jaime's truck) we were able to erect 4 out of the 6 poles. By the end of the day, our bodies were tired but our spirits were high knowing how much we accomplished in just one day!

3 guys, 3 girls and a truck.... that's how you raise some poles!

Breaktime Fun w/ Barzakh

As always, the Barzakh Crew likes to mix in a little fun and laughs with our hard work. During our breaks we enjoyed each others company under the shade of a giant tree. Jaime always brings our crew the most refreshing ice-cold drinks. This week we enjoyed fresh squeezed lime juice while we joked and laughed about the great times we've had working with Jaime and Nancy at Barzakh Falah!

We look forward to the next few weeks; we will be working on completing our hexagon structure and the games curriculum for the "fun camps" that Barzakh will be hosting in early April. Our only regret is that we won't be here to play the games with the kids! I'm sure we'll work some time into our busy schedules to test out all the games ourselves... ;)

The B.F. Crew,
-Julia P., Dylan E., John N, Demelza L, and Heather S.

St. Barnabas Environmental Education

A big hello from the members of St. Barnabas!

Earlier this week three students, Alyson Wall, Melanie Daly and Diana del Solar, began teaching an environmental curriculum at St. Barnabas Anglican School. The school, which is located in Central Farm, is home to 115 primary school students. The University of Vermont has been working with St. Barnabas for five years now and the 2012 group is excited to continue working with the school. Already we have been able to develop a great relationship with the
wonderful teaching principal, Joyce Shaw.

While at St. Barnabas, our group will be working with the 12 Standard 6 (the equivalent of 7th or 8th grade) students and teaching them about the different ecosystems of Belize. We will be focusing on rainforests, savannas, mangroves and coral reefs, highlighting the organisms, habitats and environmental threats of each system. This project will not only provide students with environmental literacy, but it will also prepare them for the science portion of the Belize National Selection Exam administered at the end of March. We have plans to make activities and lessons interactive in order to make learning fun and engaging. We are already planning a visit to Community Baboon Sanctuary!

So far we have loved our time with the students. Each day we are impressed with their knowledge, focus, and enthusiasm. We look forward to the next few weeks!

-Alyson, Mel, and Diana

Greetings from Faith Nazarene!

The boy's team rocking Celtics' jerseys and kicking some serious butt!

Hello subscribers,

The Faith Nazarene group (Dan Devlin, Molly Nagel, and Julia Stratton) has hit the ground running.  We arrived in San Ignacio January 31st and met with our project partners: Mrs. Pech (principal) and Miss Patty (standard 4 teacher) on February 10th.  Our project entails teaching nutrition, gardening, and basic plant biology to standard four (ages 10-12) at Faith Nazarene Primary School.  Our mission is to construct two raised garden beds which will be used to complement class lessons and provide an extra food source for the school cafeteria.

Awesome picture of the girls team running back down court after a score!

We took on a new challenge when we met Miss Terry, the athletic director at Faith Nazarene.  She informed us that the boys and girls basketball teams had qualified for a basketball tournament in the capital of Belize, Belmopan.  At their request and to our great pleasure, we were recruited to aid in coaching them.  The team had only two weeks to prepare for the tournament!  The day before the competition, the UVM crew scrimmaged the Faith Nazarene teams.  Both the UVM and FN teams had mad ballin’ skillz.  The next day we were all (Molly, Julia, Dan, and both teams) off to the games! The girls were undefeated after all four games, and the boys only lost one game out of four.  NINE HOURS OF BASKETBALL, YUSSSSS.

Jordan and Julia scrimmaging agaisnt the girls team

Once acquainted with both Mrs. Pech and Miss Patty, we requested a meeting with the PTA.  Three hours later we were discussing future plans for our garden.  The PTA was more than willing to help, but not everything comes for free.  After the meeting, the PTA had arranged for us to help mix and pour concrete at the school the coming Friday. 

Dan and Julia mixing concrete with the PTA

            We sat in on our first class Monday February 27^th.  We introduced ourselves to the students and explained our intentions for the next four weeks that we will be in their class.  After the brief introduction, we handed out observation journals for the children to decorate.  The purpose of these journals will be for the students to write down observations, measurements and sketches of the plants they will be growing starting next Monday.  The kids were full of energy to say the least.

            It is sure to be an exciting yet busy month and we are happy to report that our project is off to a great start!

-Dan, Molly, and Julia

Mary Open Doors!

A warm hello from Storm Leland, Jordan Walsh, and Hayley Williams over in San Ignacio, Belize. We have jumped into our work at Mary Open Doors (MOD) with much enthusiasm.  Many Open Doors is one of only two domestic violence shelters and resource centers in all of Belize. Mary Open Doors was started in 2008 when Ms. Anna Silva realized the need for a safe house that women could go to in order to escape abuse. Mary open Doors has been run by Anna, a leading example of a strong woman and community advocate ever since.

This year MOD received funding from the "International Friends of Belize" to address the needs of woman in rural communities through an awareness campaign.  The campaign we create will be presented in 32 villages around the Cayo district. The project is attempting to address two major issues, the link between HIV/AIDS and domestic violence and the lack of knowledge and access to resources available to help women seeking safe alternatives to abusive partners. Women who are subjected to domestic violence in remote villages are oftentimes unable to escape their situations because they are unaware of the resources available to help them. Our role in this project is to create a powerpoint presentation which does the following:
-defines domestic abuse
-educates women about the link between domestic violence and HIV/AIDs
-informs women about their rights under Belizean law
-discusses women’s empowerment.

We will also provide each woman with a list of relevant resources to address their needs (through a pamphlet and an emergency contact card). Finally, in order to ensure that the presentations are well attended, we are going to create flyers to promote the campaign.

We are extremely excited and passionate about the work we are doing at Mary Open Doors and the learning opportunity that has been presented itself. Updates to follow! 

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"

Peace and love, 

Storm, Jordan, and Hayley 

Barzakh Falah

Greetings!

We have partnered with Nancy and Jaime Marin of Barzakh Falah, the Sustainable Children's Home of Belize. We will be researching, planning, and constructing a challenge course for at-risk youth.  The women and children of Mary Open Doors and similar organizations will use the challenge course as a means for participants to gain trust and teamwork skills.  The course will have a sustainable design, through the use of recycled and environmentally friendly resources and including games that require little infrastructure.  A curriculum will be developed for the challenge course that includes activity instructions, safety regulations, and further therapeutic applications (animal, nature, art, music). We will also be responsible for doing a needs assessment and writing a letter to donors for the project.   We are excited to get started!

We are also aiding in other construction projects at Barzakh Falah when we can.  This past Sunday, our group and five of our enthusiastic friends (Alyson Wall, Dan Devlin, Molly Nagel, Jordan Walsh, and Diana del Solar) spent the entire day mixing concrete to help Jaime continue construction on the kitchen.  It was grueling work, but everyone kept smiles on their faces and we were very grateful for everyone's efforts.

Still smiling after a hard day's work!

Stay tuned for updates!

Dylan Estabrooks
Demelza Levick
Heather Snow
Julia Prince
John Neri