The Belize Community

As usual, I worked until 1 a.m. on converting the UBU site to a Blog. I watched HBO which was all Disney-type movies, much to my pleasure.

Today I’m feeling the repercussions of pushing too hard four days in a row then walking five hours in the tropical heat yesterday. I had planned to go to San Pedro on the Island of Ambergris Caye, but after waking up at 8:30 and having breakfast at 9:30, I think I’ll stay in and plan on going later in the week and work it around the schedule of government official appointments.

My cab driver Tony (cool, since that was my brother’s name), was an unusually astute individual. He was the one who prescribes instilling a more God fearing tactic into the Belizeans.

I told him about my appointments with the officials during the next week and his words of caution were “You can’t change politics but politics will change you.”

After lunch yesterday, just before I met Tony I met an 18-year old who has decided to move to Barbados to continue his education. The trade school which had been proposed was turned down and there was nothing left for him to do here.

It’s hard to describe, but even though Belize is a free country there’s somethinhg short of dispair and only a glimmer of hope there might be any kind of change.

Belize has had forty years of independence and no one feels responsible for taking any action. It appears around Belize City the majority of the 300,000 residents treat their country like those who rent houses rather than owning. There’s no incentive to make things better in their minds.

The roads are no worse than most countries, the conditions of the small homes slightly better than Guatemala and remarkedly better than the same job category of the retail emplyee or income medium as Mexican residents.

We have many areas in the Bay Area that are very similar. Parts of Oakland, Palo Alto, Richmond, Pittsburg and even in San Francisco. But it seems as though anyone fronm anywhere in the US can walk across just one street and change their lives drastically.

Boys from impoverished areas learn to play sports well as their ticket out of the hood. Girls might look for a job that will grant them a better way of  life.

Yet here in Belize there is nowhere to go except out of the country. I look forward to exploring other areas of the country to see what the differences are outside of the high density city.

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