The last week has been crazy, it has been our break week, and so 21 people have been living together instead of the normal 10 on base. For the first couple of days, we did work on the base and we set up for the VBS camp that we will be running this week. From Wednesday to Saturday we were off on a road trip.
I will start off by telling you about the first couple days and preparations for VBS. They were a little bit discouraging because this was supposed to be our two week break, and now we were doing base work such as raking leaves, digging holes, sweeping, and bleaching walls in around 5 buildings. We had to cobweb the ceilings in these buildings as well, which was basically sweeping the ceiling. With some complaining we got this done.
Corozel, what a great time we spent there. We were there to be near the beach, but also our main purpose was to paint a house at a school, tear down another building, and dig a trench for the school. When we arrived we met a family that had just moved down there, they sold everything because they felt God calling them to start a small seminary school. Mr. Kamphuis asked them if there was any way that we would be able to bless them, and they said that their house hadn’t been painted in the two months they had lived there so far, and that would be a great help. So there was another side project and we had a team of girls to go there and help them with that. Albert Zantingh, our contact in Corozel, told Mr. Kamphuis that he didn’t think that we would be able to finish the three jobs he had for us, but at least it would be a start. Not only did we finish those three jobs, but on the house that we tore down the back half we repainted the remaining house, and painted the house of the people we met there.
We also went to the mayan temples that were nearby to Corozel, this was our trip home as well. It was amazing to see these temples; we also swam in the water nearby. After seeing these temples we were off to Belize City. Why? To go to the only subway in all of Belize, yes, subway. It was about a 1.5 hour detour, but it was worth it. I tell you a sub never tasted so good. Sitting there eating subway made me and a couple others realize that at home we take EVERYTHING for granted. Honestly though, we really do.
During our time in Corozel we passed sugar cane fields many times. In those fields are the cane cutters, working long hard days to fill the trucks which can hold about 15 tons of cane. They are paid about 6 Belizean dollars per ton, and that works out to about $90 Belize, which is split amongst the workers. One Belizean dollar is equal to fifty cents American, so these workers are extremely underpaid. We have sugar in everything, and we complain when prices are raised. We bought these workers a drink, as well as brought them pancakes from our breakfast, from the little we gave them they were so thankful. These men were Christians, and they needed to be. The ages of these men were 52, 68, 71, and 82. If you ask me they do more work in one day than any of the students from either of the high schools we attend. They are covered in soot from when they burn the remaining foliage out of the cane field. We also took up a free will offering from the team, and we were able to raise $312 Belize for these men to split. They then prayed for us and we in turn prayed for them. Just seeing these elderly men that should have been retired working in such hard conditions was enough for me. That made us realize that we take way too much for granted.
We then came home from our tiring road trip, exhausted but fulfilled. We did the jobs we came to do, and we went above and beyond what they asked of us. I know that I learned a lot on this little four day trip. That is all I have to say for now, but we are all doing good here, hope all is well at home.
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