Letters from the Belize Mission Team

Letter from Susan Hankins

Dear Grace & Holy Trinity Church,

Greetings from Belize, and welcome to the first entry in an online diary for the people of Grace Holy Trinity Church; it’s you who make the mission program possible. Before my first trip in 2018, I knew little about the Mission Team’s work here. We should, though. This week, consider yourself part of the group as we experience Belize, conduct pediatric vision screenings, enjoy Clarissa Falls Resort – our rustic home away from home – and above all aim to live the words of Matthew’s gospel, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”

Last Thursday, 3/10ths of the team assembled at the regional office of our in-country partner, the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired (BCVI). Founded 43 years ago, the non-profit organization today runs Belize’s national eye care program. On each mission trip, several BCVI employees join us for the vision screenings, including an optometrist.

Once the school vision screenings begin, however, there’s no time to sit and discuss the program or our work together. We are busy. And this year, I also wanted to visit each school ahead of time. The principals should better understand who we are and our work. Do they know much about an Episcopal church in Richmond, Virginia? Doubtful. So I asked and was given permission to leave a few days before the rest of the team to meet with BCVI staff. After our meeting in their office in Belmopan, which is about a 60 minute drive from our work in the San Ignacio area, two BCVI staff and I paid courtesy calls to the school principals that afternoon, finishing up Friday morning.

Belize has plenty of children and loads of schools; most are run by faith-based organizations. School colors vary; school architecture does not. Both students and staff wear uniforms. Blue or green uniforms are popular, sometimes light blue shirts pair with dark blue slacks or skirts, or perhaps light green and dark green, some reds, browns, and yellows.

Almost every school that l’ve visited on five mission trips is built from the same blueprint: rectangular one- or two-story cinder block structures on a fenced-in site. The buildings are long and narrow, just one classroom wide. Jalousie windows. Doors open onto an exterior corridor. Schools rely on cross-ventilation; shutters are opened and closed during the day, depending on how hot and sunlit a classroom becomes. Air conditioning is a luxury.

The advance team of Jahira Vasquez, optometrist; Shareece Sabal, optometrist’s assistant; Adran, our driver; and I got the job done. We had short courtesy calls with the principals to answer questions, explain the vision screening process, and take a quick look at the rooms where we’ll set up shop.

The rest of the mission team arrived Saturday just as night fell, tired after more than 12 hours of travel. The road into Clarissa Falls Resort is punishingly bumpy, and to drive up in a rental car at night is a bit stressful. But dinner was ready, bags were unloaded, cold drinks were plentiful, and a breeze hinted at paradise at February’s end.

While I’ve been composing this entry in the open air dining hall at Clarissa Falls, a hummingbird has made about 15 journeys to a feeder that hangs a few feet to my left. A rooster is lording it over the tropical landscape before me, scratching at the dirt, cackling at his hens, loudly announcing his presence. (That rooster crowed at 2 a.m., today — he is not a friend}.

To close: Picture a hot Friday afternoon with temperatures in the upper 80s, the sun almost too bright for comfort. A long unpaved road about two miles long, palm trees dotting the landscape, a herd of cattle off to the right. As we drove down the rutted road, swerving back and forth to avoid the deepest ruts, headed to a small Roman Catholic school for our final meeting, I saw a motionless iguana perched atop a fence post, looking like a corpse. The other three people in the car assured me he was alive, just resting, and asked if I’d ever eaten iguana. Iguana, really? Is it even edible?

“No,” I replied. Well, it’s pretty good, they said. Tastes like pork.

Welcome to Belize. So glad you’re part of the journey.

Susan Hankins

Letter from Mary Cay Kollmansperger

Hello from Belize!   

I’m so happy to share a few highlights from our trip with you!  Our theme, as we reflect each night on the day’s work, is finding God in the everyday.  This is not hard here – Belize is a magical place!

I’d like to share two personal highlights so far – visiting the two schools I feel most connected to – Holy Cross Primary School in Calla Creek and Mopan Technical High School in Benque Viejo.  

Calla Creek, a tiny rural village close to where we stay.  It can only be reached by crossing a swinging foot bridge over the Mopan River and to new visitors it probably looks stuck in time – wandering horses, tiny concrete and thatched roof homes, etc.  Holy Cross (K-8) is the village school and is housed in a few tiny indoor/outdoor buildings above the river.  We have known the families in Calla Creek for more than ten years and have worked with most of the families there through Summer Camp, our Dental Clinic and Vision Screening.  

