It was another beautiful day in Belize, a little cool for the locals, but perfect for us! The construction crew finished siding the library in Otoxha and was able to build several bookcases with wood that was reclaimed from the library. They joined the teachers for lunch in the home of Olario Ical. The spicy chicken caldo and tortillas were delicious.
The teachers handed out "slippers" in Otoxha. For those of you who donate flip flops, we wish you could see how happy the children are to receive them.
The pen pal letters were finished, some math activities were done and the students learned about skeletons. The highlight of the day was handing out rosaries and then praying a decade of the rosary with all of the students in the church after lunch.
In Corazon Creek the students had an anatomy lesson on bones and worked on writing from prompts. They had fun doing math with playing cards and completed several art projects.
Ann met with the high school principal in Corazon to discuss several of our scholarship students and also met with Mr Ac, the principal in Otoxha to talkabout some future projects there.
In San Lucas the students planted seeds in seed cups and used machetes and hoes to prepare the garden for planting. The had to block holes in the fence around the garden with rocks so the pigs will not get in. They had fun making pipe cleaner mice with the students. One of the teachers made tamales and sent them home for the rest of us to enjoy with our dinner. They also taught the students to play the African game of Mancala.
Father Don was able to meet with three of our Microloan recipients.One of them is a widow who has a guest house in Punta Gorda. She was a first loan recipient and has done so well that she has gotten a second loan to expand the guest house. Another loan recipient, from San Marcos, has seven children and supports her family buying local produce and then selling it at the market for retail price. A third woman, from San Miguel, bought a pregnant sow who had 10 piglets! The sow was sold before Christmas and five of the male pigs will be sold in the spring.
Don M got a tour of the hospital today and was able to show one of the doctors how to use the donated Doppler machine he brought down here.
All in all, it was a solid day and we are a little sad that we only have one more day in the villages.
I've been reading your daily posts, great job giving us back home real good idea on all the work you're doing, makes us feel like we are there with you! Keep up the great work! Cindi
ReplyDeleteAgree - the posts are wonderful! Thank you for sharing all these adventures and new experiences! Oh, you'll probably miss the snow in St Peters by the time you return.. we'll have had this heat wave and rain...
ReplyDeleteKnow all too well about the "little sad" feeling about the last day in the villages. Will never forget the AWESOME mass at San Lucas last January on that last day and the appreciation that was expressed for what we had done! That meant more to me than anything that had ever happened in my live up to that point!
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