Today was a day that I won’t forget for a long time. It was a day that brought forth a lot of reflection – and a lot of humbleness.
Jonny and I came to Belize on Friday for vacation. We are here for 12 days, 8 of those days are vacation, and 4 of those days are to work with our offices and staff here. Today was one of those “work” days. We started off the morning by having a quick meeting with the team and then jumping into Nicole’s car to drive around town and see projects that ProWorld had recently completed. We then left town and drove out into one of the nearby villages to one of our project partners who produces organic Mayan chocolate. We went upstairs with them to the second level of their open air house and was served a homemade lunch of the most delicious rice, beans and chicken – with homemade hot chocolate and bites of homemade chocolate for dessert. While we ate, Juan, the man who runs the chocolate farm, spoke to us about how they are producing the chocolate from the ancient Mayan traditions of sustainable agriculture, respecting the jungle and the ecosystem and about not forgetting tradition and respect in everyday life. It was inspiring how much he knew about the sacred balance of our fragile ecosystem, but yet how much faith he still had in humanity and his neighbors to restore it. He said that the weight of the jungle is on his shoulders and if he doesn’t carry it and fight for the change, then who will? And as I sat on his porch, eating rice and beans in 95 degree heat with 95% humidity, with no air conditioning, three mangy puppies playing at my feet and two chickens clucking behind me – I was humbled for the first time that day – for I oftentimes forget that one person can make a change. This man feels that he is holding the entire weight of the Belizean jungles on his shoulders – yet he is not overwhelmed by that thought – he is inspired by it and taking on the challenge on a daily basis. There have been many times in my life where I have stayed quiet said to myself “ah, I’m only one person, my voice won’t mean a thing” – but today I was reminded that it does and that that overused Margaret Mead quote of “Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has” may actually be overused because it is true….
After we left the Mayan chocolate factory, we took an hour long drive, on a bumpy dirty road, out to Barranco – one of the most secluded villages in Southern Belize. Barranco is the hometown of the famous Belizean musician, Andy Palacio. It is also the hometown to 160 other Gariffuna Belizeans who rest together peacefully on the edge of the ocean, in the middle of the jungle. Barranco is dense jungle like I have never seen it before – the jungle runs right down to the water’s edge, there is no beach, nothing – just jungle and ocean - and in-between that some grass roads, some huts and a small (think smaller than your smallest bedroom) corner store. We walked throughout the village greeting friends of Nicole’s, sitting on their porches, sharing in smiles, laughter, stories and jokes and then continuing along our way. It was so simple, yet so profound, and such a sweet, simple way to let the afternoon pass by.
As night fell we made our final stop to visit a close friend of Nicole’s, Joan. Joan is an ex-pat from the US and has two daughters around the ages of 8 and 11. She has lived in Belize for the past 20 years and has quite the story. Her house has no electricity, and one small candle lighting the house, along with some dim light pouring in from the street. In the darkness we ate a simple, yet delicious dinner of rice, beans and fried plantains, while we swung from chairs that were hanging from the rafters of her thatched roof. As we chatted and ate in the dark, I was amazed at how the darkness didn’t affect her daughters at all, they moved throughout the kitchen and bedrooms as if having no light was no big deal – and it wasn’t – it was part of life there. The sun goes down at 6pm, which means it is time to eat, and then play for a little bit and then go to sleep. The girls were so joyful throughout all of this, playing, joking and carrying on with their mother like young children do. It was so refreshing to see; we don’t need all of this electricity that we pump into our houses, sure it is nice to have, but it is definitely not necessary to have a happy, functioning family. As the girls ran around barefoot throughout their house, which connects to the jungle-ness of their front yard, the mother was telling us about a recent trip back to the States where they visited their family in Ohio and after observing life in the US, her oldest daughter said “Mom, people in America don’t walk barefoot on grass do they?” And I thought, no honey, they don’t, because walking barefoot in long grass isn’t safe and if you do walk through it, then you have the chance of stepping in dog shit like I did today and Americans hate things that aren’t safe and more than that, they hate stepping in shit. And it isn’t that you can’t do these things in America – it’s just that most people don’t. We do step in dog shit, but we hardly walk barefoot through un-manicured grass, and we definitely don’t eat in the dark, in our living rooms, and enjoy it. And so after this simple experience of spending time in their house, I was yet once again, humbled.
After we departed their house, we began our drive back home and Nicole started telling us more about Joan’s life and it is a rough life at that. Joan used to have a 2 year old boy, and when she was out of town, the boy was taken by a drunk man and murdered. She then had a 3 year old daughter who was hit by a car and killed. Then her husband physically and mentally abused and controlled her so much that she almost died, so she took her two daughters and left the prospering business that they had created in another village in Belize, left the comforts of their home, and ran away from her husband. Now they live in the little village of Barranco, where life was sweet until the girls were both recently physically assaulted by a man in the village. He is now locked up – but when will this family get a break? And I tell you this, not to make you sick to your stomach, but because it is their reality and it will make you feel humbled – as it did for me – that it is not your reality. This mom now makes soap in Barranco and sells it for $2.00 USD a bar in order to support her family. I bought 4 bars today, but that was prior to knowing her story. Had I known her story, I would have bought out her store and given you all bars of soap as presents for the next 10 years, but I didn’t know her story at the time so will just have to send her lots of love and light in the meantime and buy more next time. But the thing is, even after all of this – the family still has joy. They still laughed throughout dinner and ran around barefoot - giggling - playing freely throughout the yard.
As so it is. These are the stories of Belize. These are the reasons that I am going to bed humbled tonight. Today I learned a great deal about strength, humanity, simplicity and unity. Today I once again fell in love with Belize, but yet was also scared like hell from it, and totally and completely humbled by it.
