Sunburns, Swollen Feet and Smiles in San Ignacio!

Hello friends and family,

We are writing to you from beautiful San Ignacio. It has been a busy first week since we left the Primary Team at the Belmopan bus terminal. On Monday morning we made a visit to Dolly Witz at the Belize Family Life Association (BLFA). She helped us organize our open day for this coming Friday and got us in contact with several schools in the area that will be joining us for a fun-filled day of health education! We then went to meet with Jose Zuniga, the Cayo Ministry of Education district coordinator. On our hot walk to the ministry in the neighbouring town Santa Elena, we were delighted to be picked up on the way and grabbed a seat in the bed of Jose's pick-up truck! After arriving at the ministry, he gave us some helpful background on the schools we are visiting and the issues that are being emphasized this year in health and family education.

This week, Braden and Sarah are teaching at Belmopan Baptist Secondary School. They are delighted to be working with the school counselor Ms. Felipa Apolonia, who had hand-picked a group of lively students for our leadership program.  This week's focus is on conflict resolution, peer pressure, self esteem and anger management. The students have been very involved, with passionate debates and class discussions. Taylor and Dave went to Belmopan Comprehensive Secondary School, where they have been working with the guidance counselor Ms. Natalia Cordona. As the student government was not active this year, Taylor and Dave are teaching in the life skills classes for forms 1, 2 and 3 (grades 9, 10 and 11). Communication, peer pressure and bullying have been the main topics in these very well-behaved classes.

Today is Belize's national Labour Day! As classes are off, the team took the opportunity to visit the Mayan ruin Xunantunich to learn a little more about Belize's history. We spent the afternoon planning activities and preparing for Friday's BFLA open day. We can't wait for what's in store for the rest of the week!

From the snowflakes: Sarah, Taylor (110), Braden, Dave and Camila