DATES: Saturday July 19 to Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Eight to ten Loyola NO students will be invited to serve as Ignacio Volunteer teachers/ coaches at a two-week day camp in English-speaking Belize, Central America.   The volunteers would serve as teachers at a summer day camp for approximately 300 local Belizean primary students.  It is a great volunteer experience!    The camp is academics in the mornings (arts& crafts/ English & math) and sports (basketball/ volleyball/ soceer) in the afternoons.

The program is a three-week (24 day) immersion experience, departing New Orleans on Saturday, July 19 and returning to New Orleans on Tues, August 12, 2008.   The camp itself in Dangriga is two-weeks (ten days).   However, before the camp begins, the group will have an opportunity to experience the country of Belize, a land of rain forests, Mayan ruins, cayes, waterfalls, jaguars and wonderful people.

The CAMP:

The Ignacio Volunteer "Umadagu Lesceulana" summer camp in Belize was started in 1989 by Fr. Ted Dziak, SJ, and has been held sixteen times in the last nineteen years.   Students from Boston College, Georgetown and St. George's College (in Jamaica) have served as teachers/ coaches and Team Leaders over the years.    Last August, six Loyola NO students participated in this program.   It is a well-known camp in the country.

Each summer in August about 300 students attend the camp from the two Catholic primary schools in Dangriga town -- Sacred Heart School and Holy Ghost School.   Students range from kindergarten (age 5-6) to fifth grade (age 11-12 ).   Boys and girls.

Classes are held each morning (using the classrooms of Sacred Heart school) from 8:30am to 11:30am, then after a lunch break, sports are held each afternoon from 1:30 to 3:00pm.   Subject areas taught include Arts & Crafts, Reading & Writing, and Math.    Lots of hands-on interactive activity.    Afternoon sports include basketball, volleyball and football (soccer) and children's games for the youngest kids.  

Ten local Garfiuna young people will pair off with the ten Loyola students, so that each classroom will have two 'co-teachers.'   Two jamaican young people will also help out at the camp. Fr. Ted Dziak, SJ will travel with the group and serve as director of the program, along with Oscar Reyes, who is the Education Officer for the Ministry of Education in the Stann Creek district of Belize.   

The LoyNO volunteers will live in a community center called the 'Helpage' building, located right on the Caribbean Sea.   The Garifuna co-teachers commute daily from their homes.   The group sleeps on mats on the floor and eat meals together at the center.    The Helpage has two bathrooms with one (cold-water) shower.   There is little privacy and it will be a simple lifstyle.   Weather will be hot also -- 90 degrees & above.

There will be some orientation before before the camp, when planning is started and community is built.    The weekend between the two weeks of the camp is a trip to one of the local islands (cayes) off the coast for a little rest & relaxation.  There will also be an opporutnity for a couple of days or relaxation and debriefing at a local caye at the end of the camp.

The Town of DANGRIGA in Belize

Dangriga is located on the Caribbean coast and is the largest town in southern belize.   It is the cultural centre of the Garífuna, a people of mixed indigenous Caribbean and African descent.   The town has approximately 8,000 people and is the regional center of the Stann Creek district.

The Country of Belize

Belize is an underdeveloped underpopulated country (population 300,000) in Central America, located just below Mexico's Yucatan penisula (five hours south of Cancun.)   It is the only English-speaking country in Central America.    Belize was a British colony for more than a century,known as British Honduras until 1973, when it became an independent nation in 1981.

Belize has a large Mayan population in the south, which will be one of teh places our group will visit.    Much of the south of the country is rain forest, with large unexplored areas, and is a natural habitat for many animals (it has the largest jaguar population in the world.)   Beautiful land!

PROCEDURES TO APPLY:

• DATES OF TRIP:  Saturday, July 19 to Tuesday, August 12, 2008   (Volunteers can depart from New Orleans or their home town, if you are not living in NO for the summer.)

• Applicants must currently be an undergraduate student at Loyola University New Orleans.  Open to freshmen through juniors (sorry, no seniors).

• There is a required overnight RETREAT starting at 6:00pm on Friday, Feb 29 to 7:00pm on Sat, March 1. Keep this date open as you apply.

• The group selected will meet weekly (after the retreat) throughout the spring semester to build community, learn of the camp and its teaching/ coaching responsibilities, and to gather needed school supplies and sports equipment, and lesson plans.   

• Participants are asked to raise$1,200 to cover the experience, which includes the plane ticket to Belize.   Fundraising will be done by group and individuals.  There are "Magis" grants available from the Jesuit Center to assist those who do not raise their full amount.  

• For further information Fr Ted at jesuit@loyno.edu     

Edited February 27, 2008