Jose Torres and Ana Pendergast at Mayflower Bocawina National Park on the first day of their internship.

Author: Ana Pendergast | Major: International Business Economics | Semester: Summer 2022

This summer I had the amazing privilege to study in Dangriga, Belize through an 8-week service-learning internship and thesis program facilitated by Peacework and the University of Arkansas Honors College. I worked alongside six fellow honors students to support community economic development in the Stann Creek region of Belize with the local organizations. My project worked with the local rainforest Mayflower Bocawina National Park and collaborated with a local school Silk Grass Methodist Primary. We worked with the park rangers to develop and implement a youth development program focused on raising awareness about the park’s involvement in their community and careers in environmental protectionism and parks.

The experiences and lessons I gained from my time in Belize increased my understanding of the world outside of America, helped develop my personal character and was an enriching experience that allowed me to help the community in which we lived and worked in a meaningful way. The independent nature of the program truly allowed us to live like locals- from the two- story blue house with a red roof, across from the cemetery (as was often used as directions rather than an address) to the cuisine and transportation. We left our American ways behind and immersed ourselves into the Belizean culture. Our commute from our local house on the north side of Dangriga to the rainforest in Silk Grass, a small community south of Dangriga, consisted of a 15 minute bike ride, followed by a 30 minute ride on the local bus, an old American school bus lacking a/c, and finally a 20 minute bumpy off-road car ride into the park.

Adjusting to the new forms of transportation was one of the biggest culture shocks I experienced after arriving in Belize. From our bikes to hitchhiking, it was completely different than from back home. By the second day I was on my third bike. Our bikes were often problematic, yet my morning bike rides quickly became an aspect I looked forward to. The locals easily made up for our seemingly constantly breaking bikes. Our rides to the bus station were filled with friendly good mornings, and when our bike chains did fall off, its most common ailment, locals were always happy to stop and help, as this is a common problem with bikes in Dangriga. Bikes are the most common form of transportation in Belize, and it amazes me how the people have adapted to them. Whether they were fixing our bikes in a quarter of the time, riding with one hand and one foot while eating breakfast, balancing a 5-gallon jug of water on their shoulder, or riding two to a bike- the locals did not let bikes inhibit their everyday life. My initial anger and frustration with my bike was tempered after witnessing just how precious and valuable a bike is to the local people. Similarly, everyone was happy to direct us to the correct bus, let us know when our stop was coming up or explain the bus schedule. One form of transportation was entirely new to me- hitchhiking, which is extremely common in Belize. From our first weekend trip, we quickly learned navigating the country without hitching as an option, would simply not be an option. By the end of the summer, my partner and I had determined any truck that passed by was an opportunity to stick our thumb out and get home a little faster. While I was extremely nervous and uncomfortable with it at first, once again the genuine and caring people of Belize made us feel safe and I quickly grew accustomed to it.

Since my project with the rainforest focused on developing a youth development program, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time at the local Silk Grass school. It amazed me how excited and helpful the whole school was in helping us start the youth program. They explained how the school system worked in Belize so we could make the program compatible with the students’ schedule and academics, let us present to the students and parents at the all school meetings, and host meetings at the school. The kids always greeted us with “good morning Miss. Ana” and were so excited to hear about life in America and learn about where we came from. We recruited 12 students in their upper grades to participate in our program and they were always eager to help and learn more about the rainforest. It was inspiring to see such community involvement and dedication in improving the park from such young students.

An interesting circumstance we learned about when we had the privilege to attend their graduation ceremony, was the gender inequality in terms of education. While girl’s access to education is a commonly known problem in many parts of the world, it was actually the boy’s who suffered from the unequal access. Many boys in Belize were expected to either follow their father’s footsteps and become an apprentice, or leave school to help support their families, even before graduating primary school. Girls on the other hand, often had better opportunities to further their education, often through all of secondary school and even into college. This reversal of inequality opened my eyes to a problem that is often left out of the public eye, and made our youth group more rewarding, as many of our participants were boys. We adjusted our curriculum to encourage boys, and their families, to stay in school and promote jobs that they could support families with, but allowed them to stay in school longer.

The people of Belize taught me to be grateful for what I have. They prioritized family and experiences over material goods. They loved their country, the nature that surrounded them and most of the people- whether they were family or foreigners. They learned to use what they had and be grateful for it. The made do with what they had, and relied on the friendless of the community to help with what they didn’t- like a friendly hitched hiked ride. My experience in Belize taught me how to survive, adapt and overcome. It wasn’t always an easy ride, literally with potholes, broken bikes, and crowded hot buses, but I learned to preserve and think outside the box to adjust to my new environment. I am grateful to the people of Belize for welcoming us into their community and sharing their lives and culture with us. It made me a better, stronger and more confident and adaptable person. It solidified my interest in working abroad, and my admiration for the peoples and cultures of this world. It changed me for the better and I will always cherish the memories I made there.