Holy Cross’ Principal, Mr. Guerra, took charge of the school after serving as a classroom teacher for more than a decade.  He was quickly noticed as an outstanding teacher by Cayo District administrators and was offered a number of positions at larger, more prestigious schools – he turned each offer down as he was committed to teaching in the community where he grew up.  Three years ago he was offered the position of Principal at Holy Cross and he has done amazing things for the school in a very short time.  He has lobbied on behalf of Holy Cross for funds and programs at the state level and has been quite successful.  The school now has better internet access, a tiny computer lab for students, and he is busy building a library for students’ use – it’s small, but growing and he is committed to instilling a love of reading in every student.  This was really exciting to see and his enthusiasm was contagious!

This morning we screened students at Mopan Technical High School in Benque.  The leaders at Mopan host our dental clinic each year and they are very generous with water, electricity, staff and support while we are there.  What I love most about this school is that it is government sponsored, so it is tuition free for its students.  School in Belize is only mandatory through 8th grade.  If students want to go to high school they have to pay tuition, which is often out of reach for families in rural communities.  Mopan’s areas of study include agriculture, mechanics, and a number of different trades so students are prepared to work as soon as they graduate – a real gift for the students who graduate each year.  

My job at Mopan was to greet the students and help them fill out registration cards for screening.  At one point I looked up and locked eyes with a very “smiley” and giggly girl wearing a light purple shirt and sparkly sneakers.  She had a purple bow in her hair and I recognized her immediately – Aza had attended summer camp with us for three years in a row and looked exactly the same (but taller!).  I remembered her as a tiny, round giggly girl who wore pink, purple and sparkles every day of summer camp and she was adorable!  I asked her if she remembered summer camp (our last camp was almost eight years ago!) and she said “yes, I attended three years in a row!” with a huge smile!!  She didn’t remember me, but when I asked her if she remembered two really tall boy counselors (my sons) she said “oh yes!” immediately.  It warmed my heart to know that eight years later, this young girl still remembered her camp experience and was excited to talk about it. 

People of GHTC, you have no idea how much your support of this program means to this community.  Your support of this work has had a ripple effect in this community, much of it we may never see. Thank you for offering us the opportunity to serve in this way – the blessings we receive in return are immeasurable!

With love,

Mary Cay

Letter from Beth McClelland

First a brief report of our day and then a story. It was a great day, and I think we did some good. We saw a total of  233 students and referred 84 to the Optometrist team.

We went in the morning to Mopan Technical High School. This is the same school that housed the dental clinic for the past several years, so we knew some teachers well and of course the lay out of the gym. We as a group also knew many of the students from previous years both from  summer camp the dental screening we had done in the primary schools.

Mopan is a government school with a focus on agricultural skills as well as math and IT. The students come from various places in the Cayo District. This is one of the least expensive of the high schools in Cayo.  In Belize, students are required to complete our equivalent of 8^th grade. Any further schooling is voluntary.  In general, the students at Mopan Technical do not come from affluent backgrounds. Many are on scholarship. They are there because they want to have opportunities. 

We were humbled by how many students needed glasses, and some who had never seen an eye chart. Some has such bad eye sight, we were not sure how they had gotten this far in their education- I guess mostly by determination and perseverance.  The students were grateful to have the opportunity to get their eyes checked and get glasses paid for by GHTC. I remember one student asking me twice to be sure his family would not have to pay for the glasses.

In the afternoon went back to Sacred Heart Primary School to see the rest of the students we missed on Monday. These were mostly the lower classes, our equivalent of kindergarten and first grade. The little ones could not read the letters yet, (or they were too shy to say the letters) so we used shapes. After an hour, we were told that we had seen all the students, and it was ok to pack up. After we had taken down the charts and reset the classroom, a group of little ones appeared wanting to be tested. We put the charts back up and went back into business. Again, we were told that we were finished. As we started to pack up, another group of students, again little ones, appeared. We got pretty good at reconstructing the examining area!

The students were lovely. The older ones appreciated  the opportunity to get their eyes tested, and the little ones thought it was like a game.

The only regret that we had were the inability to help the teachers more. We did get some of the teachers seen by the BCVI Optometrist team, and we have bought some reading glasses to hand out to the teachers. In the ideal, we would like to include them in our vision screening and eyeglass program in the future.

So now the story. 

There is a family in Calla Creek with five children, four of which are deaf and mute.  The four deaf mute children do not go to school, and the family has struggled. When I visited them five years ago they were living in two large cabanas with no real walls. They did not have running water and bathed in the river. It was clear to me that the mother was overwhelmed and the children out of control. The father was working for a man who saw their living conditions. He built them a solid house which the gave to the family.  The neighbor (also one of Chena’s employees) takes care of the children a few days a week. The oldest one, who does go to school was given a new outfit and haircut by the teachers for his first communion. Now both parents have jobs, and the boys go with their dad.  Thanks to community support, and an incredible gift of a house, their lives have turned around. 

I was so touched by this story. This little community has a lot to teach us about caring. 

