Parksville B.C., Canada
Reflecting
Divine Love and Compassion
|
Reflecting
Divine Love and Compassion |
|
|
ADVENT SERVICES
All services at 10 a.m. with
church school CHRISTMAS SERVICES December 24 - Christmas Eve
4:30 - Contemplative Service
7:30 Christmas Communion December 25 - Christmas Day
11:30 a.m. Christmas Communion December 26 - Christmas 1 at 10 a.m. January 02 - Christmas 2 at 10 .am.
January 09 - Baptism of our Lord
10 a.m.
James Twiddy I can hardly believe that my time 2 ½ months in Belize have come and gone already. It feels just like the other day that I was coming into Corozal, the town to which our family was assigned, and immediately coming to the realization that I had never seen a place quite like this. As I looked out the window I saw black faces, Hispanic faces, an Asian man entering one of the many Chinese restaurants dotting the main through road, a smartly-dressed man driving in a new Escalade, a man with no shoes roaming the street looking for bottles. Belize on first impression was a place of both diversity and extremity. And as I came to know the place better in the following months this early outlook became only more solidified. Belize at its best is the country in which a multitude differing ethnic groups, each with their own customs and worldviews, have managed to coexist peacefully for generations. Negatively, it is a place where the gap between rich and poor is so starkly visible that one cannot help but ponder daily about the social and economic inequity. There is little on no middle ground. But despite the tremendous hardships that the majority of people face in Belize – financial anxiety and the disintegration within the family framework are most apparent – Belizeans on the whole are warm and positive people. Moreover, I was privileged enough to gain more than just a superficial surface understanding of their daily life as I engaged myself more directly in community life. Specifically, I volunteered part of my time at the Anglican Cathedral College in Belize city, and St. Paul’s primary school in Corozal, which gave me valuable insight. Almost every week day I would emerge from our seaside house at 1:00, leaving the comfort of my fan and fresh pineapple, and walk 10 minutes into town to the school. Sometimes I was purposefully early in order to see all the bright young faces enjoying their lunchtime break: girls in twos and threes playing hopscotch whilst giggling wildly, or boys playing some seemingly free-for-all, all-terrain form of soccer. When I would come within 50 yards of the kids cries of, “Mr. James, Mr. James!” would unfailingly echo around the schoolyard. These kids were definitely outgoing and friendly. After having lined up in regimental style and reciting “Thank you for the food we eat, Thank you for the World so sweet, etc.” in English, Spanish and Creole, by 1:00 everyone was settled into their afternoon classes. I would then begin my rounds to the junior classes giving literary assistance to those who were struggling with course material or had a learning disability. One such boy – my personal favourite throughout our short stay – was Tiyr. Whenever “Tiyr” worked its way into conversation with the teaching staff every teacher would cock their head back and gaff in the same way. His notorious behavior was already legendary around St. Pauls. Spirited is the first word that comes to mind in summing him up. He was curious, distracted, and always brought an unexpected smile to my face. To his credit, he did manage to focus diligently on a number of occasions and we made some headway together. On Thursday mornings I would rise earlier than usual signifying my preparation for volunteering with the ACC high school in Belize city. By 9:00 I would be fed, packed, already baking in the Belizean heat, and poised to leap (quite literally on more than instance) onto the rickety bus that skirted by our front yard. Compared to Mexico where high-end bus lines offer lunch, air-conditioning, onboard steward service, and even wifi-internet in some cases, transportation in Belize is very primitive. Various fleets of ‘chicken buses’ – aging school busses, all over thrity years-old – provide service throughout the country, work and even keep to schedule occasionally. In fact, I experienced the dependably undependable transport service on my first trip to the city. About 10 kilometres away just outside the city limits I was awoken from my midday slumber by an almighty ‘Pop!’ then ‘Fizz!’ coming from the back of the bus. I looked out the window and realized that on of our back left tires had blown. Immediately I began to gripe about what the next step was. How long was it going to take to fix this? Was I going to be late on my first day of volunteering at the school? The answer to ambiguous situation shocked me: the bus simply continued along the road, albeit at a reduced speed, with the back axle grinding into the road at every dip and pothole. On my trip down to the city 3 weeks later the bus’s engine