Sunrise on the Carribean Sea in Punta Gorda 
River in Crique Jute
A pond and some houses in the middle of Trio
Antonio, Me, Carolina, Pedro Fransisco, and Anna Bella Tut(who I've nick named "Banan Tut") Me with a few of my village friends that like to call out "Hello Mr. Owen!" whenever I ride by their house on my bike. They also like to sing
Me and Mr. Choco the teacher for Standard 6 (grade 8) at the Trio Primary School. I'm doing the pen pal program with his class and a Mrs. Carol Yeagley's class at Mount Nittany Middle School in State College.
Taylor, Cali, and Mallory
Some of my wonderful volunteer friends jumping into the river by the banana farm in Trio after we had a soccer tournament with the village team, farm team, and men's and women's Peace Corps teams.
Sergio, Charlie, Me, and DouglasMe and my host brothers in Placencia
Gladys and Felipe Rivas, my host parents for the first 4 months in Trio, on their first trip to Placencia during the 20 years they've lived in Belize. Me and Zander took the host family in August to this beach resort peninsula that is only about an hour from our village (you have to a boat to get there and many of the things are more expensive there because of the large expat population--for this reason, very few locals ever make it to this "paradise.")
Me with my buds Dan and Matt at the river below Dan's house in Crique Jute.
Mateo: My neighbor and buddy. He is to young to start school so he comes over to hang out whenever I'm around. One of the cutest kids on the planet.
Me and Zander just before he headed out from Trio
Before painting St.2 classroom
Classroom after painting
Hammock and thatched roof
My back porch with some of the benches I've recently made
Fridge, gas stove, gas tank, George Foreman grill (on top of the fridge) etc
My bed and table etc
Me with a few of my neighbor kids before watching Spider Man
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope that everyone is doing great and enjoying the fall weather back in the States. Lately the weather has been changing a bit here. The rain has tapered off considerably—especially in the night. During the last few months it rained most nights and was very hot and sweaty during the day. Right now it is still hot in the day, but the nights have gotten considerably cooler—even found myself shivering a few times.
It’s amazing how time flies! I’m now approaching the 7th month since I left home and my 5th month as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Trio Village, Belize. I really must thank God that everything has been going very well for me so far. There have been some ups and downs, but the majority of my time here in Belize has been without anything to complain about and plenty to be thankful for. Lately there have been a lot of changes happening for me. In the beginning of this month, the previous volunteer in Trio, Zander Johnston, finished his 2 year commitment and headed home. While many volunteers come almost blindly into their sites, I had the privilege of sharing my first 4 months with Zander who helped me to understand more about the community, meet the majority of the people, find counterparts and projects to work on, and just have a fun time hanging out. I’m really very thankful for the friendship he showed me—though he could have just been annoyed at having another volunteer interrupt his last few months, he did everything he could to help me get a good start in Trio. But now, although I’ve lost a good friend, I’m enjoying the start of my time as the only Peace Corps volunteer in Trio and have begun to find my place in the village.
For my first 4 moths in Trio I lived with a wonderful family called the Rivas. Since Zander left, I was bless to inherit the house that he built while he was here. My house consists of one room (about 12 by 14ft) and a deck about 6 by 14ft. The house is made entirely of wood and is elevated about 5 feet off the ground. It has a thatched roof which keeps it incredibly fresh and cool regardless of the temperature outside. In May, Trio was first connected to electricity and in August I installed electricity in my house. So, although I have no bathroom or latrine or private place to bathe, I know have a little fridge, a George Foreman grill and can watch movies on my computer (I’ve inherited about a hundred movies from other volunteer’s computers) and charge my cell phone. Although a number of people have begun to connect their houses to the electricity (it’s a little bit too expensive for most people to connect until they’ve saved up for a while), the majority of the village still lives without electricity.
Now that I have electricity, it makes my life easier in a number of ways but also more difficult as I have frequent visitors trying to take advantage of the opportunity to charge their cell phones, watch movies, and just observe my every day activities (I’ve gotten so many visitors that I often have to politely turn people away). I kind of feel like Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, when he complains of having too many visitors, well wishers, and distant relations visiting his house. On many occasions I’ve had up to 30 people (kids, babys, mothers, fathers, grandparents) crammed into my house to watch movies like Avatar, Forbidden Kingdom, Ironman, Spiderman, August Rush, Last Samuri, Gladdiator, etc. One thing I’ve found is that most villagers care very little about plot and only want to see fighting and action.
