This was one of my fastest Belize trips ever, a total of 40-hours in the country. But it was highly productive.
Two nights in a row, PathLight hosted focus groups at the Bull Frog Inn. Invitees were thought-leaders in the country that brought a combination of political, educational, business and ministry skills. Mark and Adrienne Parcher, the directors of PathLight, pulled the people together and facilitated the conversation. They did a great job.
Among those attending were the President of a TV station, the Provost from the University of Belize, the Director of the Community Rehabilitation Department, the elected representative of the regional school district, three pastors or church leaders, four school principals, and two vice-principals.
The purpose of the focus groups was to explain PathLight’s desire to not be a North American organization that does North American envisioned programs. The aim is to hear and understand the Belizean perspective, and to transition PathLight-Belize from a USA led org to a Belize led org.
What I heard was heartwarming. To a person, the PathLight team was thanked for the service being done. The politician even said, “The government of Belize formally thanks you for the good work you are doing in Belize.” Every program received some kind of praise and affirmation, especially teacher training and the student sponsorships. There was some debate about which program was more important, but there was complete consensus that the programs are well-conceived and are an integrated approach that will maximize impact.
One of the focus groups was more productive than the other. The first one seemed to click better and the conversation was more focused and more helpful. The second one seemed to wander off track a lot, and to (at times) seemed more like a complaint session about schools in Belize. But even this second focus group was successful in that it built PathLight’s credibility and affirmed the strategy.
We learned many new things. And we heard some sad stories. One principal told us about two children that sleep in an abandoned car each night to avoid going home to an abusive situation. Every educator talked about not having enough classrooms or teachers. In fact, we learned that even if every child in Belize wanted to go to high school, there is only room for 70% of them! We learned that 64% of teachers are untrained, and that 72% of children are born out of wedlock.
Had we focused on these things, it would have been depressing. Thankfully, most of the time was spent in solid discussion about how to resolve problems.
Also during my 40-hour visit, I spent time with Tono, our facility director, and walked Jaguar Creek with him. I debriefed with Mark and Adrienne about some programming issues; we also did some brainstorming on staffing needs. I met our volunteer teacher, Scott, and heard his stories about working in the Armenia Government School. I visited with Ian Anderson, a long time friend and neighbor of Jaguar Creek; seeing the new pool and conservancy at his resort was quite something! Finally, I interviewed a potential Belize Program Director and spent some quality time with him. He is an outstanding candidate.
So, it was a fast trip, but a productive one. It is good to be home, though!