The Jaden Foundation blog

Any of you who have supported the Jaden Foundation (my little charity) over the last few years, please check out the Jaden Foundation blog on what's been happening with it.

Just to get you up to date though...here's the posting that I added to it today:

Tumul k'in sponsorship

As nowadays the children of Belize are getting their schoolbooks for free (paid for by the government of Belize), we decided to spend the bulk of this year's Jaden Foundation money on supporting the sponsorship program of the local Private school, the Belize Christian Academy & on supporting the Tumul k'in Center of Learning in Punta Gorda.

Tumul k'in is a Mayan school (not only for Mayan children, though most are) and it is a project that both Karen and I visited a few years ago and fell in love with. I wrote about Tumul k'in in the following blog postings: http://simonesbelizeblog.blogspot.com/search?q=tumul+k%27in

Anyway, this year we have donated $3000 BZ to the school so they can finish building their 'multi-purpose' building. It will be a place where the children can eat their lunch, where the graduations will be held, where community meetings will be held as well as parties and music performances (my kind of place!)

At the last graduation most parents had to stand outside as they didn't have a building large enough to house everyone, so they are very happy with the Jaden Foundation donation.

The managing director of the school wrote me this lovely note today:

Hi Simone,
Just letting you know that we have received the transfer of funds for the construction of the community cultural center (aka kitchen). We will start the work in a week so so since we have to wait for a change in the moon to cut the bamboo to use for the walling. I will keep you informed on the advances of the project.

Isn't that great? They have to wait for the moon to start building. That's the kind of 'being at one with nature' that we as a society have lost. Part of the school's mission is to teach the Mayan kids to respect their Mayan heritage and to take pride in the ancient knowledge and traditions. They use ancient farming practices next to modern day ones, teach the kids about the medicinal properties of the jungle herbs, etc.

And the kids, staff and parents all work together on building the school & many of the buildings are build in the traditional Mayan way, as you can see in the following pictures. This is the start of the building that they will be finishing and furnishing with our donation:




So thank you again to all our sponsors. We hope that you agree with how we are spending the Jaden Foundation money this year. Personally we are delighted that apart from the children that we have sponsored over the years there now also is something tangible that has been build with the sponsorship money. Something that in years from now will still be there and enjoyed by many people.

This is great news!!!!!!!

Wow, I've just read on the Channel 7 website that the Belize Government is going to start giving free text books to all primary school children! That is fantastic! I'm absolutely delighted. This is what has been needed so badly for so long now. And I guess that means that the job of the Jaden Foundation is going to change quite a bit. A big part of our job used to be the sorting out of school books each year. We used to collect last year's books, see which ones could be re-used, collect all the new book lists (some hand written and barely understandable) & then go up and down the country to all the different book stores in an attempt to buy all the books we needed. It was never a straight forward process & it used to cost us a fair amount of money too.

We can now use the Jaden Foundation funds for school transport, supporting high school students and sponorship for those wanting to attend the private school, BCA.

Here is the news story:

GOB To Offer Free Textbook for Primary School Students

Free textbooks for primary school students - that was the announcement made by Education Minister Francis Fonseca at this morning's PSE Awards Ceremony.

It's been general knowledge to parents and educators for months, but details have been scarce. And in the absence of information, apprehension has developed in some quarters because parents want to know, what will their children be learning and will it be up to standard? But those answers were not forthcoming this morning. Fonseca only made the general announcement that starting in September all primary school students enrolled in public and church run schools will receive free textbooks.

Hon. Francis Fonseca,"The standardized books cover the five core subject areas of mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. The textbook program will provide quality and relevant textbooks free of cost for all children attending primary school. This textbook program takes effect September, 2007. We have consulted widely and deeply and we are doing the right thing for the children of Belize. Yes, there are cynics and those for whom the Ministry of Education can do no right. I urge all our people, but particularly our principals and teachers and parents to embrace this important opportunity for our nation."

After this morning's ceremony, Fonseca declined our request for an interview to elaborate on the program's scarce details. He promised that those questions would be answered next week when he holds a press conference to fully detail the initiative.

Problems of the Belize education system

Please have a read of this Channel 7 news story. This is alarming to say the least. How to solve this problem? I don't know. It would be a huge task. Personally, I just try and get as many Belizean children sponsored (through the Jaden Foundation) to go to the private schools. It's a shame that it has to be this way, though.