I’ve begun to get very busy in and out of Trio. Now that school is in full swing I’ve been helping some with the first grade (infant 1) class in Trio. I also started a pen pal program with the eighth grade (standard six) class and a 7th grade class at Mount Nittany Middle School back in State College (my mother helped tremendously in getting it going- Love you Mom!). I think the pen pal program will be a ton of fun for me and the students here in Trio as they get to learn some about where I come from. I’ve also painted several class rooms in the school and attempted to teach ultimate Frisbee to a couple classes. The other day I substitute “taught” for a few hours when one of the teachers was sick. I’ve been hoping to get some sort of singing program started, but my schedule has been too busy lately to get anything regular going.
I’ve been working a lot with the Trio Water Board (the 7 man committee of volunteers that oversee the water system in Trio), teaching them how to do their financial reports and how to encourage the people to pay their water bills ($5 US for 2000 gallons of water). I’m also working with the village council and Parent Teacher Association to try to help them get some projects moving. In Independence I’ve been working with the Polyclinic on a manual for the village health workers and we’re hoping to start training my village health worker soon in some basic first aid and health education skills.
This summer Trio had one of the highest (if not the highest) Malaria rates in the country. We had about 40 people with malaria and one with Dengue. Part of the cause of this rate is the drainage problem in the village, where a lot of land gets flooded (including the school soccer field and my back yard) and stays under water for the entire hurricane season (June to November). Helping the village fix the drainage issue is one of my hopes while I’m here. We’ve had discussions with the Ministry of Works and Vector Control, but regardless of their good intentions, a lot of programs in Belize have little funding and have to address issues in order of priority in the country--so the plight of a bunch of Guatemalan, Honduran, and El Salvadorian (and one America ;)) immigrants in Trio might be a tough sell. Nevertheless we’ll keep pushing for some sort of help in Trio.
I’ve been in Belmopan (the capital of Belize) at our Peace Corps office this week for some Spanish training. Out of all the Volunteers in Belize now, I think I am probably the most immersed in Spanish in my village. It’s almost as if I’m not a volunteer in Belize, but some other Central American country. Although about half of my village speaks Q’eqchi (K’ekchi) and some English, almost everyone speaks Spanish and those adults whose first language is Spanish do not speak any English. This has been wonderful for me and I definitely feel like my ability to speak Spanish is improving a little bit everyday. I can only imagine what a year and a half more will do!
One of the most surprising things to me about my experience so far is how busy I’ve been. I guess I assumed coming into the Peace Corps that along with the work and adventures, I’d have a lot of time to read and think about life while hanging out in hammock. Although there have been times of relaxation and a lot of reflection, the majority of my time I have felt like I am just going from one thing to the next and don’t have enough time to do all the things I’d like to get involved in. I think part of it is my location—right now I’m the only village volunteer in my area. Most of the other volunteers that are in villages are in exclusively Maya Mopan or Q’eqchi villages several hours farther south and their villages contain only a couple hundred people. Trio, on the other hand, could have up to 1300 people and, as I mentioned, is largely Spanish speaking. While I love speaking Spanish, the language issue creates a number of problems for the people because the Government runs exclusively in English. When representatives from the government come to Trio they rarely know how to speak Spanish and therefore end up only being able to communicate affectively with a few people and the rest of the people (including village council member, water board members, and Parent Teacher Association members) hardly know what they are saying. I’ve been able to help translate on numerous occasions, but I find my Spanish vocabulary stretched thin when government officials talk about political policies, etc.
Overall I’m having a blast. The Peace Corps experience has been wonderful. I miss all of you back in the States (family and friends), but I haven’t felt like I really need to come home yet. I started to miss American food about 4 months into living with the Rivas and eating corn tortillas and beans every meal, everyday. But now that I am living on my own and have a George Foreman grill and fridge, I’ve been eating, pretty much the same things I ate in college (pasta, tuna melts, pizza sandwiches, French toast (almost everyday), mac and cheese, hotdogs, etc). I do, however, often get to eat tortillas still as, my neighbors often share food (including armadillo, gibnut, and other wild game) with me.
So far I’ve had a scorpion walk up my arm and not sting me (thank God!), come across several tarantulas, seen a large jaguar in the wild, seen monkeys, toucans, tropical storms, rainforests, beautiful beaches, Mayan ruins, and encountered a number of other fun and exciting adventures and I’m not ready to finish yet. Things are just getting interested.
