Belize --
Here at CCSP Belize, our students get the privilege to take what they have been learning and apply their knowledge in some way, shape, or form. To do this, they complete two week internships! Each internship is designed for the student based on their interests, majors, and passions, which means each internship is very unique. This semester we once again had a variety of internships, and many stories to share once they returned to Nabitunich! Read below to find out the unique experience each student had, the projects they completed, the challenges they faced, and the funny things they encountered!
Stephanie Miller (Messiah '13)
I have worked under Miss Rose Anderson for the past nine days at the Ministry of Health and spent some time in particular with the Malaria Department. This time was spent attending lectures for diabetics, helping at a make-shift-clinic with doctors from a church in Georgia, spending time with the elderly at Help Age in Belmopan, doing yard checks for malaria, and attending the Wome
n of the Year event in which my supervisor was nominated. I learned that diabetes is a condition that kills the most people compared to anything else in Belize, so education on how to prevent and manage it is particularly important here. At the clinic I held adorable, chubby babies, practiced my Spanish, took blood pressure and glucose levels. The yard checks for malaria consisted of walking from house to house asking if anyone had fever. If they did we took a small blood sample to test for malaria and walked the yard looking for stagnant water with larvae growing in it. Help Age is an organization, which seeks to involve older persons in healthy living activities. Some of the sessions I helped with were social and health oriented, including assisting with Bingo, listening to a sermon on faith, a lecture on mental health, and participating in an energetic exercise class.
This experience introduced me to so many new issues and allowed me to participate with different professions. I have an increased desire to combat health issues, especially malaria.
Hannah Montzingo (Westmont '12)
Two weeks, 37 chickens, 1 pig and too many choco bananas later and I’m finished with my internship at the San Antonio Women’s Group. As I waited at the bus stop for my ride back to town on Thursday, I was surprised that my two weeks were actually over. At the beginning of the semester, the internships seemed so far away and quite intimidating.
The 4 o’clock bus came sometime after four and I boarded, headed for San Ignacio. The half hour trip on the dusty dirt road transported me back to a world of classes, papers and laptops. I only had to wait a few minutes upon arriving in San Ignacio for the bus headed toward Benque. Since I had my pack, I jumped on through the back door and ended up sitting on the spare tire behind the last seat. Who is this girl, jumping on the back of chicken buses, speaking Spanish, slaughtering chickens, making pottery?
I had no idea what to expect from my internship but God, as usual, had it figured out. The phrase “live and learn” pretty much describes my experience. I lived with Antonia and her family and I learned to do everything they did. I learned how to slaughter chickens, how the bio-digester works, and I even sort of learned how to do a cost benefit analysis for a business (it was a two day workshop all in Spanish I went to with one of the women). I learned to prepare raw clay and use a ceramics wheel. I learned do dishes, laundry and take a shower in a place that received running water less than a year ago. While they have a washing machine and kitchen sink, they still use the outhouse situated between the pig pens. I learned to be a part of a culture where the doors are always open and relationships come first, especially family. I learned how to better live off the land. Most importantly, I learned that you have to freeze the bananas before you dip them in chocolate.
Leah Mabee (Northwestern '12)
As a biology pre-medicine major coming to study in Belize, I was naturally interested in learning about Belize’s healthcare system and the types of diseases most prevalent in the area. My two-week internship at the Cayo Family Clinic and Pharmacy, therefore, provided me with the perfect introduction to Belizean healthcare.
I had the opportunity to sit in on most patient visits and to spend time observing and asking questions of each of the staff members. While there, I was also able to learn skills such as how to take patients’ vitals, perform an EKG, clean and dress a wound, and to perform various laboratory tests. In addition to learning new skills, it was fascinating to learn about how Belize’s healthcare system functions, and how Belize’s approach to healthcare and its cost compares to that of healthcare in the United States.
During my two-weeks at the clinic, God also reinforced to me the idea that one’s real vocation as a Christian is to pursue shalom with Him and with others through the workplace. My goal as a future healthcare provider, therefore, will be to not only provide health services, but also to do so in a manner that brings justice and shalom for God’s people.
