by Ella-Fei Flesher
We had just landed in Belize and I was immediately in awe of the bold, colorful, stilted houses that lined the roads and the dense, tropical vegetation in the mountains. This was my first time abroad and I was anxious but excited to get started on our projects and learn more about the people there. This program was a month-long service-learning trip primarily in Dangriga, Belize. This meant that instead of taking traditional classes I would be working with community partners such as St. Matthew’s school in Pomona and organizations such as the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA) to work on community projects. We were also led by our faculty members to advise us and joined by Peacework who guided us through workshops about what it meant to be a cross-cultural partner.
A typical day began with eating a delicious breakfast that Mrs. Eleanor, the owner of the hotel, cooked for us. We would have fry jacks, Belizean johnny cakes, hash fish, eggs, a mix of greens, and the best fresh fruit I’ve ever had! After breakfast, we would drive to the school to work on constructing two chicken houses, four raised garden beds, and a high tunnel greenhouse. These chicken houses will provide meat and eggs for the school and the gardens will produce many different kinds of vegetables, ultimately giving the kids a source of nourishing food and teaching them how to take care of the poultry and plants. Many of us also had the opportunity to teach in the classrooms about handwashing, bullying, or abuse. This proved to be a steep learning curve for me because I had never taught children nor had I ever approached the subject of abuse. It ended up being very impactful because we were able to get to know the kids we would be serving but also learn more about the culture around those subjects. We also learned about the negative effects that Covid-19 had on the students’ education and community as a whole. Towards the end of the trip, to our surprise, we were able to get all of our construction finished at the school before we left Belize and even got to house the chicks. One of my favorite memories of the trip was getting to take care of the chickens and learning how to sex them. We could not have done this without the help of our brilliant contractor Pine!
In the afternoons, we worked with a palliative care team with leaders Shirley and Sandra, to deliver care packages to elderly and disabled people. This was incredibly powerful as we were able to go inside these individuals’ homes and learn their stories. Some days we would work with BFLA to educate the public on reproductive health and distribute condoms to people on the street. We would end our day with dinner at Tanisha and Pine’s where I had some of the best food I’ve ever had.
Apart from our main projects, we learned more about the ethnic groups in Belize such as the Garifuna and Creole. We had the opportunity to make a drum, which is a major cultural symbol for the Garifuna people, with an esteemed drum-maker named Nori who challenged this male dominated field. On weekends we went on many different excursions to cities such as San Ignacio where I went spelunking in an ancient Mayan cave called the ATM cave and toured the Xunantunich Mayan ruins. Learning about Mayan culture was so interesting, especially after I had taken Intro to Archaeology last semester. We also went to a cacao farm and learned how to make chocolate as well as toured Marie Sharp’s hot sauce factory. At the end of our trip we took a water taxi to Caye Caulker and all of us snorkeled the stunning coral gardens and swam with nurse sharks and stingrays in the Hol Chan marine reserve!
Overall, I chose this program because it would allow me to explore the relationship building aspects of my major and have hands-on learning experiences. I wanted these projects to be a tangible way for me to see a positive impact I can make through service while filling in gaps in my knowledge. I believe that I achieved that and a better understanding and different perspective of the world and people. Most importantly, I learned how to build the proper relationships to find a solution that will truly best serve a community’s needs rather than what I think the community needs.
I am incredibly grateful I could travel abroad my freshman year and I hope to do so again before I graduate. I loved how close everyone got throughout the trip especially when many of us had never known each other before this experience. I highly recommend this program because the faculty were so supportive and went out of their way to make the most out of our time in Dangriga. Belize is a beautiful place, and I made some amazing friendships I was sad to leave. I cannot express how impactful this study abroad was — I encourage everyone to do a service-learning study abroad if they can because the experience of giving back to a community while building relationships and learning within a different culture is irreplicable.