Again I hope that everyone back home is doing great! I love and miss you all. I hope this update gives you a little better idea what I’m going through down here. I’d be happy to have visitors or anyone that is interested in partnering with a project down here. So keep in touch and God bless,
Owen
Gladys and Felipe Rivas, my host parents for the first 4 months in Trio, on their first trip to Placencia during the 20 years they've lived in Belize. Me and Zander took the host family in August to this beach resort peninsula that is only about an hour from our village (you have to a boat to get there and many of the things are more expensive there because of the large expat population--for this reason, very few locals ever make it to this "paradise.")
Me with my buds Dan and Matt at the river below Dan's house in Crique Jute.
Mateo: My neighbor and buddy. He is to young to start school so he comes over to hang out whenever I'm around. One of the cutest kids on the planet.
Me and Zander just before he headed out from TrioBefore painting St.2 classroom
Classroom after painting
Hammock and thatched roof
My back porch with some of the benches I've recently made
Fridge, gas stove, gas tank, George Foreman grill (on top of the fridge) etc
My bed and table etc
Me with a few of my neighbor kids before watching Spider ManDear Family and Friends,
I hope that everyone is doing great and enjoying the fall weather back in the States. Lately the weather has been changing a bit here. The rain has tapered off considerably—especially in the night. During the last few months it rained most nights and was very hot and sweaty during the day. Right now it is still hot in the day, but the nights have gotten considerably cooler—even found myself shivering a few times.
It’s amazing how time flies! I’m now approaching the 7th month since I left home and my 5th month as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Trio Village, Belize. I really must thank God that everything has been going very well for me so far. There have been some ups and downs, but the majority of my time here in Belize has been without anything to complain about and plenty to be thankful for. Lately there have been a lot of changes happening for me. In the beginning of this month, the previous volunteer in Trio, Zander Johnston, finished his 2 year commitment and headed home. While many volunteers come almost blindly into their sites, I had the privilege of sharing my first 4 months with Zander who helped me to understand more about the community, meet the majority of the people, find counterparts and projects to work on, and just have a fun time hanging out. I’m really very thankful for the friendship he showed me—though he could have just been annoyed at having another volunteer interrupt his last few months, he did everything he could to help me get a good start in Trio. But now, although I’ve lost a good friend, I’m enjoying the start of my time as the only Peace Corps volunteer in Trio and have begun to find my place in the village.
For my first 4 moths in Trio I lived with a wonderful family called the Rivas. Since Zander left, I was bless to inherit the house that he built while he was here. My house consists of one room (about 12 by 14ft) and a deck about 6 by 14ft. The house is made entirely of wood and is elevated about 5 feet off the ground. It has a thatched roof which keeps it incredibly fresh and cool regardless of the temperature outside. In May, Trio was first connected to electricity and in August I installed electricity in my house. So, although I have no bathroom or latrine or private place to bathe, I know have a little fridge, a George Foreman grill and can watch movies on my computer (I’ve inherited about a hundred movies from other volunteer’s computers) and charge my cell phone. Although a number of people have begun to connect their houses to the electricity (it’s a little bit too expensive for most people to connect until they’ve saved up for a while), the majority of the village still lives without electricity.
Now that I have electricity, it makes my life easier in a number of ways but also more difficult as I have frequent visitors trying to take advantage of the opportunity to charge their cell phones, watch movies, and just observe my every day activities (I’ve gotten so many visitors that I often have to politely turn people away). I kind of feel like Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, when he complains of having too many visitors, well wishers, and distant relations visiting his house. On many occasions I’ve had up to 30 people (kids, babys, mothers, fathers, grandparents) crammed into my house to watch movies like Avatar, Forbidden Kingdom, Ironman, Spiderman, August Rush, Last Samuri, Gladdiator, etc. One thing I’ve found is that most villagers care very little about plot and only want to see fighting and action.
I’ve begun to get very busy in and out of Trio. Now that school is in full swing I’ve been helping some with the first grade (infant 1) class in Trio. I also started a pen pal program with the eighth grade (standard six) class and a 7th grade class at Mount Nittany Middle School back in State College (my mother helped tremendously in getting it going- Love you Mom!). I think the pen pal program will be a ton of fun for me and the students here in Trio as they get to learn some about where I come from. I’ve also painted several class rooms in the school and attempted to teach ultimate Frisbee to a couple classes. The other day I substitute “taught” for a few hours when one of the teachers was sick. I’ve been hoping to get some sort of singing program started, but my schedule has been too busy lately to get anything regular going.
I’ve been working a lot with the Trio Water Board (the 7 man committee of volunteers that oversee the water system in Trio), teaching them how to do their financial reports and how to encourage the people to pay their water bills ($5 US for 2000 gallons of water). I’m also working with the village council and Parent Teacher Association to try to help them get some projects moving. In Independence I’ve been working with the Polyclinic on a manual for the village health workers and we’re hoping to start training my village health worker soon in some basic first aid and health education skills.