Stephanie Gesswein (Eastern '12)
For my two-week internship I stayed in Succotz every night with my lovely host family the Cococm’s. I would wake up every morning at 5:30 to Belizean breakfasts of fried jakes or chicken burritos. Amirta would sit with me till I was finished and then I would walk down to the road to catch the bus at 6:20. The bus would take me to a bus stop adjacent to a long bumpy dirt road. I would hop on the 6:30 Chaa Creek work truck and slosh into whoever was next to me and banging into the metal bars that held up the cover tarp. When the truck stopped at a speed pump its entirety would fill with dust from the dry season roads. Finally I would make it to my internship at Chaa Creek Maya Farm.
My job during these two weeks was to jump right in and assist the workers on whatever project they were tackling for the day. Mornings I would help Seriaco collect the lodge requested fruits and vegetables and go with him some days to deliver them to the storage room. I would help him bag and weigh whatever we had collected for the day. I would also go with him to pick up the workers lunches from the kitchen and talk with the ladies sweating there. After lunch I would help bring in the goats and give them their water and feed. I would assist in lettuce transplanting, weeding and watering of various plants. Some days I would help cut grass for the goats and plant Cilantro seeds.
During my time at the farm I learned many new methods of Organic Farming. I learned how to make compost tea, which can effectively deter fungal disease while also adding many nutrients back into the soil for the growing vegetables. The tea is made by placing the compost is a fabric sac and then soaking the contents in a large barrel of water submerged for 3-4 days. The compost from the fabric sac is dumped back into the pile while the liquid is sprayed on the plants.
In the afternoons I would sit by the Mopan River with my host family and watch the people from Succotz cool off after a hot day, wash their laundry, do flips off of trees and eat their dinners. What a wonderful, life changing two weeks!
Heather Pagelkopf (Northwestern '12)
Surrounded by lustrous green foliage on every side, left, right, behind, ahead, and even in the canopy above, I walk through the rainforest, my machete cutting a thin trail for my feet as I walk along on damp, soft ground. Immediately on my right, I see a large bush with giant leaves like feathers, each diverging from a central point near the ground. I snap off one of the large leaves and stuff it into the leather pouch at my side. This is Anthurium schlechtendalii : Pheasant Tail. It’s tall, fan-like leaves can be mashed and applied to the skin to soothe the aches and pains of rheumatism and arthritis. I continue on. At the base of a palm tree on my left, I see a large tuber with artery-like veins extending from it, twining around the trunk of the tree and bearing heart-shaped leaves. I chop up the tuber and pull off a few leaves, placing them in my pouch as well. This is a Dioscorea alata: Wild Yam. As its cardiac form suggests, its leaves are useful for treating heart-ailments, and properties of its roots are used in birth control. As I step forward, my movement disturbs the leaves of a small shrub directly in front of me. Its leaves recoil and shrivel up, as if in fear of my feet. This is Mimosa pudica: Sleeping Mimosa. Its leaves possess a defense mechanism that makes them contract when they are touched. I snap off a few of the sleeping leaves and tuck them into my pouch. Just as they seem to fall asleep upon touch, the leaves can be boiled into a tea to help treat insomnia. Content with these three fascinating finds, I clicked the save button on my computer and closed my books for a quick break.
Okay, so I really wasn’t traipsing through the jungle with a machete this week looking for medicinal plants! However, during my internship at Belize Botanic Gardens, I had the opportunity to use their library and the internet to do research on the ethnobotanical use of Mayan plants. The garden would like to expand their Mayan display area and create interpretive signs that explain how the Mayans used the plants in the past, how they still use them today, and how recent scientific research affirms the validity of such use. In the two weeks of my internship, I researched over 80 plants, compiling information for these interpretive signs and even creating a few demo signs for potential use.
As I cut a trail through the intricacies of the botanical world I found in my books and on the computer, I was amazed by the creative capacities of our God. Diversity alone proclaims his glory, but he didn’t stop there! He went a step further and gave plants properties, many of them life-giving properties, that make them beneficial for human use!
