My internet is back!
It’s been gone all day today, but Mason and Richard (two of the guys in our business group who are also working on building a park) are pretty handy and fixed it.
Today was great, the first POWA meeting this morning was absolutely fantastic. The women are extremely interested in budgeting and improving their businesses, but they have no idea where to start. A lot of their financial situations were really eye-opening, and the possibilities for saving and budgeting to improve their standard of living are enormous. I can just see these seminars having an incredible impact, and I’m so excited. Not to mention the women are So much fun! At the beginning of the seminar everyone was pretty shy, but by the end we were having the best time— laughing, joking, the women are taking us out to the Roxy tomorrow (they hang out there and say Super G, a famous Belizian rapper who lives in Dangriga also frequents the Roxy.) We’re going to be singing karaoke together, only in Belize.
Teaching got cancelled this afternoon so I’m teaching tomorrow. Also, this afternoon me, Yuki, and Claire met with Mr. Arbaan, the Minister of Cooperatives under the Ministry of Agriculture. The tilapia project is still kind of worrying me, there’s a lot of potential for a difference in expectations both for this report and what can feasibly be done by a group of three undergraduate students during a 4 week period. For example: three undergraduate students cannot conduct a market analysis of local, regional, and international demand for tilapia. People get MBA’s to learn how to do that type of thing. So yes, communication about what’s actually feasible has been key, but regardless the three of us will probably be taking a trip up to Belize City sometime week after next. More on that when I’ve processed it in my head.
Finally, my roomies, Elizabeth and Hannah, and I went to a church service tonight! We were going to go to a Methodist church, but when we got there they weren’t having services. We left kind of disappointed until we saw a family dressed nicely with bibles, so we asked them where we could find a service to go to. They said they were going to a service right then and that we could go with them. We were super excited, until about 2 blocks later when we found out they were Seventh Day Adventists. We kind of started freaking out, we didn’t want to be rude, but at the same time the mom was suggesting we take off our earrings and all of our jewelry before the service. We started talking to the family about their beliefs while we were walking, and it was pretty confusing. Fortunately, as we were walking down main street we passed by a service going on at an Assembly of God church. We told the family we’d go to that one instead, and I’m so glad we did. It was a very small congregation, only about 9 other people, but they were all extremely welcoming. We worshipped together and listened to about a 2 hour sermon, but it was incredible- the pastor was so scripture oriented and the message was focused around God’s word, it was legit. And an exciting experience, it’s so cool to see people in Belize who share the same beliefs as you, and have had the same conversion experience. The pastor even said that a missionary from Arkansas was one of the men who helped build their church! It was a really neat experience, I think we’re planning on going back next Wednesday.
And in that vein of thought, my favorite Belizian pick-up line of the day:
So we’re walking down main street after the service and hear, “So do I need to go to church to meet you ladies?” They’re really creative, those Belizians.
2 years ago