When we arrived in Dangriga and boarded our van that drove us through the small town to our boat launch, Tracy and I were floored by what looked to us as poverty.
This picture doesn't even begin to describe to you what we saw people living in. This little house looks AMAZING compared to the other ones we saw along this trip.
People live in these without power, without air conditioning in a hot and humid country. Along the roads we saw bicycles with 3 people on them (and they weren't tandem or tag-along bikes). We saw motorcycles with the same amount of people on them. They rode them on the major high way sharing them with all the other vehicles. We saw school buses (public transportation) with people hanging out the door because it was so full. When I asked our van driver (who just got off that bus) how many people were in there, he said about 75. It only seats 30! Crazy!
We saw little kids standing by the side of the highway who would rush up to our bus/van when they saw us coming. They had bags filled with little fruits they were trying to sell. I so wanted to stop and buy some from them. They certainly needed the money more than I did.
On the flights here, I just finished reading Saved by Ben Hewitt and am currently reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Both of these books talk about learning to live simply (over simplifying what they are deeply about). But it struck me that these were the perfect books to be reading as I am on a luxurious vacation where my little part of the island is perfectly groomed, the food is amazing, and the luxuries I get to experience are beyond what most of these people living in these little shacks can even begin to comprehend. Yet, I look at the smiles on their faces. I see them swinging in their hammocks. I see the children OUTSIDE playing soccer or riding their bikes or just playing chase. I see whole families OUTSIDE together being together. A life of "poverty" maybe, but it is a simple life and they appear to be happy. Maybe because they do not know any thing different? They just simply live.
I found myself often wondering, what do these people do to make money for food and necessities? From what I could see, there were 3 factories "in the area", several resorts that the bus could take them to, little stores and restaurants (but even the bigger stores were owned by Chinese people). So they are factory workers, in the service industry and possibly farming. But the biggest farming is done by the Mennonites who are also the richest people in the country.
Some of the employees at the resort talked about the growth that has happened in this area in the last 10 years and the opportunities it is providing for them. They also talked about their little villages of 300 people and how everyone knows every one's business. But this husband and wife who work at the island live on the island (together) for 3 weeks on and 1 week off while the grandma watches their child. I can't imagine both Tracy and I being away from our children for that long in order to support our family, but I never saw these 2 NOT smile. They were so grateful.
Tracy and I often had a conversation about the classification of Belize. Is it a 3rd world country? It's been a while since we have studied anything like this. "What classifies a country as 1st world or 3rd world? Is there a 2nd world?" We asked some of our Island Family these questions and we were all kinda stumped. We kinda decided that it must be a "developing country". I suppose. Maybe. The other thing that prompted this conversation was the amount of mission trip kids we saw in the air ports. Mind you, this is where Tracy went for his mission trip 25 years ago, and kids are STILL coming to help out. So when we got stateside, we looked up the classification for 1st, 2nd, 3rd world countries. Belize is classified as a 3rd World Country and shares the classification as the 3rd Least Developed Country classification with several other countries. But 3rd World Country has nothing to do with finances; it is based on a relationship (or not) with NATO. NATO partners are 1st World. Communist Countries were 2nd world. And anyone else left were 3rd World including Switzerland. So "world rankings" mean nothing. We really had to look at the state of development, and that is where we saw the poverty.
Anyway, it really struck Tracy and I. Yes, we count ourselves very blessed on a daily basis. We have an amazing life with each other. We love each other deeply. We have beautiful and healthy children. We live in a nice home. We drive cars/motorcycles that we like. We have more luxuries than many people...not as much as some..but more than many. We live in America, that may not be perfect, but the opportunities for life's health and comfort are readily available. But once we were in Belize on this amazing luxurious vacation, but off the island and surrounded by poverty (but safely kept in our vans/buses) it really struck us. We are so very blessed and almost embarrassingly so (when compared to those living in these shacks). But at the same time, I saw the FREEDOM and BLESSINGS these people had by not having the material en-trappings of what we have here in the states. It was beautiful to see. What a beautiful paradox and enlightening experience. What perfect timing with the books I am reading. What a great lesson to be part of! So very grateful!
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