My PC Belize intro letter

Hey all! I know I have to do a full on update soon, but i thought I would leave you with a letter I wrote for now. PC Belize asked me to write a letter that would be included in people's welcome packets. Kinda give them an idea of what to expect and so forth. Hope you like it!

Welcome!!!

Where are you right now? Are you reading this letter from your couch? Are you sitting at the coffee shop with your information packet spread out around you? I write to you from my porch. I can hear birds chirping, roosters crowing, dogs barking, and reggae pounding from a neighbor’s speakers. In front of me is my neighbor Don Miguel’s yard, his hundreds of carefully tended flowers set off the trees in the distance in a way that reminds me I live in the tropics. I remember the many months of suspense before my big blue packet finally arrived. Belize! I immediately went on an information gathering rampage, googling, Barnes & Nobleing, I think I even talked to a friend who works as a travel agent. (She was nice, but didn’t exactly give me the best idea of what my service would be like!) What made you decide to join the Peace Corps? For me it was the idea of living and working at the local level. I have always been a traveler, but I felt like my rush to see as much as I could was keeping me from seeing the world how I wanted. I also feel like I have been given many opportunities in my life, it was time for me to give back. Maybe you have some of the same reasons, maybe not. Each person’s experience is unique. I had no idea what to expect. You are probably overwhelmed by how much “general” information you are receiving, very little telling you what its actually going to be like. My experience will not be the same as yours, but maybe you can get an idea…
So you ask, “what IS it like?” Well, let me tell you a little bit about my life in the Peace Corps. I live and work in a village in Northern Belize. Most of my village is involved in the Sugarcane industry in some way, either farming or processing. When I started my service I imagined that I would have a rather clear and outlined job. Call it a 9-5 or whatever. My primary assigned project has been to develop a Youth Group. The idea is to give teens and children positive outlets for energy as well as encouraging character development. In addition to working with youth, I have taken on a number of other projects. I have a garden in the school in which 33 students in 4th Form (about 12 yrs old) are learning organic gardening techniques. We are building a library in the village, attempting to get a paved road constructed and working on writing a children’s reader that would describe the history of the village. (I must be honest, I think the last one is really cool!) Living in a slow paced rural community I have learned to appreciate and get excited about your successes, large and small. For Christmas I worked with the village council to organize a party (or Bram as they say in Kriol). We were able to raise the money to feed over 500 people, provide a toy for every child, a DJ, a volleyball tournament and….fireworks! These were serious light up the sky type explosions, the first that many of the people in my village had ever experienced. 5 months later I still hear people talking about it.
So what about life outside of work? Well, lets start with where I live; I have a tiny two bedroom wood house on the outskirts of the village. When I found the house it was kinda a disaster, but after quite a few hours of work I think it looks great. My yard is filled with fruit trees; mango, plantain, lime, cashew, papaya. I have a dog and a cat (actually both are lying on top of me as I sit on my couch and write this). I have indoor plumbing, a fridge to keep stuff cold and a stove to boil water for the essentials: coffee and mac & cheese. I can’t cook to save myself. This has had a more positive outcome than I could have expected, people invite me over for lunch or dinner all the time. My village is primarily Kriol, and the people are warm, friendly, generous, and have no problem saying exactly what they think. I have lost a few pounds down here, and they like to tell me that I am far too skinny. It usually sounds something like this: “Bwai Jaycob!! You meh get magah magah bwai!!!” Mek you eat somethin!”
Belize is a playground for nature lovers. We all know about the beaches and the mountains. But living up North I have fallen in love with the bush. Hypnotizing by horseback, exhausting by foot, on my daily walks to the river I may see picaries, deer, hundreds of species of birds, turtles and even the occasional croc. There is something deeply satisfying about bushwhacking through the undergrowth, trying to make it to that marshy area you heard about for some great fishing. More often than not I am with a group of guys who in between cracking jokes (sometimes at my expense) are excited to teach me a new trick of the woods.
It’s the people that keep me happy in my village. The late nights playing Dominoes, the overnight treks in the bush, the pickup that pulls up beside you as you’re walking home and invites you fishing, to go butcher a cow, (that was a first) to help pick corn, to pull a 10 wheel truck out of the mud using two tractors. I came to Belize without having ever picked up a machete, now I can chop your coconut open and pour you a fresh glass in ten seconds flat. If that isn’t a transferable skill I don’t know what is.
I can’t promise you paradise, but I can promise that Belize will surprise you, encourage you, frustrate you and make you laugh out loud. You will feel the highest highs and some pretty low lows. Belize sneaks up on you. One day you won’t be able to understand Kriol, next thing you know your village has stopped seeing you as an outsider and you are speaking the language and sharing in their lives. I have made friends that will last a lifetime, bridged cultural and language gaps and worked myself into a close knit community.

Congratulations and good luck!

Jacob Hafkin