Our Last Project in Belize

September 2, 2011

The Eleventh Hour: Signs in Succotz

This project was really done at the last moments of the team's stay in Belize. We finished this project the day before they left town. It was a mad dash to the finish, but we made it!

This is yet another project we did in the charming village of Succotz - naming streets and ordering and hanging street signs. This is part of a larger project to help generate income for the village as they now run on $300 dollars a month. We hope the things we've implemented will help to raise that figure so they can have better healthcare, education and quality of life.

Here we are, laying out the signs by village areas so we can divide and conquer.

Interested villagers look at our work.

Of course we had to get a Spencer Street in there! :)

Our friends help us out.

We have since talked with villagers and they are thrilled to be able to say what street they live on as previously nothing in the village had a name. One lady proudly told me, "I live on Maya street!" It's a good feeling to know the project is well received.

Time to Say Goodbye

Goodbyes are never easy for me and I've cried my fair share of tears over saying goodbye to Belize. The people are wonderful, the experiences have been priceless, the opportunity has been incredible. Thank you to all who made it possible for me to be here to help the dynamic and caring people of Belize.

Me and Melissa - good luck in finishing school, my friend! You'll make it!

The Heaps, Roberto and us.

The Pulido family!

Me and little Shadow - my adopted street dog. I hated her at first because being a street dog, she of course has fleas and such. But she won my heart as she came around night after night and followed me obediently around town. Now I wish I could take her home...along with a little old crippled man, a baby horse I love and a few other Beliezian orphans. We could all live in my little apartment in Utah, couldn't we? Oh, how this place has won my heart!

Maria and me - she had always wanted to learn to play a song on the piano and was happy that I taught her one. She learned it at music classes and it took her 6 weeks of diligent work.

Diana and me. She's spunky and full of life and I didn't know she was related to my next-door neighbor (sisters!) and another close friend (siblings) until just last week. Funny!

This is our next-door neighbors, friend and Diana with us.

Adorable children in Succotz. Can you see the twins?

Our dear friends, the Chans. They live in Succotz and we've spent a lot of time with them. They are so kind and generous, and though they don't have much (not even indoor plumbing) they share with great generosity. They held 2 BBQs for the entire team, at great cost to themselves. What wonderful people!

We love you, Belize!

Karaoke Night

Who doesn't love a great karaoke night?! We do!! It was fun to have a team building activity at a karaoke bar, most especially because we've got several fantastic singers on our team!

Ken woos the ladies with "Unchained Melody" - go Kenny!

The guys floor us with their mad singing skills!

Kenny show us his stuff as he break dances.

One big happy karaokeing family. :)

Lindsay and Jake do a "Country Roads" duet.

Girls just wanna have fun!

Sunrise From My Rooftop

5 am...one of the most peaceful times of day. No, I don't get up at that hour! But sometimes I wake up and can't help going to the roof to watch a gorgeous sunrise. This is the prettiest one I've seen. I think. Anyway, isn't it lovely?

Our Last Wave is Here!

We can hardly believe the time is flying so fast, we are on our last 6 week stretch here. Where has the time gone? As I think about it, it's gone to projects and people and learning all about a country called Belize in Central America. What a sweet experience we are having here.

Here we all are!

A little inactive

You may have noticed I haven't been all that active on here for over a week. I'm working on a video project right now, a compilation of all the projects in the hopes it will benefit prospective funders of HELP, future participants and current participants. It's coming along (slowly!) but I'm having fun with it. Look for it in August!

Busman Arnold

This is where we live! It's a 5-story guest house and we rent out the top 3 floors. Two floors are bedrooms, kitchen and very, very large patio and the 5th floor is exclusively a patio. It's beautiful and most importantly, it's home!

Busman Arnold is the name of the architect. He built the house next door to us as well and it's known as the Busman Arnold house and is known to everyone in the town by the same name.

The bottom two levels are businesses - a cafe, insurance company and a daycare.

Home sweet home!

Up Go The Chimmneys

Adobe Stoves #1 and #2 are coming right along! The white maul takes several days to completely harden. While they harden, we are getting the chimneys and other metal coverings prepared so the stoves can be used as soon as possible.

This is Kyle stepping out of the house where the chimneys were custom made for the stoves.

Here is one chimney installed at our very first stove.

And here is the second chimney going up. Mr. Chee (on the left) is the craftsman who made the chimneys.

Sarah, Lindsay and Chloe work to fill stove #2 with white maul.

We use trowels to level the maul to insure a flat future work space.

Sarah and Chloe strike a "shovel pose" at the white maul quarry.

Anyone who has dug here knows that white maul is hard! It also eats at your skin a bit and leaves your hands and feet peeling.

After the maul is excavated, it is filled into bags. Good work there!

The (HEAVY!) bags are lifted to a transport and taken to the adobe stove sites.

House With A View

Aahh....the view from our house is divine.

Sunset on the Western Highway

Yes, it really is this beautiful! This is an untouched photo I took out my car window as we were driving down the main highway in Belize last week. Gorgeous!

Second Wave Has Arrived!

10 Second Wavers arrived one week ago, and we said farewell to 6 First Wavers today. It's been a fabulous 6 weeks and we can't wait for another great wave. This is First and Second Wavers at a farewell dinner. Thanks for all the great work and projects you've done!

Adobe Stoves