The Happenings in Peace Corps Belize

Check out this website one of our PCV put together on what we are doing here in Belize and other cool interesting things about the country....
http://pcbelize.com/

ENJOY! :)

Alive and Well...

Things in Orange Walk Town are going great! My new host family is wonderful and the town here is quite exciting compared to my old village of Succotz. There is a lot more going on here being so close to the Mexican border. I'm slowly trying to find my little nitch here in this big town. My work partner is great here at the District Ed Center. He is so supportive of any ideas or projects I want to pursue, which is so comforting. While working here, haven't done to much but have helped facilitate a session the other week with a group of peer educators at a local high school in town on Self-Esteem and Body Image. I was a little nervous but we got through it with flying colors! Soon we are going to be facilitating a few more sessions with participants on Nutrition and healthy habits. So, as I get settled here in Orange Walk I hope to learn more and more about my town and get to know the people and learn more about the work I'm going to be apart of.

Hope all is well with everyone in the States. Miss you all and I'll talk to you soon! :)

P.S. Rainy season has started here in Belize....A.K.A. Hurricane Season!! Wish me Luck getting through my first hurricanes, haha!

From the OC to the OW...

 Caye Caulker...

It's official I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Belize! The past week and half has been pretty busy. After 2 1/2 days in Orange Walk, it was back to Belmopan for HIV/AIDS training and our Bridge to Service sessions at the Peace Corps Offices. It was great to get back together with all the fellow trainees one last time for that week and just hang out and take in the last moments we had with each other. The last week was filled with some official business on Peace Corps Policy and more hurricane preparedness. We also had some fun together, we presented our CBT sites again and also had a talent show! Then, Friday was the big day! I forgot to mention the weekend before some of us volunteers were able to get away on our weekend off and check out Caye Caulker! Such a great place! :)

On Friday morning at 10am, we all swore in at the Belize House in Belmopan with all the Peace Corps staff and director,  the Charge d' Affaires, Mr. J.A. Diffily. The swearing in was great! Had wonderful speakers from the Deputy Chief Director of Education, current volunteers who spoke and someone from our training class spoke on behalf of us all. After, the ceremony its tradition to play in a futbol match against the currently serving volunteers and the new class. We of course kicked butt and won! We then had to get dressed up once again for dinner at the U.S. Ambassadors home in the U.S. Compound in Belmopan. OMG! What a different world behind those walls! :) The food was great, the ambiance was wonderful and the company of people even better. And of course after dinner we had to go and celebrate ourselves with our training class! :)

Now I'm back in Orange Walk as an official PCV ready to serve at the Ministry of Education working with the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) coordinator. So, here is to the hardest job I'll ever LOVE!! :) Wish me Luck! xoxo

 The Swearing in Ceremony

 PCV 2011 :)

 Front of the Ambassadors House

 The house and grounds

Training is Coming to an End....

So we are all back in Belmopan, the Captial City of Belize for our last days to training. We had a 2-day HIV/AIDS workshop that was great! Learned a ton of valuable information about the virus as a worldwide pandemic and the issues faced here in the country of Belize as well as a Central American country. We had the weekend off, which was nice because I was able to sleep in till 8am!! Yes, that is late here for Belize! :) On Saturday, I got invited to go back to my CBT site in Succotz and play with the womens team in one of their games! The following week was our Bridge to Service week, were we prepared for our Swearing in Ceremony for Friday, June 10 and each CBT site group presented to everyone about their experiences in their villages.

More details coming soon and pictures of our presentaion and the Swearing in Ceremony, were I become an official PC Volunteer!! yeeeaaahhhh!!! :)

 

So here is a map of Belize...my CBT site was right across from Xunantunich, called San Jose Succtoz (not on map) and now I'll be living in Orange Walk Town (way up north). And Belmopan is where we do all our training! :) Hopefully this map helps you see where I've been so far and places I still want to go!