simply expired in the remote hinterland and we ended up being stranded in the 30 plus degree weather. Luckily I had my water! Work at ACC was a considerable step up in challenge for me when compared against the friendly junior classes at St. Paul’s. I was placed with the Physical Education teacher Mr. Stayne helping run his practical lesson outside. I assisted by leading stretching exercises, warm-up jogs, and carrying out administrative tasks: taking attendance or handing out tests and the like. But although they were still full of the customary Belizean good-cheer, I found it much harder to connect with students on a personal level in the classroom. For one thing, class control was so incredibly unapparent the majority of time that it was laughable for me. I have the utmost respect for the teachers at ACC who not only tolerate, but encourage these kids every day. I did feel accomplished in one particular area at ACC, however. Upon my first visit to ACC I had heard from the principal, a Mr. Requena, that the school was looking to start up a cricket team in order to enter a seven-team city-wide league. This immediately piqued my interest as I have played the game my whole life and am passionate about promoting it. This is exactly what I wanted to do! Practices ran on Thursday afternoons after school until 5:00, were well attended, and attracted students that were willing to try something new. Before coming to the city, I had heard that most cricket in Belize was played by Creoles that inhabited the central river valley area of the country. Some of our kids from the school commuted into the city every day from these rural communities and were familiar with cricket. One or two were very talented, which was useful to me helping to disseminate theory and basic skills. Most importantly, they were vital in providing communication to the group: Belize city has its own form of pidgin English, Kriol, which is undecipherable to my ears. All this positive attitude was certainly a welcome change to the flagrant insubordination in the classes and I found a renewed energy in my step. I even managed to witness a home win in our first game before my time at ACC was up! These are just a few accounts of my encounter with Belize. Many anecdotes have gone unmentioned in this short essay, but if given the time I could write at length about many other great experiences I had in the country. Belize faces extraordinary adversity on the road to greater wealth and stability right now, but it is a beautiful country with beautiful people. This will doubtless aid in accommodating a change for the good. My time in Belize has come and gone quickly and I have now returned to familiar patterns of daily life in Canada. Life now feels much the same way it did before I left. But have these experiences in Belize changed me? Well, in all honesty, I’m not prepared to sign up with a NGO tomorrow and work six months of the year building schools or providing service to benefit the country in some other way—I know my personal limitations. But my time spent there observing, and interacting with the people has doubtless raised a new awareness within me. As I type away on my flashy Mac computer, sipping organic coffee, within the comfort of my bedroom (it even has a floor) it is hard to avoid thinking about people like Yolanda, whose ramshackle hovel floods three-feet deep every time a storm blows through. She is jobless and has been left with the task of caring for her three kids alone, one of which has been bedridden his entire life, and another that has been known to attack her violently. It is impossible to be unmoved after witnessing drastic stories like this personally. I would encourage anyone to be removed from the comfort zone that is our privileged, affluent lives in Canada and experience how people countenance living in a country such as Belize. James Twiddy July 2010 jtwiddy@uvic.ca250-594-1549 PS Be sure to also take a look online at this video created by TJ Cowser from footage he took of our experience together as a family in Belize: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemidFF8A6Y
Parish Sunday Children’s Program On Easter Sunday our parish will began a Sunday Children’s Program in our parish. Children will meet at the far end of the hall as their family arrives for church and will participate in a short worship time, crafts, games and snacks and then will come into the church during the sharing of the Peace to be with the whole congregation for communion.We hope the program will enrich our parish life together as we welcome young families to our church and our parish family. Please pray for this endeavour and for the children, parents and volunteers who will be facilitating the program.
Donations to the Parish
People can now make donations to the parish using their Visa or MasterCard using using a secure web site. For more information on this new opportunity. Go to the Donate Page
Web Sites of Interest
The
Interview With God
The Lord's Prayer
|
|
|
