It’s day 3 of our trip and our second morning waking up in
Belize. We had rain again last night, so
the temperature is mild and the humidity is high. After quiet time this morning, we headed into
the dining facility for breakfast. We
had flapjacks, eggs, beans and fresh fruit for breakfast this morning. As usual, it was delicious and also a great
way to start the day.
Following breakfast, there was a short period of down time
before we headed out to our destinations for the day. We started off with Heart House just outside of
Belmopan. Heart House is a ministry in
Mayamopan for kids that provides after school programs, feeding programs and
summer programs to name a few. While
most of the group spent time with the youth there, a few of the guys headed out
on some side missions. Lil’ Mike met
German at the well for a little maintenance while Scott and Jordan delivered
some medicine to a couple of sick families in Mayamopan. Once these tasks were completed, they headed
back and joined up with the rest of the team at the Heart House where we spent
the remainder of the morning loving on the kids there.
Matt parted with the rest of the team and went with German’s wife, Alice, to run around purchasing all the food to feed the campers, counselors and camp staff for the next several days. This included a trip to The Mall, Quality Poultry, the market, a bakery and a private residence where we spoke with a couple of ladies about making 150 tamales for Friday. They gladly accepted this task.
The group went back to Camalote Camp for lunch. It was a lighter fare today since it was just
a brief stopover before moving onto the next ministry. After lunch, the team went to the Boy’s
Country Club in Roaring Creek just down the road. This is a ministry that teaches young boys
life lessons in the hopes of making better men and dads. A man named Derrick leads this group and he
uses horses as a vessel to reach these kids and others in the community. Several of the youth in this program took the
time to speak to our team and shared their stories. This is a very tight knit group that serves
in the community together, attends church together and camps together among
other things.
After the Boy’s Country Club visit, the team went on to the Hope For Life Pregnancy
Center. This is a Belizean
non-profit that is run primarily by Belizean volunteers. This is a significant fact since the culture
of volunteerism is not prevalent in Belize.
The center provides childbirth and parenting classes, counseling
services for women, Bible studies and even helps provide for new families
during a child’s first year of life.
They will also provide a volunteer that will go to the hospital with a
mother for the birth of her child and provide the mother with assistance. The hospitals down here to not function as
they do in the states. For example, the
hospitals really do not provide anything, not even water. The only way for a woman who is delivering a
child to receive water is to have someone bring it to her.
After visiting the pregnancy center, the team returned to
Camalote Camp. Another small group set out shortly thereafter to deliver food to a family in need. While some of our team members entertained the children by teaching handstands and doing cartwheels, a needs assessment was done to see how else
this family can be helped going forward.
This pretty much wrapped up our day. It was a full day for sure and we are all
looking forward to a good night of rest before our campers arrive tomorrow. Camp begins tomorrow around lunchtime, though
we expect campers to arrive anytime after 9:00 a.m.
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