A Portrait of San Mateo

It’s difficult to grasp the effect of the Holy Cross Anglican School without understanding the surrounding community. The main town on Ambergris Caye is San Pedro, but San Mateo is a neighboring town to the north of San Pedro that most tourists don’t even know exists. Last year, the Red Cross did a study of Belize to determine what area would be hit the hardest if a major hurricane hit Belize. They went to every town in the country (both inland and along the coast) and San Mateo was their last stop. They were appalled at the living conditions when they walked through San Mateo and it became number 1 on their list.

The plots of land in the town were given away/sold by the Belizean government in order to gain political votes. The area was supposed to have roads, landfill and access to water and electricity. When the new land owners arrived, they found swamp land that was covered in trash. Given no other affordable options, there are hundreds of people living there.

The residents of San Mateo are extremely hard-working, but the economic situation on Ambergris is a constant uphill struggle. On the mainland of Belize, unskilled labor earns about $15USD per day while skilled labor earns about $30USD. The island is a popular tourist destination so unskilled and skilled labor earn $30USD and $50USD respectively. Many people come out to the island with the prospect of higher wages, but are instead met with a 30% higher cost of living. Housing is very expensive in San Pedro. An apartment in San Pedro is about $100 a week for one room with no utilities. People earning $30/day can’t afford to live within town limits, so they are forced to move to neighboring communities such as San Mateo. As if making $30/day wasn’t hard enough to survive on, the economy is very volatile. When the tourist industry slows down, the jobs disappear. Many of the hotels shut down for 3 months a year and then their workers don’t earn a steady income. Despite the awful living conditions in San Mateo, their residents are unable to move out because they can’t afford to go anywhere else.

The swampland of San Mateo is underwater 6 months a year. It originally didn’t have any roads or sidewalks, so residents navigated along wooden planks. At the last election, the government wanted more votes, so they built up a sandy footpath. There is garbage and old appliances everywhere. All the homes have an outhouse, but they can’t get rid of their human waste. Those who can afford a septic tank have one, but they do not function in swampy sand. In order for septic tanks to break down biological matter, they need oxygen in the soil in order for the bacteria to break down the organic waste. The island is sand (no soil) so the waste doesn’t break down before it exits the septic system into the leach field. These people are living surrounded by pools of their own waste. Some homes have water lines and many have electricity, but living there is anything but easy. The water lines run through the waste-filled swamp water, so one can only hope that there are no leaks. The sad thing is that these people aren’t lazy or people who have given up, they are working hard to get by and raise a family.

When Francis and Vern Wilson started building their school, the government wanted them to build south of San Pedro. There are already 3 schools down there and the Wilsons knew that San Mateo needed more help than anyone. The school is built on swampland, but luckily they have been able to bring in tons of sand to backfill the area (they still need more though!). Within 2 weeks of being asked to start a school, they broke ground in the summer of 2006. The first year they had 62 students in the fall and about 140 students in the spring semester. This is the second year of operation and the school educates over 400 students. In the summer of 2007, they built 9 new classrooms and several other necessary facilities for the students.

It still amazes me how much this school has accomplished in so little time with so little resources. The school doesn’t turn anybody away. It costs $10-20 per semester for students to attend depending on the number of children a family has. There is a fee for uniforms, but only if families can afford it. They have a feeding program that gives the students a high-protein breakfast, a fruit snack, and a full lunch. The final cost is $1 per student per day. This amounts to almost $500 per day in food alone. The school doesn’t charge for food, but does ask for donations from the parents. Those who can afford it give about $10 a month. Over the summer, the school did a study looking at incoming students’ heights and weights. All of the students were in the lower 30% of their age group. About 60% were under the 23^rd percentile. Malnutrition is a huge problem for the students at the school. In many cases, the food that the school provides is the only food these children get. In order to help fight vitamin deficiencies, the students get chewable vitamins tablets every morning. The school is the only one in the country that has a dental clinic. All the students receive free dental care thanks to volunteers. It is also only 1 of 7 schools in the country to accommodate children with special needs.

The Belizean government claims to support and require primary education (through 7^th grade) for all of its citizens. After reading the fine print, it becomes apparent that the government only pays the teachers’ salaries. They do not fund administrative staff, school supplies or buildings. Schools like Holy Cross Anglican School could not function without the support of people like Francis and Vern and outside contributors. The fact that our school supplies are still stuck in customs is personally appalling. If the government doesn’t want these items to be donated, they should allocate more funds for the educational system. Without donations, the schools would be unable to operate because their citizens can’t afford to purchase supplies their selves.

The progress and accomplishments of Francis and Vern is absolutely amazing. Not only are they feeding and educating hundreds of children everyday, but they are helping to build a strong community in San Mateo. The school has created a central meeting place to bring families together. Vern has also been an advocate for the people. He keeps pressing government officials to right the wrongs of San Mateo. It should be noted that the school was intentionally built before putting up a church building; living the Gospel, in this case, is more important that preaching it at this time.