February 1, 2012

Greetings from the still-rainy rainforest!

Today is our 3rd day at Tumul K'in school and there is a lot going on.




Tumul K'in is a residential school where the students live at the school for 10 days and then go home for 5, repeating that cycle many times over. Today is Day 10 of a school session and it is Going Home day for the students. They were all very excited to go home for a few days of rest and family time. Some of the children live relatively close to the school, but for others, the trip home every 10 days means hours on a bus, or maybe several buses, traveling on their own without adult supervision, and then traveling back 5 days later. But all agree that the education offered at Tumul K'in outweighs the difficulties. The kids at Tumul K'in love their school.

Before the students left, we had a Cultural Exchange program with them. They offered to us traditional music and dance demonstrations, and lessons on traditional Maya tools, clothing, and household items, which are still very commonly used today. It was wonderful. The pride these students have in their Maya culture is evident and beautiful to see.


For our part, we Minnesotans also presented a bit about ourselves to the students. We showed them our video from Somerset school, and talked to them a bit about school in Minnesota. We told them about our careers, our interests, and we talked to them about something very exotic to them....snow! We shared gifts of a Minnesota flag, a book containing beautiful photographs of "up North" Minnesota - explaining to them what "up North" means to us in the Twin Cities, and that Minnesota itself is a Northern state, then realizing that in Belize, ALL of the United States is "up North".

We brought some chocolates made to look like pebbles from a Minnesota lake or stream, and some "Snow To Go" - a white powder that when mixed up with water turns into "snow" - or something that resembles snow, but for being warm and dry! The gifts were all a huge hit. The children poured over the picture book, asking a lot of questions about Minnesota wildlife and the Minnesota landscape, they loved the chocolate, and it only took about 3 minutes for the boys to start throwing the "snow" at each other.

Children aren't very different, from place to place, after all.



Work at the radio station continues this afternoon. Mixing and pouring concrete in the rain is an interesting process (to say the least). We are very excited to share with you all of the progress being made. We have continued to paint signs and do small repairs as needed.






Sandy and Nancy are conducting a teachers' training session tomorrow morning.


Jeff is conducting a financial organization meeting as we speak.






A group is helping Tumul K'in to develop a gift shop to sell the honey and jam that is harvested and packaged here as part of the students' agricultural studies.


There is good work to do, good work being done. There is much gratitude on all sides, for this very special partnership.

Our old friend Jerry Enriquez met up with us at Tumul K'in today. After our work day was complete, we went with Jerry to the nearby town of San Antonio. Jerry's grandparents founded and ran the first school in San Antonio - a school that still exists today. Jerry had some amazing stories to tell.