7.24.2008
Last night after I blogged, we went to eat at the Chinese restaurant. My Guinness and my beef chow mein never tasted so delicious. Later I could not sleep, and I discovered that my camera can take long exposures, so I went taking night photographs at 11pm. I caught sight of Presh and Melanie on their enormous, second-story balcony, but they didn't see me.
Thursday morning I woke up early, ready to nail today's final video work. Zac, Kirk, and I interviewed Noe Smith and Albert at Cornerstone. We also got some footage of Zac telling his story at Cornerstone. After lunch we drove to San Narciso. In the middle of our conversation we fell silent when we caught sight of the soccer field. We were astounded. There were 60 kids out on the field, divided into groups, focused, and orderly. Zac later told me that he said to himself, "Who did all this?!" It was impressive to see so many Belizean coaches in control of all these soccer students. When we drove up many kids ran up to greet me. It was special to have formed meaningful relationships with them before I trekked off to Guatemala. Their smiles felt like home. Jesus alerted us that the Belizean news crew was on its way and soon they arrived. I filmed Zac being interviewed for television. The segment would run tonight at 6pm, 9pm, and 10pm. Afterwards I lashed on my back pack and began the 50 foot ascent to the top of the water tower by the field. The railing at the top was rusted out here and there so I hugged the concrete center. On top the view was amazing. I shot another interview with Zac and got lots of B-roll.
The entire month and all the camps came to a ceremonious end later that afternoon. The 2008 Sports Servants camps had ended. It was moving to see the San Narciso and Calcutta boys come together as a team, uniting young leaders from diverse backgrounds.
After all the campers had loaded into the buses and disappeared from our lives for another year, Zac and I split off from the team. We went two blocks away to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ek senior. We were always planning to visit them, but we had discovered that the clutch fluid was also leaking from the pick up truck.
Mrs. Ek is very sick and Sports Servants recently gave her a generous monetary gift to help pay for her doctor visits and bi-weekly treatments. So all of a sudden I found myself in a special situation, alone with Zac and the entire Ek family. I was honored to be invited. As we walked up we saw Mrs. Ek seated outside by the house. Her husband, her sons and daughters, her sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and her grandchildren were there. In a separate wooden structure the women were cooking and laughing. The Eks have a beautiful two-story wood and concrete house that they have lived in for 35 years. A second-story porch circles the entire building. They have a two acre back yard that to me was paradise. Jesus showed me the orange, tamarind, lime, banana, coconut and avocado trees. There were habanero plants and other herbs, too. He and his father plucked a young and ripe coconut with a long pole. Jesus' brother, Alfredo, demonstrated how to open a coconut with a machete. Then Zac and I supped from these two coconuts, comparing the flavors. Mr. Ek cracked them open and we ate the tender meat with sugar. Next, Jesus peeled some oranges for us and we tasted those, too.
As the sun began to set Zac and I organized the interview. We set Mr. and Mrs. Ek in chairs beside one another. Then we gathered the entire family around them which looked impressive. Before we started the interview Alex Campos, a strong and intelligent boy, with a fantastic smile, rode up on his bike along with several other boys from the camps. He invited me to his house for dinner. This gift made a realization hit me: "No matter how well, or how poorly, we participated as volunteers in the camps, we became role models to many children, especially to those that we had no clue we affected. They looked up to us." I regretfully but gratefully declined because we were going to have dinner with the Eks. The interview commenced. After the interview Zac and I were presented with Belizean gifts! I received a pen that said Belize on it, a hunk of homemade sweet cake, and a beautiful small tablecloth woven by an Ek sister. (By the way, Ek is Mayan for "wasp" or for "star." Mr. Ek, Sr. speaks fluent Mayan.) The evening was getting better and better.
Then Alex rode up again. He gave me a T-shirt that had the flag of Belize on it. He had also written on the shirt in marker: "To Andrew, From Alex." The generosity of my new friends overwhelmed me again.
Night came, and the rest of the evening was full of laughter and just being with friends. It was a blessing that we had to stay there and wait for the car rental company to come with a new car, because we got to spend so much time with the Eks. They were greatly amused by my interest in the Tamales they were making. They were making 150 of them to sell the next day to raise money for future doctor visits of Mr. Ek. There was no complaining of whining about the hard work, only joyful laughter and enjoyment of the time spent together. (The absence of whining has really stood out to me about the Belizeans and the Guatemalans. There is a tone of negativity that Americans have which these two countries seem to lack.) They invited me to come tomorrow morning at 6am to finish making the tamales with them! I promised that I would try to come before I had to leave for the airport. I hoped that I could make it.
So the wonderful and memorable evening came to a close. I was anxious all of a sudden to come home to the U.S., but I realized that I had made friends here who I felt deeply committed to.
-AR
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