Summary of Day 2

Summary of today (Saturday):
The Surgical Team performed 12 surgeries including cleft palette repair, tonsillectomy, throat mass removal and skin cancer removal.
The Village Medical Team saw over 175 patients in Chunox.
The Screen Team screened over 20 homes and repaired a few leaky roofs.
The Construction team installed windows in 2 of the 4 homes being constructed.

The Screen Team Helps Local Village Families

The Screen Team and the Village Medical Teams traveled to Chunox, a remote village about 1 hour southeast from Corozal. The road to Chunox is a narrow, unpaved dirt road. Potholes all along the way make the ride slow and bumpy. Most of the landscape to Chunox is bushes, trees and sugar cane. There are a few small villages on the way with very modest homes made of either block or sticks.

Two rivers have to be crossed on the way. And there are no bridges! To cross each river, there's a small ferry which hold about 3 cars or vans. The ferries are powered by muscle! No motors. A hand crank (i.e. fly wheel) is turned hundreds of times to move the ferry from river side to river side. Nate Wilson helped the ferry worker turn the crank.

Once we arrived in Chunox, the 10 Screen Team members loaded up in a truck owned by one of the local pastors, Rafael (more on Rafael later). The group drove around the village and screened the windows of dozens of homes. They also repaired a few leaky roofs. Walls of most of these homes are made of sticks about 2 inches in diameter. Most have thatch roofs whereas some have metal. Windows are typically just wooden slats which open and close. Without screens, bugs and mosquitoes easily come in and can infect families with disease, commonly malaria.

The Screen Team will serve 3 more villages over the next 3 days.

Good Morning! Day 2

The sun is rising in Belize! Teams have eaten breakfast and are packing in vans now for today's work. The Village Medical Team will travel about an hour to Chunox. If you haven't heard much about the remote villages we serve, I believe you'll find village life to be very interesting and the images very different from what you've seen so far. Check back tonight for more about our day in Chunox.

This picture is a look at the Caribbean Sea from our hotel. Thanks for all of your notes and comments to the team!

All About Belize

Belize is a country in Central America (south of Mexico) with a population of about 300,000 people (one of the lowest population densities in the world). It's capital is Belmopan. The country is about the size of the state of New Hampshire. It's divided into 6 districts. Corozal and Orange Walk, the districts where most of our work is taking place, are in the northern part of the country.

Belize is bordered to the south and west by Guatemala, the north by Mexico and the east by the Caribbean Sea.

Once a part of the Mayan and briefly the Spanish Empire, it was most recently a British colony known as British Honduras. Belize gained independence in 1981. It's considered a parliamentary democracy. The Belizeans elect a prime minister who leads the government. English is the official language, however, most people here speak Spanish.

Agriculture is the main industry here. Across the country, sugar cane grows as far as you can see. Over the next day or two, I'll share more details of how sugar cane grows and how it's harvested and processed into sugar.

Unfortunately, Belize is a very poor country. About 50% of the people here don't have access to doctors, nurses or hospitals. Two-thirds earn less than US$4500 each year. And most children suffer from malnutrition. Our objective while we're here is to help as many Belizeans as we can. For some that may be rescreening windows to keep out malaria-biting mosquitoes. We'll be completing 4 houses for families who need a place to live. And for many others, we'll be providing needed medical help including checkups, vitamins, medications and surgeries.

A few notes and tips about the blog...

Throughout each day, we'll post updates about our activities. These updates appear in the journal area on the main page. An archive of all posts throughout our trip is located on the lower right hand side of the page. So you can always go back and read earlier posts.

You and others can comment on any post by clicking on the Comments link below any post. Whether it's a note to the entire team or a shout out to a specific team member, we love hearing from you!

Each night, beginning tonight, we'll post pictures from the day's activities. A slideshow of these images will play in the pictures area. If you hover your mouse/cursor over this area, you can pause or skip pictures. You can also click on any picture to jump to the entire picture album. Here you can see full screen images and even save pictures on your own computer.

Finally, you can register as a Blog Follower. As a follower, you'll receive emails when new posts and/or comments are added.

Please send us comments or even questions you'd like to ask.

Enjoy!

Remaining Team Members Arrive Safely

The remaining members of our team arrived safely today around 11:30am. After a lunch stop and a check-in at the hospital in Orange Walk, we've just arrived back in Corozal.


Fortunately, all of our packages and suitcases made it. Equipment has been unpacked. Medications have been sorted.

The Surgical Team met with surgery candidates and prepared for tomorrow.

Good Morning! - Day 1

Day 1 is here! We got up early this morning and ate breakfast at 6:15am. Sunrise was around 6:30. After a light rain this morning, it's now 68 degrees and sunny.

Today, our remaining team members arrive in Belize around 11:30am.

Throughout the blog, I'll be referring to 4 teams: the Surgical Team, the Village Medical Team, the Screen Team and the Construction Team. Here's an overview of each team's purpose and plan.

The Surgical Team will operate from the hospital in Orange Walk, a small town about 40 minutes south of where we're staying. About 14 people will perform various functions. Their purpose is to provide free plastic surgery (e.g. cleft palette) and ear, nose and throat surgery to local needy families and children. They'll perform about 50 surgeries over 4 days.

The Village Medical Team will operate in four remote villages throughout northern Belize - one village each day over 4 days. About 20 people will provide medical evaluations and needed pharmaceuticals. They also will provide a children's vacation bible school in each of the villages.

The Screen Team travels to the same villages as the Village Medical Team and provides free mosquito screening on windows of over a hundred huts. This group of about 8 will also do light repairs in some homes. We've also been asked if we could build a swing set in one of the villages.

The Construction Team will complete 4 simple block homes in San Victor. This small village is about 25 minutes southwest of our hotel. The foundations, walls and roof of these small and simple homes were constructed prior to our arrival. A few were even started by the owners ten years ago but never finished. The 12 people on this team will build an interior wall, install exterior windows (similar to plantation shutters) and exterior doors.

The theme of our mission this year is "Serve Him out loud". In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, Jesus said "Let your let shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." Our mission is one of action and serving to fulfill this call and assist those in great need.

Advance Team Arrives in Belize

It was an early morning departure today. As you can see from the picture, there aren't many people in the Cincinnati airport at 5am!

Advance team members arrived safely in Belize this afternoon! While most members are from the Cincinnati area, others are from Milwaukee, Denver and Nashville.

After arriving in Belize City and passing through Customs, we jumped in vans and began the 2 hour drive north to Corozal in the northern part of the country. The sites along the way are very interesting and very different from what we're used to. Most of the landscape along the way is open fields with sparse trees, bushes and lots of sugar cane. Every now then is a small town where you find small houses and a few, very small grocery stores. I'll share more about the country's geography later.

The surgical team made a stop in Orange Walk to visit the hospital and meet with the local medical team. Others have just arrived at our hotel in Corozal.

It's about 70 degrees and sunny here (a bit warmer than Cincinnati today).

Advance Team Departs for Belize Thursday

About a third of our team will depart for Belize Thursday morning. Our focus on Thursday will be to ensure all logistics are reviewed and in good order. Rental vans...hotel rooms...cell phones...etc. We'll also visit the hospital where the surgical team will be serving.

The remaining team will arrive Friday. The focus Friday will be to verify that all supplies arrived and get them organized for work to begin on Saturday. We'll deliver surgical equipment and supplies to the hospital, package medical supplies for our traveling village medical clinic and drop off tools at the home construction site.

Check back tomorrow for additional posts and details of our arrival in Belize.