Belize

Each student has a unique and individual experience on their Experiment program. The following essay is a single glimpse into a program from one student's perspective.

Josh Markovits--Belize (BZS)

I did not know much about Belize and had only seen pictures of the ocean and beach before I arrived there. On our ride out of the airport and through the mainland of Belize, I saw the real scenery of Belize, this was not the Belize that cruise ship-tourists see when they spend a day in Belize, but the developing country that faces many daily challenges. Throughout my journey however, I learned that money does not buy happiness. The majority of the people in Belize are friendly, happy people and most of the families I met (including my own host family) have better relationships with family members than some of the richest families in the United States.

After we arrived in Belize, the first place we went to was Monkey Bay, which is a wildlife sanctuary that has 1,070 acres of tropical forest and savanna habitats, which is located in central Belize. Throughout our first week at Monkey Bay, we heard from many different speakers about the Belizean culture, lifestyle and the environment. We traveled to nearby attractions such as the Belize Zoo, local towns and a trek through the jungle and caves. During this time, we were being prepared for our home-stay and getting to know our other group members. Everyone became friends with each other and it was one of the only experiences I have had where cliques did not form. In fact, many of the people became so close that leaving Monkey Bay to our respective home-stay villages became an even more difficult task. Not only was it scary knowing that we would be living with complete strangers, some of whom did not even speak the same language, but we also had to leave a group of people that we had bonded so closely with during the last week.

I personally was rather nervous during the days leading up to the home-stay section of our trip. We would be taken out of our comfort-zones within our group, and put into a situation in which we had to live with complete strangers.

Once I arrived at my house however, I was relieved. My host-parents seemed very interested in my own family and me, while all of my siblings were talkative as well. I was given a tour of my house, which was in fact three separate thatched huts, which were bedrooms, and another thatched hut without walls, which was used as a kitchen. It was a nice change being able to walk around outside to get to different sections of the house and enjoy the wonderful weather of Belize. I had another instance of culture shock when I used the outhouse and bucket-bath style shower, but overall the living conditions were rather comfortable. Over the next two weeks, I became very close with my host family, eating all three meals with them, helping around the house, playing soccer with my host brothers and even going out into the jungle with my host father. I only realized how close I became with my host family when it came time to say goodbye to them. It was my first time ever living with a family other than my own and it was a great experience. I have since kept in contact with them through a series of letters and packages.

During these two weeks staying with our families, we worked on a community service project that will hopefully help the village. There is a program called Trees for Belize, which gives mahogany seedlings to local schools. The schools plant the seeds until the seeds sprout and trees begin to grow. Once the trees reach a certain size, the schools sell back the trees to the program and receive money in return, which they can use to help fund the schools. For our community service project, we built a sustainable nursery near the school that could be used and reused for planting mahogany seedlings. During this time, our group got a chance to become friends with many local children who helped with the building of the nursery with us. We additionally built compost, which is a way for the village people to dispose of their garbage without burning it. There is no sanitation department in Belize and it is even hard to find garbage cans. Many people either leave garbage lying around their homes or burn it in large piles, which is bad for the environment. I feel that our community service project was a success and our village will benefit from it.

The remainder of our trip was a relaxing, down time. We spent three days back at Monkey Bay and then went to the Cayes (islands). We realized that the majority of the people that come to Belize either by cruise ship or for a week at a time do not get to experience the best parts of Belize. As beautiful as the Cayes are, there is nothing like hiking in the jungle, only eating tortillas, rice and beans for 2 weeks and having to use a bucket of water for a shower.

This trip was one of the best experiences of my life and I would gladly recommend it to any of my friends or classmates.