It is somewhat startling, though, how little we know about the botanical world. Less than ½ of the 1% of the world’s 250,000 species of higher plants have been exhaustively analyzed for their chemical composition and medicinal properties. However, from that ½ of 1%, about 25% of all our prescription pharmaceuticals have been discovered! What might we be missing in the 99.5%? Not only are we ignorant about the uses of many of the plants, we are also ignorant about how to properly use the ones that we do know what to do with. Most plants that we use from the rainforest are not be sustainably harvested and thus are endangered.
As I studied the ways the Mayans used the rainforest, I was struck by how intimately they knew the plants: what they could be used for, when they should be harvested, and how much they could take to maintain sustainable use of the plants in the future. Their use of plants was strongly rooted in their faith. Even though their beliefs were pagan, it challenged me to think about how our Christian faith should be reflected in the way we use plants.
In Genesis 1, God gives man all of the plants of the earth for his use. As stewards of this gift, we should pursue an understanding of the botanical world that will allow us to use it wisely for things that will benefit humanity, while still leaving room for its conservation and the expression of God’s glory through it!
Jon-Michael Odean (Eastern '12)
For the last two weeks I had the great privilege and honor to work at King’s Children Home in Belmopan, Belize. The King’s Children Home provides a home for children who have nowhere else to go fostering a family type atmosphere. My role as an intern was a very fluid one. I was put to work on what simply needed to be done. As the kitchen was the busiest area of the house, I was most often put to work there. In this I served a role as dish washer, cleaner, short order cook, and of course the lifter of all things heavy. For the house, the kitchen was the place of greatest need, and for me it was the place perfect for observing the life of this community. My day typically started with cleaning after breakfast and then cooking for lunch. Right after lunch we prepared dinner, cleaned the house for the children to come home from school. When the children were home, I often left the confines of the kitchen, and helped tutor kids with their homework. King’s home is one that serves children bringing the kingdom of God in a very tangible way.
Hannah Thyberg (Eastern '12)
For the last two weeks I have been working with a non-profit organization called Cornerstone Foundation in San Ignacio. Cornerstone does a variety of community outreach programs within Cayo District, including computer and cooking classes for women, food and clothing services for the elderly and disabled, and health education in the schools. I had the privilege to help with three of Cornerstone’s programs.
Every day, Cornerstone makes a hot lunch for over one hundred people in the area. I helped to prepare and deliver the meals. Getting to meet the individuals was such a special experience. It was really moving for me to see that the bowl of rice I prepared had a face and a name and story to go with it.
Perhaps the most interesting part of my internship was getting to be a teacher for a few days. I worked with two schools in San Ignacio doing HIV/AIDS and nutrition education. This experience was both wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. I loved getting to interact with the kids, but I was painfully aware of how much they needed to learn. The kids knew a little about HIV, but most knew almost nothing about nutrition. One of the exercises we did was assessing the food they ate in one day. All but 2 kids had eaten zero fruits or vegetables, and most had a substantial amount of junk food.
Working with Cornerstone was a great experience. I learned so much and I can only hope that I left behind as much as I took away.
Allison Weeldreyer (Northwestern '12)
My two-week internship was at the Belize Zoo. It’s a small zoo, but I really respect it for its high standards in conservation and public education. It only accepts animals that are native to the area and that have either been orphaned, injured, have been killing livestock, or who have been given as a gift to the zoo. None of the animals could be returned to the wild, which excited me about my internship knowing that this wasn’t a zoo buying and shipping in foreign animals merely for display.
I had some great experiences that I could not have had at a similar internship in the US. I was a zookeeper: preparing diets, cleaning exhibits, and “spending time” with the animals. Yes, I did feed the jaguars, but my favorite was a spider monkey named Mango. She was formerly kept on a chain as a pet at a local resort when the government stepped in. As part of the rehabilitation process, she is in her own cage where my free time was spent letting her curl up on my lap and climb on me.
I had a ton of fun at the zoo and learned SO much about the local fauna and their current statuses in the wild.
Good morning ocean!
Stephanie Miller (Messiah, '13) takes an up close look at a Sea Hare
Hannah Montzingo (Westmont, '12), wrapping up a snorkel session with all smiles 
Leah Mabee (Northwestern, '12) kayaks along the reef crest rubble
A big 'ol Nurse Shark (harmless to humans) comes up to shore to scout out the night scene for crustaceans
