March

A few updates:

The garden is coming along nicely. We have installed a roof to shade the plants from the intense direct sunlight. The roof consists of "bush sticks" and coconut tree palms. We planted cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, basil and yellow peppers. We tried to plant green peppers but i think the seeds were old. I have three goals for the garden:
1. Have/produce at least one piece of vegetable
2. Incorporate gardening into the It's Up To Me Program
3. Create a permanent garden for the school

Thanks again to The Tennis Company in San Diego, California for donating 12 basketballs to the E.P. Yorke High School Physical Education Department. The owner/my former boss donated 12 soccer balls last year and the school greatly appreciates the donations. If anyone is interested in donating sports equipment (softball mits, volleyballs, soccer balls, basketballs, jump ropes etc.) or school supplies (pencils, pens, notebooks, rulers) please feel free to contact me:
weisscw@gmail.com

The Social Investment Fund Application for the E.P. Yorke Sports/Multipurpose Complex is eligible for funding, which is good news; the bad news is they don't have any more money for the year. We will need to wait until September to see if it receives funding. That would be awesome for the school and it would be kind of the icing on the cake for my Peace Corps service.

Well I guess Belize has reached a new low: cops are shooting cops in San Pedro (a major tourist destination). I stand corrected: "A cop intentionally shot another cop and killed him" As many outsiders know, Belize is considered a violent place, but if you live here it's different. Everyone knows that the violence is primarily gang-on-gang violence with the occasional outbreak of random brutal crimes. A cop shooting another cop is pretty crazy though. If the violence in Belize continues, regardless if it's gang-on-gang, this country will have a tougher time climbing out of the developing world.

The new class of volunteers comes to Belize next week. It's crazy to think that I am almost done with this experience. My COS (Close of Service) date will probably be the first week of October.

Far From Home,

Christopher Wilkins Weiss