Purpose

Aristotle once said that finding one's purpose (or mission) is merely a matter of knowing where one's talents and the needs of the world intersect.

Merely..........

Merely: only as specified and nothing more; simply

Regarded as one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy, student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great, for a man whose writings included subjects that ranged from physics to poetry, theater to logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, and biology, I suppose finding one's life purpose was, in a word, simple.

So where am I going with all this philosophical mumbo jumbo? continue...

As some of you heard me express, among my purpose(s) in coming down to Belize were to rediscover and pinpoint what I am passionate about, what are my strengths, and figure out how I can channel these things into a sustainable vocation. To date, I can boast a growing list of passions- can't we all- unfortunately, they seem to change from day to day: human rights, public health, food and nutrition, farming, arts & trades, teaching. One thing is certain, however, and this has taken me a long time to come to terms with this: If I take the risks I wish to take, orienting myself to accomplishing the tasks that will help me reach(fulfill) the deepest desires in my heart, those ones that are so sacred and pure that they can barely be whispered to even the closest of friends, the kind that call one to live both literally and figuratively outside of the fortress walls that man is taught to erect, then really, achieving this quarry is going to take TIME. And I have come to terms with that.

Enough said. Anyways, the internet has been fickle for the past few weeks and I am starting to think that who ever is behind gmail has a personal vendetta with me. I have resolved to using my former email address, so if anyone would like to reach me I will be more readily available at: simi0026@d.umn.edu

I have finally taken some pictures of the sites and sounds, people and places I frequent and will attempt to post them this weekend. There is so much work to be done and so little time to do it... :D

Alright, thanks again for tuning in and for the wonderful emails, cards, well wishes and prayers. I do apologize for responses that tarry, mostly this has been due to restricted computer access and the internet being down. I do want you all to know, with my utmost sincerity, you are most definitely on my heart!

Ciao

Tomorrow we head to Belize City to defend the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Toledo Alcades Association, the Maya Leaders Alliance, and Golden Stream in the Maya Land Rights case. The Government of Belize is attempting to get the ruling dismissed.
We depart at 3 am to join villagers and representatives from the afore mentioned organizations.

The rain left..... temporarily

Things are busy in the office and the internet has been out a lot over the past two weeks; I was not able to get out a blog last weekend.

Hmmm.... I tried Iguana yesterday evening and it was delicious. Unfortunately, lobster season closed on the 15th of february.

There is a lot more to share, pics included, but as for this evening there is a lot centering around the lawsuit. Updates are soon to come.
This weekend I will be joining one of the student teachers at the Tumul K'in Center of Learning for there bi weekly evening of cultural presentations. Sunday I hope to go hiking in the Blue Creek River and to view the stalagmite caves. Below I attached a headline article from the national news; it describes the lawsuit and features a picture of Cristina.

Thank you for all you love and support. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers- especially
Ms. Cristina Coc! :D

A humb dumb week!

My catholic remedy to the mid day doldrums.............COCONUTS! You can't help smiling while sipping that ambrosial nectar from the cumbersome carapace.

Monday, about an hour after a fresh indulgence, as if sent from heaven, a door to door salesman came by offering 'agua de coco'. At $6 Bz/gal ($1 US= $2 Bz) I jumped at the opportunity to stock the refrigerator. Hey, you never know when an emergency situation will arise- early in morning, late at night, rushing ouf the door- making climbing a coconut tree and machete-ing a coconut a bit inconvenient. Better to be safe than sorry :-D


Moving on. As alluded to in the title to this passage, the week was very humbling week (A bit of background). Each of us can probably pin point a subjects in school that we accelerated in, or at least enjoyed enough to put in the effort to routinely perform well. For me this was Math and Science. I tutored Calculus while in college and worked as a teaching assistant in Biology. That is why after spending an afternoon reviewing a couple of practice problems from my students' course curriculum I felt confident in my ability to step in and offer 'expert' advice if any of the peer tutors got stumped; its just high school math, right? WRONG! To spare complete humiliation I am leaving out the details, but lets just say the students who had me as a partner, got through about half as many problems is twice the time.

Or maybe I am exaggerating a bit?......... yeah.....uh.. No, that is exactly how it was........ sigh



Well, it is Saturday morning and I am on my way to the market for 'dukunu' sister of the tamale and cassava cakes... Mmmm..... to be continued.