First Days

Greetings from southern Belize! We left the Twin Cities early in the morning and arrived safely in Belize early Saturday afternoon. We were greeted at the Belize Airport in Belize City first by a traditional Garifuna band playing live music as we retrieved our luggage, and then by our friend and guide Bruno, of Sun Creek Lodge. It was wonderful to see the sights, hear the sounds, and smell the smells of Belize again. Belize definitely welcomes visitors with open arms.

We loaded luggage and got settled in the trusty Sun Creek Lodge bus, and we headed out right away for the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center in Belize City. The Dorothy Menzies Center is a public home for neglected and abused children in Belize. The center is a badly needed safe home for 70 children, from infants to early teenagers. The Dorothy Menzies staff tirelessly provide loving care to the children under its roof.

Unfortunately, the center is badly overcrowded. While it was built to accommodate 12 children, there are currently 70 children living there. Beds, bedding, clothing, bathing capabilities, toilet capabilities, and food are all in short supply. The children are in desperate need of basic living supplies - and in desperate need of attention and affection. St. Anne's, the West St. Paul Rotary, and the Belize Rotary have been working in partnership to bring some funding and support to the Dorothy Menzies Center and this visit confirmed for us that this is a very important project.

After leaving the Dorothy Menzies Center we found ourselves at an almost familiar site - St. Ann's Episcopal Church....in Belmopan, the capitol of Belize. It is a large, open, church, with beautiful grounds. A true sister congregation!

On Sunday we worshiped at St. Joseph's Anglican Church in Punta Gorda. The congregation is small, and is led by lay ministry. As with previous visits, Lydia received permission from the Bishop of Belize to celebrate Eucharist there, which was very nice.

We were able to spend some time yesterday exploring the Blue Creek Cave area near Blue Creek. Cave swimming up waterfalls with headlamps - what a magical experience! The natural beauty of this country continues to fill us with awe and amazement.

Today (Monday, January 30) we are at Tumul K'in Center of Learning, the Maya school near Blue Creek Village, where we have been working in partnership with school directors and community leaders to build a transmitter to increase public availability to the Maya language public radio station. We are also assisting on projects around the school - painting signs, doing small repair work, etc. The students and teachers are warm and welcoming. It is good to be here!

Internet is not always easy to find and we do not always have electricity, but we will continue to update when we can.

Sending love from the jungle!