Elspeth (Beth) Mcclelland

Letter #2 from Susan Hankins

Culmination Letter from Susan Hankins

The very last child who was screened may be one of my strongest takeaways from my five years with the mission program — not because of his specific issues, but because of what was revealed about the positives and negatives of aid groups, the location, and the people — Belizeans, and humanitarians trying to help.

Lloyd, age 8, and his mother walked into the classroom as we were removing the charts from the wall for the second time that morning. We thought we were finished about 20 minutes before Lloyd came, but no. First, three boys rushed in, age 10 or so, in that excited way that 5th grade children have, not young, not really pre-teens, just all kid — confident, happy, knowing they’re late, but now they have their parents’ signature on the permission forms. They want to be part of vision screening fun, too. 

A chart team unpeeled the blue masking tape off the back of the chart mat and taped it back up on the wall. The boys read the letters, then headed for the stereo fly test (wearing special glasses makes a sketch of a large house fly appear three-dimensional). If a child plucks in the air where he thinks the fly’s wings are, that’s a pass — the test gauges how well both eyes work together, called binocular vision. It enables depth perception and the whole concept of distance. Few children have a problem with binocular vision. I think they all passed; if not, they’ll be seen by an optometrist in the next few weeks.

Around that time, Mary Cay Kollmanspeger was approached by a mother who thought we would be there in the afternoon. The mother entered into a long and heart-breaking conversation with Mary Cay about her two young-adult children who have glaucoma. The slow loss of sight has been very hard on one child, especially, she said. Mary Cay explained several times that the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired could help her, but the mother kept asking for us to help her children; she wasn’t going to back down. Eventually, I think she realized that we were not equipped to screen people with glaucoma, but for those in the group who overheard the conversation, I think it was a difficult one to take in.

Meanwhile, Lloyd and his mother showed up after the vision charts had been taken down a second time. I still can see Jamie McLaughlin, one of our team, looking bemusedly at the mother and son, a quiet smile behind his calm expression. “OK,” I felt he was thinking to himself, “one more child at the vision charts. We can do it; back to work.” Then he and Valerie Haskins both smiled gently, kindly welcomed Lloyd over, and helped him — just as they’d done for the nearly 400 children whom they screened before him this week. Lloyd listened to what he needed to do, then started to read the letters aloud. 

The entire team were such pros; it was an honor and blessing to be with them.

Lloyd wears glasses. The protocol is to screen a child with their glasses on. Unusually, Lloyd didn’t score well on the letter recognition test; almost all children who wear glasses score well; maybe as low as 20/40, which for 7-year-olds and up sends them to the optometrist, but it’s not an overly worrisome score, I think. It might mean that the eyeglasses prescription needs to be updated, for example. 

Jamie and Valerie realized that Lloyd’s vision in both eyes was poor — with glasses on. I was handling the stereo fly test, which he aced. But when I started asking about his glasses (BCVI wants us to ask how long has a child had glasses, how many years has a child worn this pair of glasses), his mother’s explanation was the first I had ever heard about such a situation. Mary Cay came over (her other conversation had ended). She immediately saw that this skinny, quiet, fidgety youngster was wearing adult glasses entirely too large for him.

Here’s his story: Lloyd was prescribed glasses at age 5 by the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, his mother said. Six months later, BCVI prescribed a different set of glasses as the optometrist worked to make sure the vision in both eyes was being corrected. Recently, however, Lloyd’s grandmother took him to “an American group” that had set up some sort of vision clinic nearby. The mother knew no other details nor did she know the group’s name. Lloyd and his grandmother were given the choice of two pairs of eyeglasses, she said, but by the time Lloyd actually chose a “new” pair of glasses, it was the last pair left, she said. Wire frames, thick lenses, the temples extending about an inch beyond his ears.

What seems to have happened is that Lloyd, 8 years old, with what sounds like a serious vision issue, was handed a used pair of adult eyeglasses. He did not receive a prescription from an optometrist; I don’t know if he was even examined by an optometrist. The “American group” did not order a pair of glasses that would be made to address Lloyd’s specific vision issue. 

Before my first mission trip in 2018, Kinloch Nelson had told us of the Belize government’s extreme wariness about humanitarian groups that do not follow best practices. Dr. Nelson’s warnings were really geared to the dental program; Belize has had some dental humanitarian groups choose to extract teeth rather than trying to save teeth, he said, and the government was very dissatisfied with that. Here we were, a bunch of vision screeners, seeing first-hand the results of another group “helping” an 8-year-old boy to see better. Better or worse?

We urged the mother several times to have Lloyd wear the glasses that were prescribed by BCVI, and we asked her to call the BCVI clinic. Once I got home, I sent a long email to the principal at Lloyd’s school and to BCVI. I’ve heard back from both. They are on it. 

We did good work; 89 children were prescribed glasses as a result of the team’s work. We had a great experience. And learned a sobering lesson.

Thank you again, Grace & Holy Trinity Church.

Susan