I spent the first part of the morning chatting with some clients at the Mercy Clinic who were telling me about their families and lives in Belize. One 76-year old woman told me about her nine children and the youngest four who were stabbed to death by a man who had broken into their home decades ago. The woman next to her has 12 children; six in the USA and six in Belize. She does not work and her late husband died 11 years ago during a traumatic accident involving a trailer and truck (that it was being pulled by), so she has no steady income. Her children help her when they can (enough for food), but she never tells them when she’s running out of food or needs money because she says she doesn’t want to bother them. Her eldest son works for the United Nations in NYC…and she’s here in Belize City trying to collect social security checks every month and settles for sub-standard health care at the clinic.
The next part of my day involved delivering food to homebound elderly individuals all around Belize City. I cannot believe how poor the conditions were in some “homes”. Some houses were made of tin and cardboard, had no running water, looked like storage closets, had rats running around, surrounded by gangs (they have bloods and crips, too!) and drug dealers. Not to mention the neglect and lack of support (health care, basic care). Some of the elderly we saw probably didn’t have anyone to help take care of them, even though they had amputated limbs (due to diabetes) or were bedbound or blind. It made me feel somewhat angry and sad that the world could be this unfair; that peoples’ statuses can be so dramatically different. But we asked each individual how they were doing and feeling today and each of them responded – “I do the best I can with what the Lord has given me, and I can do nothing without God!”
Truly humbled.
In the afternoon, Di, Lauren, and I joined Mariza at the YWCA. I went to help care for the babies at the daycare while they helped the adolescent girls. There were 30 babies for 2 caretakers. Obviously the children were in need of attention because when I walked in, a few of the kids came straight for me to hold my hand. Some babies in the playpen cried for me to pick them up and simply hold them. It made my heart break to think that they may have gone the whole day without much attention or stimulation from the adults at the daycare. There were just too many of them and I just wanted to love all of them.
We spent the evening with the Jesuit Volunteers (JV) assigned to Belize City. There were about 10 JVs who graduated from various Jesuit Universities in the USA who live in the JV house near St. Martin de Porres School. They work as teachers in schools and prisons, and assist in building homes for the elderly. During their two year contract as a JV, they take a vow to live simply off of $3 a day. There is no TV or internet at their home, and are discouraged from travel to/from home during their 2 year stay. Just hanging out with them made me appreciate the type of education I received from a Jesuit university, having that desire for social justice, and being a child of the Earth and a product of God.
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