Donations for Mahogany Heights Village

In central Belize there are a number of worthy villages with locals working to make their communities stronger. That said, I've yet to meet a force as powerful and hardworking as Raquel, the community health worker and village leader in Mahogany Heights. Mahogany Heights Village has a long and complex story which would require much more than a blog post to summarize. The short of it is that the village is in what Raquel calls "an era of violence" right now. Unemployment + lack of education = lack of hope. Raquel and others in the village are working hard to redirect those that are struggling and she is doing her best to provide youth leadership programs and camps to keep kids and teens active.

Prepping our donations to drop off in Mahogany Heights Village

Raquel and the Mahogany Heights Health Clinic

Today we dropped of a load of donations for Raquel to distribute throughout the village - soap, hygiene products, games and really cool shoes.

The Shoe That Grows donated a bag full of shoes that we were lucky enough to give out today. Raquel's son was all smiles with the idea that he too could get a pair of these shoes that his mom will be giving out at her children's camp this week.

The Shoe That Grows!

Our GLA Belize August session participants arrive today, so the first couple of girls, along with our GSP staff were able to join us for the donation run and there were smiles all around for the donation stop. What a great way to start our August program! 

ZOOM! That flew by!

It's 9:00pm. The first GLA Belize group is packing up and we are headed to the airport to check them in tomorrow morning at 8:00am. 26 students, 21 days and countless memories.

Tonight we had our final round of an activity we call "Highs, Lows & Heroes". Each night we reflect on the day, but tonight it was a look back at the past three weeks as a whole. We heard about lows from the trip such as "the bug bites", "sunburns" and most often "leaving the kids at St. Matthew's". Our heroes were each other. This group has unified and is seamless. They support each other, celebrate each other, and dance endlessly. Their hearts have been ALL IN!

We enjoyed an afternoon at the Belize Zoo

Afternoon cooking class

Jahad and his little amigos. He got the "Most Fun at Recess" award.

We didn't stop with service in the classroom! Inside AND out!

Keeping with GSP tradition, we ended our service trip with a weekend to relax and explore on Caye Caulker. Everything was so, so good.

Make Summer Matter!

Our summer camp at St. Matthew's started today! "Be Flexible" was our mantra going into the day. We weren't sure how many kids would be there. Also, since it's been a month since school was out for the year, we knew that many families would likely need a reminder. We began the day playing soccer and jumping rope as we waited for the kids to trickle in. By 9:45 we had over 70 kids ready to roll. We were able to fill five classrooms with kids ranging in age from 5 to 13. We have 5-8 GLA volunteers teaching the classes. Our theme for the session is "Make Summer Matter" and we are aiming to promote youth leadership and community activism, while strengthening reading and writing skills. By next week they will have completed a book focusing on Life Skills and taking action. We can't wait to see what they come up with!

Ismael and his new students

Recess!

All smiles from this little guy.

Day 1 = SUCCESS!

Setting Up for Service at School

This morning our students were busy lesson planning and getting ready to teach their classes beginning tomorrow morning at 9:00 am.

After lunch we bused everyone over to the school where we will be working - St. Matthew's Government School. We broke up into two groups and while one group set up their classrooms, the other met with the local Peace Corp volunteer from St Matthew's Village. He gave them additional information about the area and also showed them a bit of the village and some of the houses. Then we rotated the groups, so everyone had a chance to set up and also meet with Chase for the village tour.

St. Matthew's Village

Village Water Well

The school was in a bit of disarray because a few of the classrooms had been painted by a previous volunteer group, so all the chairs were in weird piles throughout the school. After an afternoon of rearranging, we are all set up for camp in the classrooms tomorrow. We will be teaching in 5 classrooms and will have to wait until tomorrow to see how many children from the local villages will come. We are hoping for a full house. We'll report back tomorrow so stay tuned.

The "before" picture. The classrooms look great now.