From the Channel 7 story:

Standards 6 Teachers Can't Pass The PSE Either

As we've reported, failure rates in the PSE continued last year and with examinations coming up in May, most educators concede that it won't get much better. And today, new information released by the Ministry of Education tells us why that may be the case. Late last year, teachers took the test and the results were alarming. Those were released to mixed reaction at a Ministry of Education press conference this morning. We were there.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,There are 355 standard six teachers in Belize - from varying backgrounds and with different levels of training In October to November, they were invited to take the PSE. Some didn't show up, but on test day, those that did were very much like the students they teach.

And the bad news is that they didn't do much better than the children.

In problem solving, 10 of the 300 teachers got between two and ten points out of a possible 50 points - that's a score of between 0 and 20%!

In the Toledo District, one teacher got 2 points out of that possible 50 - that's a score of 4%.

What's more, 98 of the 308 teachers - a third, outright failed the problem solving portion of the exam by earning a score of less than 60%.

But most teachers - 111 of them scored between 31 to 40 points, that's a score of between 60 and 80% - considered adequate score - but certainly not impressive.

In fact of the 308 teachers that did the math problem solving, only 12, earned a perfect score.

The district averages show teachers in Corozal and Cayo averaging the best with 36 and 37 correct out of 50 - average scores of about 75%.

And while math was worrying - the English test divided into letter writing and composition, wasn't as bad, but still gives reason to worry. 287 teachers sat this test and, again, most only did adequately.

Yvonne Davis,"The majority of our papers were at the adequate level. 141 of our teachers were writing at the adequate level, scoring about ten to fourteen points on the letter writing paper."
And on the composition again the greatest number, 115 of them were at the adequate level. 41 teachers failed this section of the test as well.

Overall, the scores are abysmal and the results profoundly worrying.

Chief Education Officer Maud Hyde underscored the concern: "When you face it, quite in this way and looking at the system across the board, it is certainly takes away your breath a bit and you know that you have to do something."

And that something was follow up courses to improve on their weaknesses. But the follow up sessions on Saturdays were poorly attended.

Yvonne Davis,"The response to the follow up was very poor I would say. For January 20th and 27th, the first two sessions in English by district overall only about 47% of the teachers came out and it fell on January 27th when 39.7% of them came out. February 46.7% came out and 52% last Saturday which was the last day of the follow up."

So who is responsible for these failures, first in the test and then in efforts to follow up?. Union President Anthony Fuentes was on the defensive, "The teachers will take this issue here today and see it as probably a deliberate attempt, maybe it might not be, but as an attempt to attack the teaching profession."

Maud Hyde,"The intent is not to necessarily be overly critical of what teachers and our teachers ability but as a nation to look at where we stand, to look at some of the things that keep us from seeing the performance from our children we would like to see and be able to address them."

Anthony Fuentes,"It is not only teachers who want but all stakeholders from Ministry, management, union, parents, children - all of us are involved in the delivery of the quality of education so all of us have to take blame."

And all those stakeholders, with the exception of children and parents were at the head table - and all could point to a contributory cause. Management, represented by the Chair of the Association of School Managers Carol Babb said it was the quality of teachers.

Carol Babb,"I was watching some of your expressions, your facial expressions when you learnt about the results of the PSE that the teachers themselves took. As a manager I am telling you that everyday we are faced with filling vacancies and being unable to find qualified teachers to fill those vacancies. Right now I look at one of my larger Anglican schools and at that school there are only three trained teachers and the principal and I, she came to me and she asked me what are we going to do?"

Indeed what to do, less than half the teachers are trained, one of them with only a standard six diploma.

Carol Babb,"We have to admit too that in very remote villages, teachers don't qualify, teachers don't want to go there and sometimes you have to take what you get. And I am talking from experience. I would have problems right now to find somebody to go to Punta Negra. Nobody wants to go to those places and I am sure in the case of that teacher that has a primary school certificate, that might be the only person who is willing to go there."

Problems wide and far reaching, and a test that now is failing both students and teachers. But Hyde says, nothing is wrong with the test,"If the system is not measuring up to what the expectations are, then the system needs to be addressed."
Jules Vasquez,"How can you say that the system has to measure up, no in the system punishes. You get 100% of your salary, these teachers will get 100% of their salary, these kids get half a life?"

