Wrapping up two remarkable years of the most transformative
experience I have ever had is very difficult.
I’m excited to be counting down the days until I see my beloved family
again, but saying goodbye to people I have become close to and finding closure
with projects I have become attached to are taxing endeavors. I’m not sleeping well these days. My mind is racing around all the people I
want to acknowledge with gifts, cards, hugs and tears, as well as my future
plans to begin my new work almost as soon as I touch down on US soil with Teach for
America. In short, I’m trying to, but am
having difficulty staying in the moment of each of these last days.
We wrapped up the Bella Vista Family Literacy Program with a
party, cake, certificates, gifts of children’s books, and a visit from Nina
Hernandez, our Peace Corps Country Director.
The Spanish-speaking mothers who I’ve come to have great affection for
explained to Nina how they had learned in our sessions the importance of
stimulating their children at home by reading aloud to them, conversing with
them and preparing them for school. They
all completed the two year project with a little collection of about 15 books
to read to their children, the importance of which they had not previously
known.
Doña Gloria reads aloud to our Family Literacy group
Leaving Bella Vista for the last time
Our Pat the Great Cat Project (see blog entry from July,
2012) came to a close as well, at least the part that involved our Peace
Corps Volunteer participation in teacher training. Over the last 10 months our team of six
Peace Corps Volunteer educators and the US Ambassador’s wife, Barbara
Thummalapally, facilitated seven workshops in all six districts of Belize,
working with over 400 teachers. A team
of documentary film makers began producing a video of our workshop sessions,
and will continue editing for some months now before the final product of a
training video is given to the Ministry of Education for future in-service
training.
Each Standard IV (5th
grade) classroom in Belize has now received a teacher’s copy of Pat the Great Cat: A Jaguar’s Journey and soon each school
will receive a set of 30 hardcover copies for student use. Hundreds of teachers throughout Belize are
now creatively using this engaging text to support their lessons in wildlife conservation, social studies, math, expressive arts, science, health and
language arts. I am so proud to have
been a part of this inspiring team of volunteers and will treasure all my
memories of our travels together throughout Belize to bring literacy alive for
Belize’s children and teachers.
Our Pat the Great Cat Team
The teachers develop lessons based on Pat the Great Cat and our training
Primary school children learn about rainforest conservation from Pat the Great Cat
Teachers in Corozal develop lessons integrating expressive arts with other areas of the curriculum
Our workshop in Punta Gorda
I also wrapped up my last days in the schools of Stann Creek
District by saying goodbye to my favorite teachers and distributing all the
children’s books and homemade educational materials I had accumulated for use
in my workshops over the past two years.
I put together several files of digital documents of teaching strategies, power point
presentations and learning materials, and gave them to teachers on their thumb
drives. I hope I have inspired at least
a few teachers along the way!
Here are some shots of one of my favorite schools, Light of the Valley Primary School
Mrs. Logan, Infant I (Kindergarten) teacher
Ms. Villanueva, Infant II (First grade teacher)
Saying lots of goodbyes in my town of Dangriga:
My last GLOW club meeting with the girls
Aidra, Ingrid and Primrose with the GLOW girls
Saying "adios" to my favorite Honduran vegetable seller
The owner of "The Price is Right," my favorite Chinese supermarket
My landlady, Ms. Sandra, made me this beautiful bag as a going-away present.
Sad goodbyes to my best Belizean friend, Dez.
Aidra Rodriquez made me a lovely Garifuna doll as a going-away present
The famous Rodriguez sisters gave me one of their hand-made Garifuna drums to take as a souvenir of Dangriga. I'm so honored!
So many goodbyes from the teachers, my colleagues from the Ministry of Education, my neighbors and friends in Dangriga, all the members of the Peace Corps staff in Belmopan and my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers.....we made it to the end of a 27 month journey. I will carry the memories of this experience with me all the days of my life.
