Finding out what “a hand up” means

The spirit of giving was alive and well today with CanACT, with the fourth day of our study tour being geared towards cooperation through education and communication. 

The day started with a trip to the San Ignacio and Santa Elena Vegetable and Fruit Market, where we talked to local farmers about the various produce on display including papaya, citrus, ginger root, various beans, and bananas. Later, we met a young man who would have a big impact on us: 17-year-old Josue Rajos.

Josue is in his fourth year of high school at the Eden School, where he receives a scholarship from the Rotary Club. In Belize, children receive free schooling until Grade Six, then pay about US$500 per year. In an impoverished country, attracting funds for school is challenging, even under the best conditions. It’s much harder for Josue: his mother died six years ago, and his father is absent.

But before she died, his mother instilled a love of learning in her four children, particularly the two youngest, one being Josue. Now, he’s responsible for paying for both his education, and his sister’s...and caring for her. To do this, he works nights and weekends at a local botanical garden conducting tours. Despite this workload, Josue still maintains an 81 per cent average. To help him out, our group made a donation to support his sister’s education. Even though our donation was humble by North American standards, we were blown away by the impact the donation could have – it will pay for two-thirds of his sister’s education for one year.

We learned a lot about Josue’s life because he was our translator when we visited Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite area highly populated with refugee farmers. We visited the farm of a refugee family from El Salvador, the Herreras. 

About 10 years ago, SHARE gave three cattle each to refugee families in the area, including the Herreras, who had arrived in the area with nothing other than a few suitcases. The calves from those cattle were later given or, in SHARE terminology, “handed up” (rather than “handed out”) from these farmers to other refugee farmers in the area, to help them sustain themselves, their families and their community. After they had sustained themselves, they were able to sell excess milk and animals, and become more self-sufficient. Now, the Herreras own 70 acres of pasture, and 45 cattle.  The cattle gave the Herreras a way to send their children to school, which they considered essential.  

For lunch, we stopped for some Belizean ice cream at Western Dairies, also in Spanish Lookout, which is run by the Mennonites. There, we met some local people, including a pioneer who had arrived in Belize in 1959 from Manitoba.  His family moved there for cultural freedom, for the ability to openly communicate in German at school, which was not possible in Canada at the time. Many others followed, and today there are about 1,200 Mennonites in the area, anchoring a prosperous local economy.

There are certainly pockets of despair in Belize, but there are also many pockets of hope. For example, women have not had a unified voice, or a strong sense of community, and women’s issues such as abuse are generally avoided. However, groups have organized to help deal with this problem. We visited a women’s group which helps build a supporting communication network for women, and conducts activities at safe venues such as the San Ignacio Red Cross Centre. There, women are provided with a safe environment to discuss relevant issues, while at the same time learning skills such as sewing, cooking and cake decorating.  These skills help them both in their home and in earning money  selling their products.

This initiative is spearheaded by a woman named Claudia, a government employee in the women’s department who works hard for women’s rights.  She received three sewing machines from SHARE, and started organizing sewing classes.  This has evolved into the cooking and cake decorating classes being offered as well. Now, class space has to be limited because demand for the knowledge and safe environment is so great. 

Another situation where someone is teaching others for the greater good of Belize occurs right at our hotel.  The hotel started a project named the Iguana Project, where trained staff keep iguanas in captivity for the first two years of their lives, before returning them to the wild. While the iguanas are in captivity, they are used to teach locals and tourists about iguanas so that fewer reptiles are being hunted and killed. In this way, the hotel helps communicate to others the importance of iguanas in the wild.

A second project at the hotel was started to educate people about medicinal plants in the Belizean forests.  These plants are used to cure anything from sprains to snake bites. Through the medicinal plants walk, and also through the guide talking to locals, an understanding is gained of the benefits of the natural vegetation, helping to prevent the forests being cut down.  The guide also will use the natural remedies if someone is hurt or ill and needs his help.

Today was a day full of seeing how people are banding together through education and communication to help others and help their country.  It was an awesome day to take part in, teaching us how to give a hand up, instead of a hand out.

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