Maud Hyde,"I think that is putting it a bit strongly. Half a life…we wouldn't want to say that our children can't succeed if they don't do well on PSE. Examinations are a necessary evil some people would say but education is not all about examination."

With no stated targets for improvement - and a clear indication that many teacher just cannot teach what they don't know - Hyde says things are under control - this is not a crisis.

Maud Hyde,"Whether we're in a crisis, I wouldn't say so. A crisis to me is something where everything is falling down. I don't think everything is falling down."

Karen's most challenging day yet.

Today will be tough for Karen. She has to bike from Jaguar Paw to the temples of Caracol up in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Most of the way will be uphill on a road that has turned into an extreme mud bath. To drive to Caracol takes over 2 hours and is hard to do on days like these, when the road has turned to slush from days of rain. So how they will manage on bikes, only God knows. I wouldn't be surprised if no one manages to make it till the end.

Still, our crazy Karen is determined to finish this race and not only that, but to actually win it! (at least from the women)

We went to see her yesterday afternoon and this is what she told me:

On day one she came first. She beat both the men and the women, although the reason she beat the men was that they missed a turn and biked the wrong way for 1 mile. Karen even raced passed this guy who is apparently this famous biker (leave it to me to forget his name). Anyway, not only is this guy famous, Karen's bike is even named after him. So she beat him on a bike that carries his own name. Isn't that funny? I'm so proud of that tough little cookie of ours.

Yesterday, apparently, was horrendous. They biked through mud for most of the day and felt like they weren't getting anywhere. Many of the bikers have decided that the race is just too tough and have either pulled out (even one of the serious Belizean cyclists has packed it in and has decided to stick to road biking from now on), whilst others have chosen to just ride part of the race each day and to get into the support cars after lunch. Karen says that she can't even imagine quitting, no matter how hard it gets. She is in agony though and would give anything for a more comfortable saddle, but of course there isn't much that we can buy here in Belize so she'll have to just 'sit it out' (poor girl)

Once she gets through today, she (and the others) will be fine. The rest of the race is much more bearable. So everyone....send her your thoughts, prayers, psychic energy, whatever you can...'cause she will need it today.

Also, does anyone want to up their sponsorship pledge if she manages to actually win this thing?
Let me know. Of course, it's all going to a good cause, The Jaden Foundation. This money will help keep this year's sponsored children in both the private school and the public schools (with the private school being the biggest financial stretch, of course)

There are several ways to donate, just send me an email if you're interested in doing so.

Thank you all for your support.

Biking across Belize

My sincere apologies for my blogging slackness lately, but the holidays, moving house, etc. have just been too distracting. In the meantime we’ve moved in to our new house, even though only half of it has been built. So I still feel like we’re camping a bit.

Our stuff is spread out all over the place; the house in Belmopan, the Dome and now our Riverside Cottage (the new house). There is building work going on all around us & we have no telephone, Internet or even a fridge yet.

Still, soon we’ll be over this chaotic phase. And already it’s so much better to be back on the Jungle Dome grounds, that in it self already feels calmer.

Now, I don’t know if you guys have been following Andy or Karen’s blogs recently, but in case you haven’t, Karen is going to do this crazy bike race around Belize at the end of January, called the ‘Temple to Temple’ tour, for which she has to bike 750 km. in 7 days!!!!

So Karen is out training a lot these days, but even for her standards, this will be a major challenge & achievement (we assume she’ll manage to do it)

Now obviously, this is a great thing for people to sponsor. And Karen has kindly offered to donate all the proceeds to the Jaden Foundation. Hopefully all the children that we got into the private school (BCA) this year will be able to continue their education there next year. We also buy schoolbooks for children in the public schools, but the private school is by far our biggest expense (well worth it though). This year we’ve sponsored about 25 public primary school children, 2 high school kids and 7 children to go to the private school. On top of this we pay for medical emergencies, school transport and occasionally support other local charities.

If you are interested in sponsoring Karen contact me and/or Karen and we'll let you know how to go about it(The donations can also be made tax deductible)

Adios my friends, I hope 2007 has been treating you well so far!

