College in Belize

Sorry I didn't post a blog yesterday. It being a Sunday we went to another local Nazarene church. We then spent most of the day lounging around and relaxing. It was nice to catch up on some sleep and not have to worry about anything for the the rest of the night. Sorry my bligs have been getting shorter and even for this one combining two day. The group from Kenyon College is back in Ohio and so most of our "service" part of the trip is done. That doesn't mean we are done serving however. We are now moving more in to our class which is Seminar in International Development.  Even thought we are not out in villages working as much as we were the first week we are still her to help improve things here. Today we spend most of the day at Sacred Heat College ( part of our group will be staying through May and studying abroad here ). While there we listened to a presentation about how technology has an effect on Belize. We talked about all the factors that have to be considered when deciding the best way to help. We don't want to just send them our junk and them think they are getting something very nice and then it not work within a year. There are alos thing to think about like how well a device will hold up in yhe heat and humidity here. Other things to take into consideration is the electricity here. Weekly power outages are common and the overall cost of electricity is around 5 to 6 time more expensive here. All these taken in to consideration is why our group has been bring laptops instead of desktops for the labs. Not only do we have to think about these things just when deciding laptop or desktop but also when planning on how to set up the networks. Right now we are in the starting stages of planning for a few different server ideas to help schools that already have labs and are now expanding to meet their needs.  We will be talking to the principals and teachers to find out what will work best and most efficient for their needs. Sometimes and really most times what they think they need to solve a problem is not really the best way and often times they really need something else. Its our job totalk to them and narrow it down to give them the best most reliable and easiest to use solution to what they need. It's been near learning more and more about all the different challenges and obstacles that come across for developing countries. We split up in groups and will be writing a paper to discuss these challenges in more detail. Later we will have another class to continue discuss even more aspects that we have just scraped the surface talking about.

It's crazy to think that we're halfway through our trip. Part of me feels like we've only been here a day or two and the other part of me feels like we've been here for a while. The newness has kind of wore off and I do miss home some but it's really nice and weare having a lot of fun with our group. Some of the guys have had some stomach problems just getting used to the different foods here so keep them in your prayers if you would.

Thanks for the continued support!
Josh Aleshire