Photos...Punta Gorda is Beautiful! Indigenous Mayan Human Rights Case

This town council building is pretty typical of the "City Halls" throughout Belize. Punta Gorda, like Dangriga, is on the edge of the ocean so they do not need air conditions most of the day. Fans will do because the sea breeze is only moments away!


We traveled to Punta Gorda Thursday, July 24th mainly for the Indigenous Mayan Human Rights case that as Atty Moore puts it, "keeps going and going and going." Although she and attorneys from the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program won the Landmark case October 18, 2007 that recognized certain areas of Southern Belize as Indigenous Mayan land, there are still wrinkles to iron out and monitor in the application of the law. Moore is explaining a possible agreement that the Mayans may engage in with a European oil company that wants to do seismic testing on Mayan land. To the left is Mr. Cruz. He translated for the Mayans.

Attorney Moore sits as she fields questions from Mayan village leaders. It was interesting to see the care she took in relating to her constituency and ensuring that they understood the agreement well enough to make an informed decision.

After the meeting, we headed to lunch. My hair decided to "go with the wind" in this photo. Included with me and Attorney Moore are Froyla Salam and Nicole Friederichs. Salam is the Mayan Leaders Alliance Coordinator and Friederichs is a lawyer fellow with the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy Program in Tucson, Arizona.

I took this photo because I thought the art work was so beautiful. There are many homes with beautiful doors hand carved.

This is the church that the doors are connected to.

A view of the streets in Punta Gorda. A notable difference is the lack of trash and debris, unlike Belize City & Dangriga.

Belize has a very young population. Here's one of the cutest little Mayan girls playing in front of her yard.

If I stay here much longer, I'm gonna jump in one of those boats and head to Guatemala!!!!

Downtown square of Punta Gorda.

POWA Women are Awesome! All Work & No Play Makes Idonia a Dull Gal

Meeting with the Women of POWA (Productive Organization for Women in Action) on Friday, July 18th to hash out the details of our upcoming community townhall meeting to be held August 1, 2008 on sexual assaults in Dangriga (Stann Creek District). To the far right in the red shirt is an awesome woman (Ms. Michelle Irving) who leads this group and heads the Stann Creek Women's Department. The goal is to replicate this meeting in the other 5 districts of Belize in the following months. We dubbed the upcoming meeting "Shining the Light on Sexual Assaults". At the meeting, participants at each table will light a candle to symbolize their support for survivors and victim's families and their advocacy to encourage swift and thorough prosecution of perpetrators. In addition, we will encourage those who were unable to attend to turn on their lamps at home during our meeting time (5:30p - 7:30p) or wave "on" flashlights to symbolize their support as well!


ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES IDONIA (AKA "PEACHES") A VERY, VERY DULL GIRL. SOOOO.....LET THE GAMES AND FUN BEGIN!



I had a chance recently to attend my neighbor, Popetos' Garifuna Preschool Graduation. Here he poses with his mom, Arlene, and dad, Roger.

At Popetos' graduation, his class mate and her grandmother takes a picture with Flat Stanley at the Dangriga Town Hall. Aren't they both just beautiful.

Popetos enjoys a lazy Saturday evening (July 19th) at our pad. He truly has brought a lot of joy to our little cubby hole. Saturday he said...."I love you Cookie Lady".....well he knows exactly what to say to win over a girls heart...doesn't he!

Meet Tiger. He is the assistant to the Mayor of Dangriga. My roommate, Rachel, told him my nickname (Peaches) and now EVERYONE CALLS ME THAT HERE!! Well, I guess I understand though. "Idonia" is pretty hard for Dangrigans to remember. It's just kinda odd to them (smile). Tiger came over and made dinner for me and Rachel and other guests. Stewed chicken, garlic potatoes, salad and bread. He is also a Garifuna drummer. If only you could witness the spiritual dance rituals the Garifuna perform in honor of their ancestors. THEY DO NOT ALLOW PHOTOS TO BE TAKEN! ......ask me about how I know this when I get back to Arkansas. An absolutely "unbelizeable" story to tell.

After dinner, Rachel & Tiger are giving "Double 15 Dominoes" a go at it. I introduced this game to the group (thanks to Andy & Dawnetta Moore) and we have had many evenings of hilarious fun with it. Rachel really is concentrating too hard though!

