Hello all!
My name is Erin
Cooper. Sarah Kiner and I are the new Public Relations Co-Chairs for Arkansas
Engineers Abroad this semester! There is a lot to get caught up on, and I will
probably take the next few weeks straightening everything out and getting this
blog up and running again.
First things
first, we went to Belize again! We arrived on December 31st, 2013 and spent the
New Year at the Hummingbird Hostel about 30 minutes west of Belmopan. It was
beautiful; all nestled back into the forest in between the mountains. We highly
recommend it if you decide to travel to Belize. It was centrally located, and
the owners were very kind and accommodating.
This time around
we conducted health surveys and water sampling in More Tomorrow. We split into
three groups; Jake Pitts and Claire Stewart went with our translator Terrence;
Kimberly Cribbs and Sarah accompanied Jose; and Max Blanchard, Colby Lowery
(our PeaceWork coordinator, more on her later), and Annie Makuch went without a
translator with Annie doing all the surveys in Spanish. She was amazing- the
whole village loved her! I tagged along with Jake and Claire; Michael Reinisch
followed Kim and Sarah. We took water samples while they interviewed the
families. We sampled 24 locations, including nearly every rainwater catchment
system in the village, the creek, the river, and a standing water sample. We
were sampling for heavy metal residue. We brought the samples back stateside
and took them to Brian Haggard at the Water Resources Lab here in Fayetteville.
Overall, the water sample results indicate that there is no residual buildup of
metals in the water supply, but Chloride levels were getting close. We cannot,
however, conclusively state that heavy metals are not an issue, because we only
have data for one time period of the year. One thing that the villagers worried
about was the possibility that the pesticides that the Mennonites (who own the
farms across the river) use on their crops could be getting caught in the wind
and carried across the river into the villagers’ water. We were not there
during a crop dusting, so we do not have any data to either support or negate
their claims.
The survey results
are extremely helpful for qualitative analysis. We learned that fever is the
biggest health concern in their community, followed by malaria, mosquitoes,
hepatitis, and diabetes. The diabetes results shocked us. Diabetes is usually
associated with America, where we eat gluttonously, with little regard for
where our next meal will come from. However, the food that the villagers can
afford is heavily processed and high in sugars and starches, which, as we know,
are huge contributors to developing diabetes.
We discovered that many of their latrines were built several years ago
and are beginning to fill. When the latrine fills, the villagers simple dig a
new hole. With the excessive flooding during the rainy season, these crude
latrines flood. Another large problem in the community is the amount of
standing water. It is everywhere. One of the poorest homes we visited was
literally sinking in a puddle. This standing water becomes a breeding ground
for mosquitoes which only lends to the malaria problem.
We partnered with
PeaceWork for this portion of the project, and got the privilege to work with
the amazing Colby Lowery. She was a God-send. In the evenings when we would
come back from the village, she would teach us about project management,
leadership roles, and international development. She gave us a lot of great
information on how to develop AEA as a whole. She also had a connection to
Carol Babb, the Deputy Chief Education Officer in the Belizean Ministry of
Education, and set us up a meeting with her. Mrs. Babb had gone out to the
village and seen the conditions for herself, and we told her about our plans
for the village. Mrs. Babb was so impressed with us that she referred us to
Nina Hernandez, the coordinator for the Peace Corps there in Belize. With Mrs.
Hernandez, we discussed the possibility of positioning a Peace Corps Volunteer
in More Tomorrow. If that wasn't possible, then maybe a PCV that works in a
nearby village would be able to come to More Tomorrow a couple times a week.
They would serve as a great liaison between the people there and us. It was
truly an exciting part of our trip.
We learned a lot
from this trip. We went down there with the mission of fulfilling our CGIU
commitment and talking to the villagers about how our water tower will affect
their lives. But it turned into so much more than that. Arkansas Engineers
Abroad wants to continue to work in More Tomorrow. We want to break the “high
school mission trip” mold. Frequently, groups go into countries like Belize,
build a house or a few latrines and leave feeling good about themselves. But we
have learned that these kind of Band-Aid solutions are not what the people
need, and they frequently fail. More Tomorrow needs more than just a water
tower. We left Belize with three new missions. 1- Give the villagers the
technical skills to build a proper latrine, and maybe experiment with composting
latrine technology. 2- Enable the villagers the dig their own drainage ditches
to remove their homes from the water. 3- Educate the villagers about modern
sanitation procedures and implement this program in the schools and communities
across Belize. We want to bring More Tomorrow up from where they are now to
full sustainability, and that won’t happen with just a water tower.
We really
established some great relationships with the people in the village. We played
with kids, sat on porches with old women, and walked around the village with
working men. We are connected to this village. We cannot and will not leave
now. They are counting on us to finish what we have started, and we promise to
work tirelessly for them.
I know, this was a
long post. Hopefully the next few will be more concise! There was just so much
that happened while we were there, it was difficult to even get it down to
these three pages. I could probably write 15. More to come soon! And some pictures :)
Erin Cooper
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