Mamanoots

Today we had a rare and incredible opportunity. It was a holiday and all the schools and most businesses were closed so we didn't go in to any schools this morning. This left our morning and afternoon pretty open. All the other teams had work today but we got the fun stuff. Belize has a nationwide cadet program for kids in grade school to attend after school. It is similar to a boys and girls club but these students are hand selected and are unique in their own ways. Most of the cadets are chosen because their teachers noticed they were struggling intellectually or socially within the class. Many of them come from difficult home lives and through this program they are given an escape. They are all ages ranging from 8-18. Corporal Ferguson is their director here in Dangriga and he provides many kids with some structure and leadership. Today we met up with the kids and officers at the precinct, packed up in some vans, and headed out of town. We got to hike in the jungle to a waterfall and swim in the crystal clear, cold water with 25 of the cadets. The hike and the waterfall were unreal but the fact that we were doing it with a bunch of children who we could really build relationships with made it all that more special. I am learning that I enjoy little kids more than I thought and I don't find it hard to talk to them like many of my teammates do. I stuck with one little girl in particular. Her name is Jayda and she is 8 years old. She was extremely shy and unsocial. She stood with her hand in her mouth, wouldn't talk to anyone, and didn't want to play any of the ice breaker games. I noticed that people were trying to bombard her and force her to do things so when I got the chance I went up to her by myself and ask if she just wanted to go sit down with me. I finally got her to open up to me a little and we ended up doing the entire hike together. The hike was SO HARD. I cannot believe children were doing it. It was vertical for like 2 hours but it was also very cool. Some people never made it all the way to the top and had to turn around and walk back down. I had to stop with one of the cadets because she was blacking in and out. I thought I had done a legit hike before but I was so wrong. It seemed like we were climbing forever, but when we finally arrived at the top it was absolutely worth it. There was a beautiful waterfall, once again I was in awe of this place. We swam and explored together for a couple hours before heading back down the deadly path. It was cool to see what the cadets did for fun. Whenever they got a chance, the older group gathered together and sang songs. I loved watching them and thinking about me and my friends doing that lol. Never would that happen at home. Once we got back to town a lot of the kids were not ready to leave us, even though we had been together for 5 hours. We walked across the dirt road into a field and played soccer with them for a while. I am actually not that bad. We were playing soccer with little kids right in front of the ocean before dusk just having a great time with each other. Being in Belize I have realized how close you can grow with people when thrown into challenging situations. We ended the day with a group reflection with all the teams and had a lot of work to do after dinner. I am sitting on the roof taking it all in, so thankful for this experience.