The Mission Continues!

We are excited about expanding the All Saints Belize Mission project to include a new trip this month! A group of thirteen volunteers (seven returning teammates and six newbies), from as far away as Seattle and San Francisco, head to Belize on Saturday, June 23.

We will be working mostly in the village of Santa Teresa. It will be the last week of school for the children before their summer break, so we have lots of fun activities including some hands on science lessons and lots of arts and crafts. Of course we will be reviewing hand washing and tooth-brushing as well. We had a generous donation of a volleyball net, balls, and a parachute, so we will incorporate plenty of PE time into each day. We may spend an afternoon or two in the nearby village of San Lucas, the principal there heard we were coming and requested that we spend a little time with his students.

Our construction crew will be painting the school, inside and out, at Santa Teresa. They will also have the opportunity to do some work on the Senior Center in Punta Gorda that is being built by the Pallotine Sisters (they run the retreat center where we stay).  There is also the possibility of building some pig pens to help support the Socio-Economic Outreach Program.

We planned our activities for the week and then recently found out that school will not be in session in Santa Teresa on Friday because of an end of the year teacher meeting.  Daily change of plans are pretty much typical on a trip to Belize!  So on Friday we will be running an Arts and Crafts Camp for 50 or so children at St. Peter Claver School in Punta Gorda.

Take a look at the map below.  If you find Punta Gorda, that is the main town near where we will be.  Go a little north and west to find Forest Home.  The Nazareth Retreat Center is in Forest Home.  The dark red road is the paved road, the smaller roads are dirt.  Follow the main road NW to Dump (yes that is the name of the town!) and continue towards San Antonio.  Head SW through Blue Creek, then through Jordan to get to Santa Teresa.  This ride will take around 90 minutes each day. 

We hope to update this blog each day while we are in Belize.  So keep checking back to hear about our adventure!