A moment of Zen

Well, I can finally relax again. The rooms are ready, the guests have moved in them for the next 4 days, Christmas is over (and I am one year older) and all is well. I can tell you now from experience, working on deadlines in Belize is NOT the way to go! And anyway, that's what we wanted to get away from when we left Europe. So for now, peace has returned and it's very pleasant.

Just a few pictures to get you up to date on what's happened here:

On Christmas eve we gave all the local kids presents (many of which were donated by Ros Grieve and the Coutts family. Thank you guys!)

The kids were delighted and are still very busy with the gifs, especially the 'outdoor' ones like the kits.

And then there's 'The House'. After 10 months of hard work we've managed to get half of it build. We've put up a temporary wall so the work can continue on the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the guest bedroom, whilst the other rooms can already be used.

Guest bathroom with Mayan carved basin ( a bit hard to see in this picture)

Master bathroom with sunken bath and (unfinished) private courtyard

Shelf unit in Master bedroom

Our new King-sized bed (I'll be able to waive to Andy from my side of the bed), complete with reading lights and build-in bookshelves.

In four days we'll be moving in!!!!!!!

The Jaden Foundation this year

There are many things that I should have done for the Jaden Foundation by now that I haven't yet. Amongst them are:

1. Updating the website
2. Adding pictures and stories of the new sponsors to the website
3. Visit all the sponsored families (several in remote villages) to update the children's information and to take pictures
4. Do the Jaden Foundation accounts
5. Visit the local schools to get a clearer view of what each school's needs are (mainly for the group from 'FAB' that will be coming from Rochester next spring) and also to find out what each school's privacy policy is with regards to the information we can share about the students online

So there you go. It's a fair list.

What I have managed to do is the following:

1. Buy and distribute school books to 19 Primary school students
2. The same for 2 High school students
3. Supply school uniforms and shoes to 5 students
4. Pay (weekly) for the school transport of 6 students
5. Sort out sponsorship for 6 children of low-income families that allows them to attend one of the country's most prestigious private schools
6. Support the 'Friends of Pediatrics' in Belize, to help finance an symposium on Developmental disorders such as: Attention Deficit Disorders (ADHD/ADD), autism, speech language disorders, mental retardation, hearing and visual disorders. The aim is the help people (doctors, teachers, parents) in identifying these at risk children at an early stage & to share information on how to best help and educate these children (I will add more on this in the coming days)

The reason why I haven't done as much as maybe I should have is because the Jaden Foundation is basically a one-woman show. Karen helps me a few times a year with the accounts, but apart from that it's just me doing everything. Something as easy as 'buying and distributing school books' takes many weeks of my time. Books only become available in drips and draps (so I have to visit the bookstore a few times a week), most the book lists that the children give me are impossible to read, some children are first told that they are in a certain grade and later find out that they are in a different grade, etc. It is incredibly annoying work. I also ask all the children to bring back last year's books to see which ones can be reused, so I have to go through piles of old books too.

Anyway, I do apologize to all of this year's sponsors. Sorry that I haven't been in contact with cute pictures, hand-written notes from the kids, etc. But please rest assured, 100% of your donated money has gone to helping children here in Belize. A big, big 'Thank you!' once again.

Thank you!

The Jaden Foundation needed help and you all came to the rescue. Thank you!

Candice McCarthy (Karen's mum) made a quick donation, so did Linda Meneghini (who had been to the Jungle Dome as the winner of the Scooby Doo, Maya Mayhem competition and who's planning to return with her family in April), also Kevin Nelson (Karen's friend from Canada who came to the Dome recently) and James Hyman (my old MTV producer)

I also received a cheque by post yesterday from Cynthia Adine Kirkwood and her son Caladon. Thank you guys! I will contact you with details of your sponsored child soon.

It will still be a challenge getting the remainder of the books. This time not because of lack of finances, but because the book stores never have all the books available at once. It always ends up being a long drawn-out process. Still, at least we're now able to buy the books when they are available.

Power of the Internet

How cool is this? I just posted a request for sponsorship and former guests of the Belize Jungle Dome, Satoshi (Tosh) and Wendy from Santa Rosa, California have already donated US$200 to the Jaden Foundation. Thank you so much!!!!

I just love the speed of the Internet. It is amazing how much can be achieved by it.

