Happy after a long day

In order to measure the impact of a project you have to know what the basis is. For our "Saving Lives in the Caribbean Through Prepardness" Disaster Risk Reduction project we worked on exactly that in the past weeks. In all the 14 communitites we did the so called "baseline" survey to measure how well prepared is 'the' community. In order to do that, 100 households per community get asked 32 questions. 32 Questions that I repeated for almost two weeks, every day in a row. 32 questions that follow you from breakfast to bed. And it takes quite a few days to recover and not think of "Do you think natural disasters are A) great concern B) little concern C) no concern or D...

A very unusual sunday. Doing nothing. Hanging around. Playing. Reading. Sleeping. I could get used to this! The other Challenges Worldwide volunteers text us in the morning if we want to come to Old Belize. It's a restaurant/bar/mini museum with a sort of artificial lagoon to swim in. And it has a water slide. A big one. We share a big taxi over (it's about 10 minutes out of town on the Western Highway). The others have themselves a lunch while I run out for a quick workout. Short and sweet with bonus points for the coolest location yet: A helipad overlooking the Carib Sea. Then it's plantsching time. Water slide. Swing. A few beers. Oh what a blissfully...

(I waited to publish this tongue-in-cheek article for several reasons - this was written a few weeks ago when I was working 24/7 for the Coalition to save our natural heritage, a union of NGOs in Belize trying to fight oil drilling in Belize's reef.)   Wednesday, 2:05 pm, Propaganda Desk “Please report to the propaganda desk!” I holler across the office to get my colleague’s attention. The propaganda desk, you see, is my desk. I am the dedicated propagandist. I was appointed over lunch. I am German, but I think the other reason for my new, enthusiastically announced appointment is the fact that I have a shiny new MacBook that can put videos on YouTube in about ...

Caracol was one of the largest centers of the Maya world during the classic period, covering an area of over 200 square kilometers. But that is not the first thing we heard about Caracol. The first thing we were told was that it is dangerous. Not the site itself really. But to get there. Thanks to some robberies that have taken place on the intuitively named "Caracol Road" - maybe the worst concoction of pot holes called road in the entire country - it is safe to say that it is not safe to travel this road. That's why you travel this road in a military convoy that makes sure you're not held up on the way to Caracol. When we left Chaa Creek, we were already run...

On March 29th, the Women's Department held its 7th Annual Outstanding Women's Award in Belize City. All I can say is... WOW. You learned earlier already that I am fan of the Women's Department and their amazing work. Not only for their 10 BZD (5 USD) manicure and pedicure events (which actually take place this Saturday again =) ). But last night's event was another proof what women can achieve with a strong willpower, resilience and a big heart for humanitarian work. 17 women and girls in total received awards for their outstanding involvement in their communities, districts and impact for the whole country. The list of their work is long. Very long. What impress...

Arriving at Goff's Caye

When I was a kid, we always went to the Lochmühle for my Birthday. The Lochmühle is a little theme park close to where I grew up. It had a few attractions like a tiny roller coaster, some trampolines and a big slide. But - more importantly - it has a lot of water. Kids love water - a love which I personally have never shed. So when you're in a country that has hundreds of small cayes surrounded by water, where do you celebrate a kid's birthday? Exactly. After a 1 hour quick and nasty work out (crossfit cardio then full body drop sets) we arrived at the Radisson Marina at 9:15 (after a nasty call from Dionne - THE GERMANS ARE LATE WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!). Big...

At the end of august, Kerstin and I met Belize's first lady for the first time. OK, we didn't really meet. Nobody introduced us. But we were at the same party she was at. That's her, Kim Simplis-Barrow, below all the way on the left. The little girl next to her is her daughter. I met her again at the beginning of November when she helped us unveil the Destination Belize Magazine for 2012, the prime marketing tool published by BTIA. That's her again, second from left (Photo curtesy of Senior JICA volunteer Mr. Katsumi Nagamori): In December, Kim Simplis-Barrow (or Miss Kim, as she is commonly called) was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent treatment immediately. ...

    Das Belize Red Cross ist eine Bewegung. Und Bewegungen bewegen sich auch ab und an. In unserem Fall von Container zu Haus. Genauer gesagt von 'neuem' Buero (von den Sisters of Mercy at St. Catherines Girl School gemietet; direkt am Ozean)  zum 'alten' Buero (ausgebrannt und wieder aufgebaut nach einem Brandanschlag im Dezember 2010; immernoch in der Touristengegend, aber etwas zentraler). Die groessten Aenderungen sind wohl mehr Platz fuer jeden, kaum Parkplaetze (was mir egal sein kann), schiefe Boeden und keine Klimaanlage, dafuer diverse Ventilatoren. Achja.. und jedesmal wenn jemand die Klospuelung zieht, kriegen wir ein kleines Nasen-Quiz vom Abwa...