A Thankful Thanksgiving

Work is slowly but surely getting done. Greg and Julie have been working inside the air conditioned office and dental clinic building trying to wire-up some electric lights, wall switches, and wall. The problems they have been having are lots of wires (none of them marked) and a missing bag of wire nuts. They have struggled with trying to figure out which wires are hot and what did previous volunteers had in mind, if anything, when they installed dysfunctional outlets and switches. Julie swears that she will never be an electrician in Belize again!

It has become a standing joke with Mr. Freddie (the maintenance and security man who lives on site) that Greg and Julie work well past the time that the other volunteers do. He is always available to find or acquire supplies you may need, and is amazed by Julie’s skill as a carpenter, electrician, and painter. He even complimented Carol on her use of the router.

Carol has been doing just about anything that needs to be done. She spent: one sunny morning painting fence supports and the entire side of a new 100 ft. porch building and the afternoon routing wood for shelving Greg and Julie were building: a morning sorting a shipment of reading and math workbooks for the teachers: an afternoon in a classroom helping a teacher clean up vomit (the kids didn’t like the fluoride treatment Dr. Brian gave them), reading stories, and helping out the kitchen staff by washing stacks and stacks of dirty dishes. Miss. Rosalea and Miss. Vedi will be teaching Carol and Julie how to make tortillas, Johnny cakes and if we are lucky, fry jacks on Friday.

Kathryn has spent most of the last 2 days helping out in a classroom, where she has really enjoyed spending time with the kids and her new friends from Wyoming. Ask her what a past participle is next time you see her. Yesterday, she brought in a pair of clean white tennis shoes and a pack of Sharpie markers, and asked the kids to sign her shoes. She got the shoes back, but her bag of markers is now a bit lighter.

A note on the group from Wyoming: There are 4 families here, consisting of 4 Occupational Therapists, a dentist, an internist, and an engineer. The therapists have been working with the teachers, evaluating students and giving them techniques in getting and holding the attention of their students. Holy Cross has a special education class room, one of only 7 in the entire country, and the only one on the island. The students have disabilities ranging from autism to downs syndrome, cerebral palsy and hearing loss. As for the kids from Wyoming, there are 3 teenagers, 2 sophomore’s and a junior in high school, who have been painting and working in the classrooms, and a 7 year old who has been attending class every day and has made many new friends. Dr. Dozier was able to treat a baby, who was born without the radius bone in both of her arms, by stretching the tendons, ligaments and muscles and casting them in position under traction. He will try and arrange further medical treatment for her in the states. The dentist continued a screening program that began last year, by doing exams and applying fluoride varnish to teeth. There is another team that is coming down to finish setting up the newly plastered, tiled and electrified dental clinic who will be able to provided further dental care to those students Dr. Brian has identified.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner, with all the trimmings with the volunteer group from Wyoming, a couple from Oklahoma who have been volunteering at the school for the last 3 months, and many of the teachers, staff and their families. The kids made lovely place mats for all of us and a good time was had by all. The staff was able to sample some American style food, and we got a taste of home. If you are wondering how we acquired the ingredients we needed, the Wyoming group brought down cans of cranberry, green beans, mushroom soup, fried onions, corn syrup, pecans, and canned pumpkin for pie. Turkey, potatoes and Belizean yams were available here.

The saga of dealing with customs continues. Francis and Vern were able to get our suitcase, which was a mix of personal items and school supplies, but not without having the supplies removed, released and sent over, but the rest of the bags and all the supplies are still sitting in customs. The assistant to the Bishop thinks Friday will be the day when the supplies will be sprung.