Of course, the teacher has to win! Right?? WRONG...........Tiger & Houston are the reigning champs so far.

Tiger, me, Elena, Houston and Rachel enjoying the dinner that Tiger prepared. These folks have made my stay here pretty enjoyable.

BUT.....GOTTA GET BACK TO WORK. LOTS TO DO TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT AND LITTLE TIME TO DO IT IN!!

I'M COMIN' HOME SOON KIDS, HONEY (RODNEY) AND ALL..........AUGUST 5TH!

Prime Minister Dean Barrow & Meetings with Key Decision Makers for My Project

Attorney Antoinette Moore and Idonia Trotter after visiting July 4th with Belize Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP), Ms. Cheryl-Lynn Branker-Taitt. This meeting solidified the recently appointed DPP's commitment to hiring a crown counsel to focus on and prosecute ONLY sexual assault cases by the end of August 2008. Although not as comprehensive as we would have liked (wholistic approach of prosecuting perpetrators and providing services to support survivors/victims families of sexual crimes), adding a sexual assault specialist crown counsel is a step in the right direction for Belize. Branker-Taitt also agreed with Moore on the need for training of crown counsels on sexual assault prosecutions. The door was left open on adding more crown counsels to focus on sexual assault prosecutions and forming a "sexual assault unit".

Trotter and Moore with Women's Department of Belize Director - Ms. Icilda Humes on July 4th. Humes gave her approval on the sexual assault project. Atty Moore agreed to speak at an August meeting of the Women's Department's National Gender Based Violence Committee (made up of women from each of the six districts of Belize) to solicit their support in increasing public awareness regarding the increased sexual assaults in Belize and to work hand-in-hand with the Director of Public Prosecutions in possibly providing support services to victim's families and survivors of sexual assaults. Ms. Humes was very passionate about her work for the women of Belize and gave her full support of the sexual assault unit project.

I had the most fortunate opportunity of meeting the new Prime Minister of Belize on June 30th. The Honorable Dean Barrow is the leader of the country and the head of the United Democratic Party. Barrow took office on February 8, 2008 after a landslide victory over the now Opposition Leader, Said Musa (whose party had been in control for more than 10 years before the 2008 defeat). The UDP and Barrow won on a message of transparency in government, decisions by the concensus and outlawing secrecy in governmental contracts. Barrown and his cabinet may be viewed at http://sanpedrosun.net/old/08-071.html.

The past few weeks have been filled with meetings promoting the sexual assault unit within the Director of Public Prosecutions office. In addition, I have attended several court hearings, prepared three Statement of Claims, written letters on behal of clients hoping to avoid a lawsuit and sat in on a murder trial (in which Defense Attorney Antoinette Moore won on behalf of a 17 year old client). With our meetings with Ms. Humes and Ms. Branker-Taitt having positive implications in the near future, the project is now in the community advocacy outreach stage with a community-wide meeting planned in Dangriga to "Shine the Light on Sexual Assaults" on August 1, 2008. We will inform the public on the sexual assault unit plans and engage them in dialogue about what they as individuals, a community and a nation can do to end sexual assaults.

Tonight, I am meeting with the sponsors of the event (POWA, Men for Social Change and Human Rights Watch-Dangriga) to present the campaign's elements (that I have developed over the past few days) and get approval. Elements prepared for tonite's meeting include;

• Two PSA's for Cable Television
• Flyer to hand out to locals and place in key locations
• Letter Invite to be "hand delivered" to Key Contacts in Dangriga (mayor, education minister, youth group coordinators, police dept, hospital admin, magistrate, churches...etc)
• List of the Key Contacts

Although there's a little more than two weeks left in this project, there is still much work to do to ensure a really successful community meeting and to prepare final project description and analysis for my host contacts.

