Success!

Our fall prevention research team in Belize has had an incredible couple of days in Belize City, and we were able to double the number of participants in our study from 9 to 18! This is thanks in large part to the efforts of Mrs. Bulwer, the national director of HelpAge Belize. She saw that very few of the persons who came to the fall prevention class in Belmopan were appropriate, and she took it upon herself to make sure that people were planning on coming here in Belize City and were appropriate for participating in the program. She also called the media, and as a result, she and I were interviewed on local TV. While watching myself on TV is AWFUL, I must say I didn’t make a total idiot of myself and managed to express what we are attempting to do with the fall prevention study. We had a good, albeit long, day with the folks at the HelpAge Centre yesterday, and completed both testing and the class portion of the fall prevention program. Some of the obstacles we encountered were the oppressive HEAT, the cultural need to feed the people when noon rolled around (even though I provided a snack at 11:00 am), and the resultant somnolent state of the participants after lunch when I was trying to teach. Anyway, we got through it, and today’s results show people retained at least some of the information!

"Scrubs"

Today, we completed home visits in two teams with the nine participants. Although it was a long hot day, it was a really good day of spending more personal time with each participant. I heard many stories, some related in Creole. One of my favorite memories of the day was trading Creole and US sayings – things like, “least said, soonest mended” and “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” There’s a Creole version of that one but I can’t remember it! We were in the city today, so all homes had indoor plumbing and other modern conveniences, although some of them were quite small. Most people have been in their homes 40 years or more, and have great resources in their neighbors. The houses are just a couple of feet apart in places, and when I asked one woman what she does when  she needs help, she said, “I just yell real loud and my neighbor next door hears me and comes to help me.” The neighbor also watches the front gate and shoos away anyone who comes who doesn’t belong there! I wish people in the US were that caring about their neighbors. What Belize lacks in physical resources, it makes up for in human resources. There is something to be appreciated about such a communal and caring culture. Families are so tight-knit, and people just look out for each other. Everybody knows everybody else, and no one ever met a stranger. People even answer questions communally, which is a bit of a problem when it comes to data collection! I am sorting it out, though.

This has been such a fascinating experience. It has been challenging in ways I did not expect, but also some things were easier than I thought they would be. I have a lot of data sorting to do when home, but I have completed what I set out to do! We have one more full day here, which will be spent in some organization and entry of the data, and then we leave for home on Saturday morning! Thank-you to everyone for your support!