Entrance to Bocawina Mayflower National Park

Author: Conner Henry | Major: Accounting | Semester: Summer 2025

My internship was with Peacework in Dangriga, Belize. Dangriga is a town on the coast of central Belize. I was working with the Ministry of Agriculture in the Stann Creek District. My internship involved assisting in data collection for surveys being done by the Ministry. Part of the reason for this survey was to enroll farmers in the Sustainable and Inclusive Belize Program, which gives financial assistance to small farmers across Belize. Working with the Belize Ministry of Agriculture was a somewhat turbulent experience. It is clear that the Ministry is underfunded. There is not much room in the budget for many of their essential functions. The Stann Creek office only employs a handful of people and operates out of a very small building. Midway through my internship, the truck that I relied on to go to and from farms and the Ministry of Agriculture office ran out of gas. At that point, there was no more money in the budget to refill it that month. As a result, I did not get the chance to work for the rest of the month. Even after July started, I was not able to go out for work for quite some time. At the beginning of July, I learned that the survey that I was working on had ended. At that point, I was recommended to talk to another person at the Ministry for further work. After talking to him, it was clear he didn’t have anything for me to do. After this, I tried to get in touch with the head of the office, but those efforts were also fruitless. This resulted in a long hiatus in my main project. The lack of communication during this time was very frustrating to me. I did not understand why the Ministry of Agriculture wanted Peacework to send them interns in the first place. It seemed like the work I was doing was unimportant. These difficulties hindered the project’s overall success. Ultimately, it feels like the project did not accomplish a lot. That being said, when I was able to work with the Ministry, it was very productive. I visited a wide variety of farms. These farms were all unique in their size, crop and livestock varieties, methods of production, and income streams. I also visited businesses that weren’t necessarily farms, but did have agricultural activity tied into their end product. This included plants that processed cassava and businesses focused on agritourism activities. By going to all these farms and businesses, I was able to learn a lot about the agriculture industry in Belize. I was also able to work with a hotel on creating financial statements. In doing this, I learned about how accounting works for a small business. This can be very beneficial for my career. Next, I am focusing on finishing my undergraduate degree and starting graduate school at the University of Arkansas. Afterwards, I plan to take the CPA exam and pursue a career in public accounting