So I'll be off buying more school books first thing in the morning.

Anyway, let me try and upload the picture of some of the Jaden Foundation kids again....

No luck! I'm not sure if there is a problem with Blogger or if it's our connection. Will keep trying.

School sponsorship

It turns out that the Jaden Foundation (my personal little charity) does not have enough money to buy all the school books needed this year. The Belize Jungle Dome has already given it some extra money, but we're still about $500 short. That means that there are now children going to school without school books, or with only a few. Is there anyone out there that could donate some money? (I'm looking especially at all my close friends and family, many of which have promised me sponsorship money for a while now ;)

If possible, I would need to take payment by creditcard to get the money asap. I really want these kids to get their books. So far, about 25 kids have been helped by the Jaden Foundation this year & four of these are going to a private school. Some families just requested school uniforms and shoes, others needed all their books and school supplies.

In the coming weeks I will travel the Cayo District to meet all the families and to take pictures of the kids. For now...here are some of the local children with their donated books.

Hmmm...blogger won't upload my picture. I'll try using "Hello". Otherwise, the picture of the kids will follow a little bit later (I'll keep trying)

First day of school

That's great. Took Lucas to pre-school today to find out that there are now 32 children at the school, but only two teachers. Obviously I checked with the principle what the plan was; were they going to hire more teachers? "No" was the answer "We are deviding the group into two and there will be one extra lady assisting the two teachers (moving between the two classes). So that would mean 16 pre-schoolers for one teacher. That's just insane. I can't even look after one pre-schooler by myself, so how on earth could one person look after 16 of them?

So anyway, I'm trying out another school tomorrow. Let's just see how that turns out. Lucas won't be too excited about it, but there you go.

Why I love these kids so much

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Charity update

Okay, okay, you're right. I should have put up a picture of our new suite when I announced that it was finally ready. Andy, Lucas, Aidan and I will be moving in there for the coming days, so I'll snap a pictures of it & post it in the coming days.

So anyway, our dear friends of Intervol and FAB (Friends Across Borders) have just left. They have done some amazing work again in this last week. I can hardly believe how much these guys can achieve in such a short space of time.
They operated on children with cleft palates, on burn victims, they gave computer lessons at the new computerlab from the Scouts (set up with computers donated by Intervol), they hosted a 2-day grand-writing workshop, set up new alliances, etc. And they still had time to play football with the local kids, to drink Dr. Tim O'Connor's dangerously potent 'jungle juice', to go caving and to just have fun together. I love these guys!

I especially love the fact that these doctors, nurses and students not only give their time for free, but that they pay for all their own expenses on top of that (flights, board, food, etc.) And the fact that they don't come under any specific religious banner also appeals to me. It makes me feel that there are no hidden agendas here, they help people just because they want to, not to convert anyone in the process.

Please check out their blogs for more stories and tons of wonderful pictures of their time here:

http://intervolorg.blogspot.com/
http://intervol.blogspot.com/

And check out the Scout's page on their Intervol collaboration & the new computer lab:
http://www.scoutsbelize.org/intervol.htm

The plan is that Intervol will now help the Scouts in the setting up of computerlabs all over Belize. The computers are already ready and waiting in Rochester, New York. All we need to get organized is the shipping of these computers. If anyone out there can help with this, please contact me or Intervol.

Oh, and finally...I went to The Belize Christian Acadamy (the best private school in the country) to talk about getting the Jaden Foundation kids accepted there next year. But I'm afraid that it may be a near impossible task. The fees have gone up this year. The total price per child would be $1,750 ($ US) for the year. So to get all 17 kids in there would cost close to $30,000. That's just too crazy, even if the school could sponsor part of that money through their own charity. The Jaden Foundation is simply too small for that. Still, I'll see if I can organize something for the youngest kids at least (the ones starting school next year)

I'll let you know how it progresses.

The Jaden Foundation

Things are looking up for my little charity The Jaden Foundation. This current school year has been pretty low-key, as I just couldn't deal with anything too ambitious whilst I was pregnant (by the way, I love not being pregnant anymore...what a pain that was)

I haven't actively looked for funding for The Jaden Foundation for quite a while now & a few days ago Karen asked me how the charity was going to make ends meet with the new school year creeping closer, as we only had $800 BZE left for the year, which would only get us 8 more weeks of transport. I smiled and told Karen that something would come up as it always does. And I was right!