Our photo intern, Brooklyn took a lot of great shots today. Since we were prepping the school we took advantage of the camera not being a distraction. During lesson time we will have to be more discrete with the camera. We will post the photos we've taken thus far to our Facebook page. If you haven't followed our page, now's the time. We have all kinds of interesting things coming up!

The play field at St. Matthew's School

We finally got a group picture with all 26 GLA students! 

Cultural Excursion Day

Our three week GLA program is off to a really great start. We have 26 high school students from all over the USA who are completely immersed in this experience.

After a couple of days team building and outlining our future service projects, we took everyone out to San Ignacio today for the outdoor market.

We brought our lunch along with us and had a great picnic at a local park. The weather was hot and a little muggy today so the shade was a welcome treat. After we ate a number of the students took advantage of the playground to swing, climb and talk to local kids.

After lunch we embarked on our Mayan adventure, climbing the hill to Xunantunich. Our Mayan guides were fantastic and taught us all about the ancient civilizations and the sport of pok-ta-pok while we sat directly in the center of the ancient arena. Just before arriving in the arena we were able to see three or four howler monkeys in the trees above. Once we toured through the lower structures we began the assent to the top of El Castillo (the second tallest Mayan temple in Belize). As we climbed the temple we could hear the alpha male of the resident howler family calling out. We couldn't have scripted a better experience.

The view is spectacular - and a little exhilarating. 

The breeze is strong and the panoramic view, including the border of Belize and Guatemala, is breathtaking.  

They're Here!

GLA Belize has officially begun!

Students started arriving at 10 a.m., and by dinnertime we had 23 student volunteers here at Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, our home base for the three weeks. (We're still waiting for three who arrive tomorrow. Can't wait to meet you guys!) Everyone was tired after long flights, but they still had enough energy to make friends over a dinner of Belizean chicken, rice and beans and cake. Then we did a round of more formal introductions, went over ground rules and shared what we were most excited about for the weeks ahead. Answers ranged from making new friends to meeting the Belizean kids we'll be tutoring to visiting Mayan ruins and snorkeling. There were smiles all around as we closed for the evening, then a mad dash for the showers—anything to stave off the heat of the Belizean night.

And tomorrow we begin! Ya mon!

GLA Belize — Rhythms of the Carribean crew

2016 Summer Team

First, acronyms. GSP. GLA. I know, confusing. It's a big world with a lot of global organizations. 

• Global Service Partnerships = GSP. Based in Boise, Idaho, USA and Belize. Founded by Kelli Soll and working with Emily Williams as Director. 
• Global Leadership Adventures = GLA. Global Leadership Adventures Belize

Beginning in 2016 (tomorrow to be exact) we are running the Belize programming for GLA. Two three-week sessions will be run this summer, one at St. Matthew's Government School and the second at St. Joseph's School in the Cotton Tree Village. We have two incredible Mentors, and our fearless leader Kelli is the International Director. 

Kelli, GSP Founder and GLA International Director

Lauren, GLA Mentor

Erik, GLA Mentor

Emily, GSP Director
(plus her 3 mini-interns at her side)

And then there's me, Emily. I work as the Education and Youth Leadership Director for GSP. I am thrilled to be partnering with GLA to make a huge impact on the lives of students from the USA and Belize. We've spent the past week making Monkey Bay our new home. We've been planning all the programming and service and enjoying getting to know each other. We are all set.  It's going to be amazing!

Here we go!

Who are we? What do we do?

Readers,

Let's get this blog started off right. Check out our website to get to know us, learn where we came from, what we do and why. Want to travel with us? Wondering how? You'll find lots of answers there. 

Global Service Partnerships

Past that, this blog will be a random assortment of stories, experiences and adventures we have as we participate as global citizens and try to make the world more awesome. 

Keep checking back for posts during the Global Leadership Adventure program we are running this summer! We have two sessions; July & August. We are all geared up so enjoy following our adventures. 

Until then, soak up this sunrise picture I took on Caye Caulker in 2014.