Pesky Mosquitos and Bugs; A Staple of the Rainy Season in Belize

Around 5p.m. each everning, "the bugs" come out and unless you are well prepared with "Off!" spray or some form of deet protection, you are pretty much at the mercy of scratching, and slappying your arm, legs, head...etc. A Belizean cabby told me that it had been years since he can remember being bit by a mosquito. "Our mosquitos tend to like tourists' flesh," he said giving a hardy laugh. I have used "Repel: Sportsmen Max" insect prepellant with 40% Deet. Dr. Gary Wheeler, a Class II graduate who did his IPSP in Belize last summer, warned me about the nagging bugs and encouraged me to take along deet protection. What he did not tell me was... that the pesky bugs become immuned (it appears) to the deet and your flesh is left to their mercy!! My legs and arms are dotted everywhere with red marks. A particular bug that bites leaves a small little hole that incessantly requires you to rub or scratch for relief, which then leaves a scab. I have too many of those to even complain about now.

When I look back on this IPSP, one of the things I will not look back on fondly is the nightly "bug attacks." Many times my sleep is interrupted by the discomfort of the need to scratch and scratch and scratch. Well, only 4 more weeks of scratching left (I guess)! and this will be a distant memory (hopefully).

In the evenings, the city of Dangriga has a truck that roams the streets squirting out repellant spray into the air. That happens about twice a week. On those days, I don't itch as much.

I guess its understandable living near the sea in an impoverished community that really does not have the best of drainage systems. When it rains (and we are in the "rainy season" here so it rains quite often this time of year), water puddles up in yards, on the street and everywhere. That becomes a breeding ground for itching and slapping and scratching and PAIN!!

Thankfully we have fans where I can sleep under the sheet and still stay cool while guarding against those pesky mosquitos tearing my legs to pieces all night!!

Director of Public Prosecutions Meeting Tomorrow; I Love the Caribbean Accent

Today, what a pleasure to receive a call from the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) office and hear......(and you have to imagine this in that distinctive Caribbean, Jamaican-like accent).... "Ms. Trotter, Ms. Branker-Taitt would like to inform you that she can indeed visit with you and Attorney Moore on tomorrow at 11:15a.m."

I had to ask her to repeat it for me, as the Belizean accent is a bit difficult for me to understand still. However, I have really grown to absolutely love and adore their unique style of the English language. Their accents are so beautifully pronounced.

So, tomorrow is a really big day for my project. At 7:30a.m., Atty Moore & I will fly (a 20 minute flight) from Dangriga to Belize City to meet first with Ms. Icilda Humes, National Director of the Women's Department. Ms. Humes is familiar with the goal of our project, however, we will discuss the possibility of the Women's Department and the National Gender Base Violence Committee taking the lead role in pushing this national human and women's rights project forward. Shortly after that, we will visit with DPP Branker-Taitt to inform her of the project's goal of developing a special unit within her department that focuses on sexual assault claims.


This all sounds simple enough, but when you consider some of the dynamics involved, you will understand why having these 2 meetings within this short period of time that I have been here is so very amazing and important. First, this idea has been talked about for several years in the legal community as Belizean attorneys have become concerned about the disproportionate increase in sexual assault crimes over the past 10 years. Second, just like in the states, there are usually a handful of people to do the lion's share of the work in most organizations/ communities. Many of those who have hoped to get this idea moving towards reality are simply swamped with tons of other immediate social work to be done and have not had the time to put into researching data and preparing proposals. Third, the DPP was recently named about 2 weeks ago. Her making time for this project idea, which would require the most initiative on her department's part, at this time is commendable, considering the full roster of duties and inquiries that she is no doubt bombarded by right now.

Finally, one of the lessons I have learned with this project is..... and I really can not emphasize this one aspect strongly enough.........the problem with not addressing social ills swiftly and effectively is that all arms of society can become desensitized to the ruinous dangers of not acting appropriately with all diligence. Not that it is intentional, but at all levels of society, the wheels of justice can almost stop for victims of sexual assault crimes if it is not taken seriously.

From family members who may know about the crime but stay silent; to police officers who look upon it as just domestic squabble and do not investigate thoroughly; to prosecutor's with heavy case loads who see these cases as easily disposable....what is left is a society where girls and women (as the majority of sex crimes are committed on females) feel diminished and subservient to the whims of the male society (be it good or, in these cases, evil). It devalues the dignity of the life that women and girls should be able to live in this world. That desensitization tells young girls that their bodies are not their own and that they, as a child, have no rights to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.

I can only hope that the little offerings that my project is able to give while here will be a start to something that will bring justice for girls and women in Belize and create a more conscientiously sensitive grassroots society willing to adhere to the tenets of human dignity and rights.