Power problems, Pottery & Pumpkins

Joshua, our awesome and much relied-upon Property Manager (and TA for this past class), writes:

"Last week, Jonathan Warner (Quest University) came to teach Sustainable Community Development (part 1) from the view of an economist.  The class revolved around deep questions of healthy sustainable communities and how to accurately measure a community's health.  We learned about indicators of such health, and started to understand God's hopes for community through scripture.  Class included some great field trips (in spite of 8 straight days of rain and flooding, which caused us to scramble to replace a couple of them at the last minute).

First we visited the Mollejon dam in western Belize.  During the tour we learned about the history of the Mollejon power plant and one way that Belize is attempting to develop solutions to their power & electrical needs.  In class we discussed the pros and cons, as well as the environmental trade-offs, of this solution to the problem of power.

They really loved the green helmets in the power plant, but were not allowed to
keep them

We also visited the local San Antonio Women's Group.  The women of this mostly Mayan village formed a cooperative for the betterment of their village.  They sell pottery, embroidery, crafts, and chickens for extra money, which they use to help send their children to school.

Everyone watching as Anna (Gordon College) tries her hand at pottery

Michaela (Messiah College) gets help from pottery expert Rafael on the
finishing touches of her pot

For another field trip, Santiago, a 4th generation farmer, gave us a tour of his cattle farm.  He is innovative in trying to grow new crops and raise animals in different ways.  He has deep roots in his village with a unique perspective of community, development and politics.

Jacque (Messiah), Michaela (Messiah), Lindsay (Redeemer), Becca (George
Fox), Santiago, and professor Jonathan

The week wasn't all work and no play.  While thinking of fall and some of our favorite activities, we were able to create a Belizean hayride through the neighborhood on cohune leaves and dum cane.  Our search for a pumpkin patch eventually led us to "Terra's Pumpkin Patch" (Terra is our dog) with just enough pumpkins for everyone.  In addition to pumpkins, the girls also found personalized invitations to a Friday night costume party!

Lindsay (Redeemer), Becca (George Fox), Anna (Gordon), Dorothy (Dordt),
Jacque (Messiah), Michaela (Messiah), Alex (Messiah), Gellie (Student Life
Coordinator)

After a hayride, you must of course go to a pumpkin patch and find pumpkins

The halloween party was a great way to unwind after a long week, and everyone was extremely creative in coming up with costumes for the party.  The guests were: Loki, Ulysses Everett McGill (from the film, "O Brother Where Art Thou?"), Carmen Sandiego, the Three Blind Mice, Mark & Gellie, Moses, two turtles, Terra the dog, and even an American Tourist.  We played games, ate good food, had an intense citrus bobbing competition, and carved our pumpkins."

Everyone dressed up for halloween

Thanks to professor Jonathan for leading a great class, TA Joshua for working around the weather to still get us great field trips, and to everyone for really getting into the halloween festivities!