LETTER FROM BELIZE - OCTOBER 2002
The other day we discovered that we get paid £30 a month to act as postmen to the local villages. This is just one of the new and exciting jobs that we are finding out about as we get to know our new Mission.
We all arrived safely with no travel problems and we now feel that after two full weeks in Dangriga and visiting most of the 17 villages we are beginning to feel at home. We have been well received by the parishioners and local people who have been very helpful. Our house has had to be knocked into shape to accommodate the three of us. We have had trouble with our water supply since we have been here. Apparently this part of the town is at the end of the system and suffers the most when there are water problems. The only time we can have water coming from the shower head is in the early hours of the morning. Otherwise it is from a bucket of water. The problem has not been helped by the fact that the country has been experiencing a heat wave. The lowest temperature we have had so far is 24ºC. The days have been in the mid 30s. On the plus side is the fact that there have been no hurricanes and there is just over one month to go till the end of the hurricane season.
The Bishop has been very helpful to us with helping us to settle in. He has lent us a vehicle to use till we get our own. We have ordered a Mitsubishi 4WD double cabin pick-up. That will be our first major use of the money that you have all donated to the Mission. We are going to see how we manage with one vehicle before we consider whether we need two. The size of the Parish (about 30 by 60 miles) means that we have a fair bit of ground to cover.
The Church in Belize is very involved in education. This parish is responsible for maintaining and managing 12 primary schools of various sizes ranging from 100 to 650 pupils with a total of over 4,000. The government builds the schools and pays the teachers but the church is responsible for the management. School started the day after we took over so it has been a busy time. We have been trying to visit as many villages as possible in the past two weeks to get to know the situation of each of the catholic communities and their problems etc. In just the brief time we have been able to spend with them we can see all the potential for growth that there is. We can also see the great needs that will require financial help. There are several villages with unfinished churches and other communities that are asking for help from us. We will be letting you know all about them when we get some idea of what is a priority.
We are about to have the ground-breaking ceremony for 12 new classrooms behind our house with a parish hall as a second story. All the planning for this has been done before we arrived. The classrooms are needed as for the past three years a third of the church has been used as three cramped classrooms. Other odd buildings in the vicinity are also being used as classrooms. The whole project is costing about £300,000. A third has been raised by the mission helpers of the previous parish priest, a third will be paid by the Belize Government for the school part of the project (New buildings of this type are also required to be built to a standard as local hurricane shelters). The final third is being raised by local fundraising and we expect that funds will also be needed from Mission Belize to help with this large project.
Many thanks to you all for your farewells before we left, your promises of prayers and support as we begin our new mission here in Belize. Please keep it up.