This summer Trio had one of the highest (if not the highest) Malaria rates in the country. We had about 40 people with malaria and one with Dengue. Part of the cause of this rate is the drainage problem in the village, where a lot of land gets flooded (including the school soccer field and my back yard) and stays under water for the entire hurricane season (June to November). Helping the village fix the drainage issue is one of my hopes while I’m here. We’ve had discussions with the Ministry of Works and Vector Control, but regardless of their good intentions, a lot of programs in Belize have little funding and have to address issues in order of priority in the country--so the plight of a bunch of Guatemalan, Honduran, and El Salvadorian (and one America ;)) immigrants in Trio might be a tough sell. Nevertheless we’ll keep pushing for some sort of help in Trio.
I’ve been in Belmopan (the capital of Belize) at our Peace Corps office this week for some Spanish training. Out of all the Volunteers in Belize now, I think I am probably the most immersed in Spanish in my village. It’s almost as if I’m not a volunteer in Belize, but some other Central American country. Although about half of my village speaks Q’eqchi (K’ekchi) and some English, almost everyone speaks Spanish and those adults whose first language is Spanish do not speak any English. This has been wonderful for me and I definitely feel like my ability to speak Spanish is improving a little bit everyday. I can only imagine what a year and a half more will do!
One of the most surprising things to me about my experience so far is how busy I’ve been. I guess I assumed coming into the Peace Corps that along with the work and adventures, I’d have a lot of time to read and think about life while hanging out in hammock. Although there have been times of relaxation and a lot of reflection, the majority of my time I have felt like I am just going from one thing to the next and don’t have enough time to do all the things I’d like to get involved in. I think part of it is my location—right now I’m the only village volunteer in my area. Most of the other volunteers that are in villages are in exclusively Maya Mopan or Q’eqchi villages several hours farther south and their villages contain only a couple hundred people. Trio, on the other hand, could have up to 1300 people and, as I mentioned, is largely Spanish speaking. While I love speaking Spanish, the language issue creates a number of problems for the people because the Government runs exclusively in English. When representatives from the government come to Trio they rarely know how to speak Spanish and therefore end up only being able to communicate affectively with a few people and the rest of the people (including village council member, water board members, and Parent Teacher Association members) hardly know what they are saying. I’ve been able to help translate on numerous occasions, but I find my Spanish vocabulary stretched thin when government officials talk about political policies, etc.
Overall I’m having a blast. The Peace Corps experience has been wonderful. I miss all of you back in the States (family and friends), but I haven’t felt like I really need to come home yet. I started to miss American food about 4 months into living with the Rivas and eating corn tortillas and beans every meal, everyday. But now that I am living on my own and have a George Foreman grill and fridge, I’ve been eating, pretty much the same things I ate in college (pasta, tuna melts, pizza sandwiches, French toast (almost everyday), mac and cheese, hotdogs, etc). I do, however, often get to eat tortillas still as, my neighbors often share food (including armadillo, gibnut, and other wild game) with me.
So far I’ve had a scorpion walk up my arm and not sting me (thank God!), come across several tarantulas, seen a large jaguar in the wild, seen monkeys, toucans, tropical storms, rainforests, beautiful beaches, Mayan ruins, and encountered a number of other fun and exciting adventures and I’m not ready to finish yet. Things are just getting interested.
Again I hope that everyone back home is doing great! I love and miss you all. I hope this update gives you a little better idea what I’m going through down here. I’d be happy to have visitors or anyone that is interested in partnering with a project down here. So keep in touch and God bless,
Owen
...and such a wonderful update,it is, Owen!!! This is so great to read and see...you've gained tons of incredible experience and knowledge of the area and of the people you live and work with; I know it will be hard for them to let go of you after two years. It sounds like much patience is needed as you observe and learn the way the governing and intercultural systems work among the people there; and as you evaluate what help you can be in the most pressing health needs...the curriculum development and trainings and everything you are doing sound great. The Lord has placed you there and wants you there for his purposes in your and others' lives...we hold all this in our prayers for you. Thanks for this wonderful glimpse into your life! All our love to you!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great letter O! Your time there will fly like the wind. Give each moment your best through Him that strengthens you. We miss you!
ReplyDeleteLove
Dad
Owen!! I loved reading this and seeing all the photos! Looks like you're having a great time. Hope you stay healthy and keep enjoying yourself!! We miss you back in the states though :)
ReplyDelete