Belize – Peace Corps Worldwide

23 youths empowered by “Sports Peace Corps Volunteers” (Belize)

Jul 20 2024

PCVs in the news — July 19, 2024 A team of twenty-three Peace Corps/Belize volunteers were sworn in today to serve as youth development volunteers with the National Sports Council. The group recently completed several weeks of rigorous training in Belize to better understand the country’s needs, and how best they can contribute. Today, that group officially began their twenty-four months of service to Belize under a program called Youths Empowered by Sports, or the YES Project. A swearing-in ceremony was held in Belmopan where we heard from Marvin Ottley, the Deputy Director of the National Sports Council and Nadine Rogers, the Country Director for Peace Corps/Belize. Marvin Ottley, Deputy Director, of the Belize National Sports Council “We know they hit the ground running right away. But they have been training for a period of time to familiarize themselves with what Belize has to offer, and . . .

Helping people in underserved areas live their healthiest lives

Jun 12 2024

Meet Samuel Edwards June 10, 2024 By Ashley Bell David Geffen School of Medicine Medical student Samuel Edwards remembers little from his early childhood in Accra, Ghana. When he hears the word “home,” he pictures Toledo, Ohio — where his parents eventually settled after moving to the United States. He counts his mother among his strongest motivations for pursuing a medical career. After she became sick in 2017, Samuel developed a more serious interest in learning as much about health and healthcare as possible. He’d thought about going to medical school previously, but her sickness anchored his future plans in a deeper sense of purpose. He began seeing medicine as more than something to study at school. “I realized medicine is what I’m called to do with my life.” After earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, Samuel joined . . .

New Peace Corps Volunteers Touch Down in Belize

May 09 2024

PCVs in the news — May 7, 2024 Today, twenty-three eager Peace Corps trainees arrived in Belize, ready to embark on their 27 months of dedicated service to the people of this nation. They join forces with the pioneering cohort of the Youth Empowered by Sports (YES) Project, which landed eight months ago. The Peace Corps Belize, in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Transport, partners closely with counterparts in the National Sports Council across the country. The YES Project aims to empower Belizean youth to lead healthy lives and fulfill their potential. Over the next eleven weeks of intensive pre-service training, these trainees will delve into the Peace Corps’ development approach, YES project objectives, technical skills, health and safety protocols, as well as language and cultural immersion in Kriol or Spanish and Belizean customs. Their goal: to become effective and capable volunteers. The group is slated to officially take their . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | July–August 2023

Sep 04 2023

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and/or to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. Please, please join in our Third . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | May — June 2023

Jun 05 2023

2022 Award for Best Book for Young Adults — ADVENTURES OF MAYANA: FALLING OFF THE EDGE OF THE EARTH

Aug 18 2022

by David Perry Belize, 1985-87 The Adventures of Mayana: Falling Off the Edge of the Earth is the story of a 17-year Belizean girl named Mayana who finds herself on an adventure in a fantasyland of magic, monsters, and intrigue. She crosses over from her homeland of Belize to an alternate reality where the laws of nature and science are very different from what she learned. While she attempts to find her way back to Belize, she befriends a young man named Shifu who mysteriously appears, and speaks only in parables. He helps Mayana use her new-found magic powers to fight monsters and witches and to attempt to find her way home. Shifu also helps her to discover the meaning of life, how to understand why people are the way they are, and most of all how to understand herself. All during her journey, she relies on the recollections of . . .

Peace Corps celebrates 60 Years in Belize

Jul 30 2022

Today, (July 29, 2022) the US Embassy swore in nine new Peace Corps Volunteers who will be serving in Belize. The Peace Corps project has been in Belize for the past 60 years and the group is a part of the first cohort of two-year Peace Corps Volunteers. The group is the first to be inducted since the COVID-19 pandemic, which compelled the prior group of volunteers to depart. The volunteers will collaborate with primary school principals and teachers under the Youth Health and Well-Being Project to co-plan and co-teach health and physical education. Since arriving in Belize in May 2022, the nine U.S. citizens have received comprehensive intercultural, language, and technical training to foster greater cross-cultural understanding and effective integration in the communities they will serve. U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, Leyla Moses-Ones stated at this morning’s ceremony that “The swearing-in of volunteers this year reaffirms the enduring U.S. commitment to . . .

“Hurricane Greta” by Alan Jackson (Belize)

Apr 20 2021

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to the Fisheries Unit Laboratory in Belize City from August 1976 to October 1978. Initially I stayed in a small boarding house on Prince Street during a four-week Peace Corps orientation. After that I was expected to find my own housing. My monthly stipend was BZ$300 (US$150) a month, which would have to cover all my living expenses. Most Peace Corps Volunteers in Belize City doubled or tripled up and shared flats wherever they could find reasonable rent. I had heard good things about a family that had just hosted two Volunteers during our orientation. One of those Volunteers decided to continue boarding with that family while the other was moving to his jobsite in San Antonio, Toledo District. I asked the family if I could board with them, and they welcomed me into their home. They were a young and . . .

Peace Corps Writers imprint publishes WOVEN by Nancy Heil Knor (Belize)

Nov 08 2019

About WOVEN: A Peace Corps Adventure Spun with Faith, Laughter, and Love by Nancy Heil Knor (Belize 1989-1991) • The idea for Woven started back in 1989 when I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the K’ekchi Mayan village of San Pedro Columbia in Belize, Central America. As a new teacher-volunteer, I noticed the distinct absence of books in the village. The few picture books that I had brought with me were read and reread by men, women, and children until their bindings cracked; in the schools, classes were taught in English, but had no books for the students to read; and there was always a waiting list of men wanting to borrow my Peace Corps issued Newsweek Magazine. Within a few months, my Peace Corps project became clear: I would work alongside the villagers to create the first-ever San Pedro Columbia Library! The San Pedro Library . . .

Review — WHEN BRITISH HONDURAS BECAME BELIZE 1971–73 by Ted Cox

Apr 27 2014

When British Honduras Became Belize 1971–73: A Peace Corps Memoir by Ted W. Cox (Sierra Leone 1969–71); Belize (1971–73) Old World Deli, Publications Dept. $16.95 456 pages 2014 Reviewed by Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000-03) Years ago, my curiosity about Belize was aroused during a brief stopover at the primitive tree-canopied Belize City airport. So I picked up When British Honduras Became Belize with considerable anticipation. I was surprised by the book’s heft (456 pages) and puzzled when first thumbing through its vast collection of photos, memos, letters, deeds, certificates, and tables dating from the author’s service. Interspersed were reconstructed conversations and present-day commentary in such large type that I didn’t need my glasses to read it. What was this all about? At first glance, this unconventional book looks much like a scrapbook or collage. It contains five maps, including one of Sierra Leone, author Ted Cox’s first Peace Corps . . .

Review — MAYA 2012 by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua)

Nov 29 2011

Maya 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998–2000) Moon Travel Guides 128 pages $7.99 (paperback) October 2011 Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) TRAVELERS WHO PLAN TO EXPLORE the Mayan world this coming year need this book! Even the seasoned trekker with a worn and patched backpack, creased boots, frayed hat and a passport bulging with extra pages will want to buy Maya 2012 before it’s sold out. It has it all: great maps, background information, descriptions of tours, transportation and discount hotels. It also contains conversion tables, an index, Mayan words and phrases, interesting interviews with important Mayan scholars and even a suggested reading list. This ain’t no guide to overpriced hotels and do-dads, but a book written for us serious wayfarers. For those with only a whiff of Mayan history, this book will convince you that the place . . .