Lessons from Octavia Waight

Volunteer Post: Sarah

One of my favorite projects these past 2 months is working at the Octavia Waight Center which is a nursing home and a retirement home for the elderly (ages 60- 105) who's family can't take care of them. The center is located in a remote spot of town which is a calf crushing hike to get there! I've learned alot of life lessons and stories going to Ocatvia twice a week. We get there bright and early to help Dorothy, a little old Swedish woman, do physical therapy weights and stretches with the residents. She reminds us we need to take special care because some of the people are blind, or deaf, or suffer from some sort of dementia. You definitely have to have a certain tenderness of heart to help them strap on weights and stretch out their old joints.

One older man, Vladimir has a condition where he can’t use his legs anymore and I carefully take his feet out of his shoes, grab a stool next to him and slowly stretch out his legs onto my lap and rotate his feet in circles as we talk about his days working at the lumber yards loading up barges and the different comrades he knew. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating because I can’t understand most of the resident because they couldn't really talk clearly anymore or they kept combining english, spanish, and creole. If I can't understand them I just sat there holding their hand, smiling and listening. Some of them are hilariously spunky and they are all so kind giving me hugs and kisses. One of my favorites is Owen Jones who had been a traveling musician since the age of 15. He grew up in the jungle and he told me all about his passion for music and some of his stories from growing up. When I left he held my hand crying with joy that I had come over and asked him to play his guitar for me. I then get all the gossip from Isabel who just turned 80 this month and is the last member of her family. Isabel and I can talk for hours about her life growing up in Belize in a thatched house and then when she was a nanny in Chicago for 20 years earning money for her family back home. I've really come to love those mornings at Octavia and things I’ve learned from each individual person’s story.

Orphanage and Belizean Culture

Volunteer Post: Sarah

I can’t believe how quickly time has been flying and that I have already been in Belize for over a month! It has been such a great experience and I’ve thoroughly loved getting to know Belize, my team members and the local community members. I’ve traveled to a lot of different countries the past few years but I think Belize is the most unique country I’ve been to. It's interesting how European colonizing countries from around 300 years ago still have so much influence on countries even today. Even just taking the bus to get to the orphanage in the capital city, Belmopan, there is a crazy variety of people and languages for such a small country. You've got the Mennonites with their beards, their suspenders and their wide brimmed hats; then the Rastas with their long dreads and colorful accents; then people of Mayan descent laden with their goods to sale and a bunch of little kids that stare back at you with bright dark eyes; and then just everyone from in between the races. It’s fun people watching with everyone crammed into an old style school bus carrying kids, groceries, umbrellas, balloons, and sometimes piñatas.

 I usually do this bus route once a week to the King’s Children Home mostly just to play with the kids and give the little ones one-on-one attention just to be held and cuddled. It’s really neat how the directors of the orphanage emphasize that it is not an institution but a home and a place for the kids to feel at home. Orphanages are like their own little society with leaders and homemade family units that look out for each other. I love seeing their interactions with each other. A few big kids look out for the little ones by doing their hair, feeding them and bossing around the bullies. I think it would be really interesting to track the lives of orphans and see how they all end up and if they stay in their homemade families. Talking to one of the directors at the orphanage, Mike, he told us that they raise good kids. Kids that go to universities and kids that give back to the community through their own service. I feel a bit sad every time I leave and it's hard to leave the little ones crying at the gate waving to us, but I'm glad they watch out for each other and let me into their world just for a few hours.

Welcome to the new blog!

Hi all,

Welcome to the new blog!  If you are interested in seeing any of the previous posts, check out our old blog here: http://belize.help-international.org/

Otherwise, stay tuned!