July 9th 2011

Saturday July 9^th

Today Chris and Rich picked me up at 8:45am and we headed to church in St.Thomas as we have all the past Saturday’s. We picked up two hitchhikers who were also going to St. Thomas and then headed on to church.  Today’s preacher was the same preacher we had last week. The opening story was about the importance of family and after this past week with my birthday and getting sick on Thursday I cannot agree more. I especially miss having them around and cannot wait to head back and sleep at home. After church we headed to their house and had curry vegetables and rice.  It was also an opportunity for me to see the stories presented in the Belize newspapers.

The newspapers here are very different and mostly have stories of people being killed or chopped up. One story that stuck out was about a father who had chopped his two daughters with a machete after they had been in an altercation with their younger sister. The two daughters also threw acid in his face.  Another story was about a man who was found dead after a graduation party. My mouth the whole time was open and I now understand why many people feel like Belize is becoming more lawless. There is a lot of crime. I kept asking Chris and Rich where are the good stories? It is very interesting and definitely gives a lot of insight into the country of Belize.

Upon reaching home I remembered that today was the first day that South Sudan was a country and now I wonder is it being set up for failure since there is a lack of infrastructure. I also wonder if my family is okay. Belize online newspapers.