Poverty Fighters Conclusion Viktor Gyarmati

Pueblo Viejo, Toledo District, Belize 23 Jun – 10 Nov 2010

My volunteer life in Pueblo Viejo as a Poverty Fighter

My name is Viktor Gyarmati. I am from Hungary, Europe. I’m 33 years old, I graduate at Colllege of Szolnok as Hospitality Economist in 2007.

Before I became a volunteer I was working in financial. I live in Budapest, which is capital of Hungary. I am single.

My work at the project as a volunteer is Child aid in Pueblo Viejo, Toledo District, Belize. The village has approximately 70 families, namely 577 Maya people live there. That is located Southwest very close to board of Guatemala.

There is a mountainous area with many beautiful waterfalls in the middle of rainforest.

There are no electricity or tape water, so the people use generator, candles, hand made kerosene lamp for lighting and grey water for washing dishes.

For washing clothes or taking bath they go to the river, as I did as well. That ‘s run trough the village.

When I arrived to Pueblo Viejo with one of my teammate he called John we’d statement with pleasure how is beautiful Pueblo Viejo. In fact almost 100% of the population are Maya.

As they follow their ancient traditions and conventions from past, they live own-hand-made wooden houses with limited live conditions. It seemed that we went back to past everything are very simple and peaceful.

And we also realized that how much work we have to do with them because this is the 21st century.

Unfortunately a couple of days later John and I fell in sick and after he decided that he want to give up project and went back to IICD.

I wasn’t very enthusiastic about he’s decision but I accepted. So I started my project, first of all I wanted to know everything about Pueblo Viejo, Maya people, their habits and life.

And my adventure

began…

Familiarize with the community

I visited 30 families with the chairman of the village Liberto Choc his nickname’s Thomas and the alcade Santiago Choc so I could fill up the interview forms.

Their responses for questions of forms could help me a lot to know their life and to understand much more each other. I learnt a lot from them, recently I know they are farmers, each family has a piece of land next to the village and their main produces are corn, rice and beans.

They also keep domestic animals like pig, chicken, turkey, horse, donkey, ox, and dog as well. Some family has coconut tree, lemon tree or tangerine, but not typical of they eat to much fruits.

The village has 8 hand pumps for drinking water and it is typically the task of girls and women to fetch water every day from there.

For some families have to take a long walk because their houses isn’t close to a hand pump. Many times surprised me how they strong to carry a bucket of water. So if I could always help them.

While I finished the interviews opened preschool for kids. With one youth community leader she called Erneilla , we started to teach them in English alphabet and counting numbers first 1 to 10 then 10 to 100.

We also paid attention about they could write capital and small letters and telling them properly.

Every Friday we made a workshop about hygiene or puzzle by corn. They really liked that to play together, so I found out let’s make a movie afternoon. I invited all of school children with their brother or sister to spending time together, however in the last moment I didn’t get generator.

But luckily I ordered 20 flour tortilla and a cup of pine butter with orange juice before, so we could just eat together. And it was good.

To know everything about the village

The name of Pueblo Viejo means old village and old man as well. It has a school for pre and primary education, a health center, a community center where I was staying, some churches for different religions like Nazarene, Baptist and other one Catholic with cemetery.

It has also a big area for playing soccer, 6 grocery shop, a police office close to my accommodation, a public phone unfortunately at the end of the village and a beautiful river with waterfalls.

The only dirt main road runs through there, where you can catch 4 local transportations. Every second day just two times the hole day, but during rain season many times cancelled charters because too much rain. So it is good way if you know alternative directions, like hitchhike.

Briefly there are limited conditions for entertainment and weekends you can see many drank men. In other hands why they use alcohol to solve their problems is that many people haven’t job, even most of them can speak 4 foreign languages, as Mopanmaya, Ketchimaya, Spanish and English.

But they can not read and write because in young age they prefer to go to work own farm, or for money instead of learning more after primary school (like the alcade Santiago on picture, and he was also completely drank that time and I made a coffee for him).

Many times I realized that at some grocery store the shop assistant couldn’t count how much money had to change, so I think their skills aren’t enough to get an average job in a company.

The biggest problem is that, they know this problems and much more, like everybody produce just the same corn, rice and beans for lower benefit, however nobody want to change directions.

After many conversation they just waiting for somebody who want to offer a job. Who give tools, seeds, plants, everything for a better life. Almost all young in the village after age 18 want to go and live in city, but they haven’t any idea how is it. So my idea was I try to show an alternative life for they can change something, how they can realize the beautiful of simple life. And also how I can do this by myself. That was the biggest challenge in my life.

In first time everything went fast, I collected plastic bottle by the road for seedbeds and started making plantations. I heard at school in Michigan about in Belize you can find good soil everywhere, but actually I couldn’t. There is just clay, so if you need good black soil go to forest and fetch it.

I also heard about if you share seeds after they don’t want to care them, so I always gave just plants for gardening. I think it is easy way for making garden and nobody can say that later the seeds was bad quality.

Plants and gardens

During the rain season it is hard to making good gardens even if you are sick and haven’t enough experience in. So I tried the best but the first gardens were not so good and owners also didn’t pay attention for roof, fence, weeds or water.

And it also can not help you if they just call you gringo and gave you few respect, but it was enough for make me angry inside and say: O.K. let’s go, I’ll show you who I am.

So I changed direction and started to building a community garden like in Detroit as George Street Community Garden.

Almost everybody was interesting in the village about what a hell I making next to the Community Center, so that time was really funny.

Organic pesticide

Cooking class

My footprints what I left

When I arrived Pueblo Viejo I could see there was only one pace where was no Welcome Side at the beginning and the end of the village. I wanted to solve this problem so I told my idea Pantaleon Escobar (project leader) who can helped me and gave materials for making that.

And that time he also gave me many clothes from second hand store because one store had to closed in North. For making boards I needed more materials as black paint, brushes, thinner and nails, but I didn’t want to spend more Humana’s money and Thomas (chairman) also couldn’t give me this stuff. But he was agree about my idea to selling clothes for 50 cent each for buying that I need, so I started to raising money and finally I got almost $ 40. That amount was more than enough.

Bullet board

Before After

Selling/raising money for materials

Practical Information that I hand onMake and keep relationship with community leaders like alcade, chairman, police officer, faith leaders, school principal and teachers.

Tell them how are you, what do you want to do and how.

Before your action discuss with them ask ideas, you be sure they esteem your behavior.

Whenever anyone ask something from you NEVER GIVE IT JUST FOR FREE, always ask something in exchange, for example: ask help for your next action or borrow tools/things what you need.

If you promise something for somebody ALWAYS KEEP IT, there are a very close community, if you make a mistake you be sure everybody will know that.

You should to be open and flexible because you are a foreigner there. You came from a different country different culture and sometimes you should to change direction for success.

Always keep clean your place because there are many ants, cockroach, hungry dogs and they can eat your food.

Animals

My accomodation

Thank you for your attention!