The next day I received an email from Peter Freer, a banker from the UK who decided to raise funds for the Jaden Foundation as part of a jungle adventure challenge that was held in Belize recently . Together with his team 'the Belize Bankers' he came in 3rd place. They apparently had to kayak, run and survive in the jungle with nothing more than the shirts on their backs for several days. Thank you so much Peter for doing this for the Jaden Foundation. I think you're crazy, but there you go. You all seemed to have survived the ordeal.

There was one problem with this whole story, though. The Jaden Foundation is not registered as an official charity. I didn't do this as it would have cost me $8000 to do so. And that money I would rather spend on the Belizean kids (100% of the Jaden Foundation donations go to school fees, books, uniforms, transport and whatever else the kids need).

Peter told me that he could only donate to a registered charity, which is fair enough. So I decided that this was a sign to push through a dream that I have had for years now: to try and get as many local kids as possible accepted into a private school. The Belize Christian Academy is the closest school to us and by far the best school in this part of the country. It is linked to a registered charity in the US, so Peter and his team mates could make the donation directly to the school to pay for school fees.

It is already amazing that all the children in our community go to school these days, but if they could be going to BCA that would make an ever bigger impact on their lives. Many of the kids are currently 'falling through the cracks'. They are being passed along the grades, but should really be kept back as they still struggle so much with the English language. Right now they are crammed into classrooms with over 30 kids and don't get the attention they would need to excel. At the BCA they would be in classes of only half the size and they would not be getting so confused by the mix of Creole and English (which is another problem at the state schools)

Anyway, I am not sure what it would take to get all the children from our community accepted into that school. It may be too expensive. In that case, I will focus on getting the youngest kids in that school and let the older ones continue in the school that they are at now.

I hope that next school year we will not be 'wasting' any more money on transport. Right now, we have to spend $100 BZ a week on that. And what you get for it isn't even that great. It's an old pick-up, that really isn't the safest option.

If the kids can go to the BCA they can all cycle to school together. It's across the river, at the end of a dirt track. The school that the kids go to now is in a village called Roaring Creek. To get there, the kids would have to cycle along the highway, which is way to dangerous for the little ones. If we can get the younger ones into BCA, than hopefully the older ones can make the bike ride all the way to their old school. That is...Unless I can raise enough money to get them all into the private school.

It's going to be quite a challenge, as the school fees for the private school are $250 BZ ($125 US) a month per child. I will try to get a special deal or assistance from the school & hopefully that way I will be able to send all.

Anyway, Jay and Jasper have just made a wonderful donation to the Jaden Foundation. They have given us $400 US! John and Rich' parents donate a further 20 Pounds per month & have done so for last year! Thank you, thank you, thank you, you guys. And now it looks like Peter Freer and his team mates have raised roughly $3500 US (to be donated at the end of then month). So we are getting there. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help. This is all so exciting!

If any of you blog readers out there would like to sponsor one of the kids, please contact me. You could even donate directly to the school, so the donations are tax deductible (rather give it to these kids than the tax man, right?)

Thank you,
Simone

P.S. I'll let you know what happens in the coming weeks....

Charity annoyances

Well, I seem to have been lucky with regards to the car headlights. The side that I smashed only needed a new indicator light ($95 BZ) and they bended back the bumper. We may still replace the bumper at some point, but for now I only have to spend that $95. Thank God. I thought it was going to cost me a fortune.

Well, I'm having a bit of a nightmare with regards to the kids that we sponsor through the Jaden Foundation. Apparently several have stopped going to school since they've been doing the final tests of the year. Now they have to go to summer school if they still want to pass. But I refuse the pay for their transport to and from school for that (it would cost me $200 a week for just 4 children). I mean, if they would have gone to school like everyone else they never would have had this problem. I'm also quite pissed off that no one told me before. And what about these kids' parents? Why were they just keeping their kids home? Should I be the only one who cares about their kids' education? Sometimes I just get so bloody frustrated with it all. And what about the people who have given me money to sponsor these children for next year? Should I continue to use their money on children (and families) who don't take education seriously? I tell you, doing charity work can be a bit of a headache.