The Teachers make an impact in first week

The trekkers have just completed their first week of a two month teaching placement in the Cayo district of Belize. Their tasks and responsibilities have been wide reaching from taking full classes of 6 year olds, running an hour's PT lesson in the morning, helping the less able children with their reading skills, or helping out at the regional girl's football tournament in San Ignacio.

Kieran and Alex in Duck Run Two found themselves both teaching a lesson on fractions, to separate age groups. Kieran recalls "It was easier for Alex as he had an older group who had a grasp of the idea, whereas I had a younger age group and found it a bit more challenging".

The guys have already been involved with the local community during their first week, as Alex says, "There's a football pitch across from our school and we've found ourselves there every night training with the local team".

Lily, along with her teaching buddies Sophie and Synnove in El Progresso, have found their placements so far to be a real cultural eye opener. She says, "We don't have electricity at our homestay, there's 50 chickens in the garden and it's really hot! This morning we got up at 5:30am to go for a run and when we came back we did some sit-ups and the family's children were looking at us as if we're mad!"


Lily is also going to try to undergo some fundraising, as she says there are a lot of projects that the school wants to accomplish, but it is all hampered by the constraints of funding. She has also been running practice sessions on playing the tin whistle, which she has brought over from her native Ireland, and hopes that the children will be up to scratch before their Mother's Day performance this afternoon!

Tori in Iguana Creek School already fundraised money before she arrived for a worthwhile project for the school. Her teaching buddy John thinks he has come up with a 'super-duper' plan for an amazing playground he has designed using his new found building skills in the jungle phase of the expedition.


He says, "They started on a playground already and it is just a few chopped down trees stuck in the ground. I've designed a playground of monkey bars, slides and climbing bits for the kids, which will be a fantastic extra way for me to help the school. With the fundraised money Tori has, we can get proper tools and materials and make it so it will stay there for a long time".

The pair have also been writing tests this week for their classes on Geometry and Maths.

Check back soon for more information about how our teachers are getting on in their teaching placements....

Meanwhile in fieldbase, preparation is already hotting up for our July project in Belize in the Chiquibul national park.

Back from Guatemala, to teach in Belize

For our Trekkers, the month of April has been filled with an array of cultural experiences and exciting trips during their Spanish language phase in Guatemala. Living in the town of San Jose on the banks of the Lake Peten Itza, everyone had another new wide-eyed experience, having been confined to the depths of the jungle for the previous two months.

Each morning, everyone has woken up to rice or tortillas, with beans (and eggs, if they're lucky) to start the day at 8am with 4 hours of one on one Spanish tuition. Some are quite advanced in their knowledge of Spanish, and others are learning "Buenas Dias" for the first time!

Their afternoons are filled with activities such as football with the locals,

visiting a local school, learning about Mayan medicine, taking part in the town's parade,

learning to make rope from bay palm, jewellery making, a boat trip, tortilla making, an archaeological tour, dancing lessons, or just swimming in the lake.


The Trekkers stayed with local families in the town, where they could practise their Spanish in a real environment and get to know more about the local way of life.

It has been a month of new experiences and learning a lot about Guatemala and the Spanish language (with a few parties inbetween....!).


Now, those who are continuing their Trekforce experience have arrived back in Belize, and are about to go through a week's teacher training programme, preparing them to be rurally placed in pairs around the Cayo district of Belize.

Chiquibul projects one their way to completion

Trekforce North:

• Since completing their trek through the Maya mountains, the North Team are nine days into phase 2 of the boundary clearance, with nine days remaining until the Opening Ceremony (2:00pm, Tuesday 25th). Enjoying the added fitness since the trek and now expert machete skills, they are making faster progress, and have cleared to a point 7.4km from their start-point at the Macal River, with a further 4.4km of boundary line to demarcate, to complete their expedition objective.

• The dry season is well under way, and the water table in the western Chiquibul is receding beneath the limestone hills. On Saturday 15th, they moved their base-camp (BC) to grid reference: BP 767 669, midway between the east/west boundary line and a mediocre water source, discovered by a recce team and park rangers on Tuesday 11th.

• Tomorrow’s resupply will provide the team with two Millbank bags to filter the water (in addition to the usual sterilising treatment of Iodine and/or boiling),15 packets of Tang (fruit drink powder, to conceal its murky flavour) and as many jerry-cans of fresh water as they can carry, in addition to any letters and parcels sent from home.

• Water for washing is in short supply, and team members are putting their wet-wipes to hard use.


Trekforce South:

• …completed construction of the Ranger Station in time for the Opening Ceremony on Friday 14th. A British Army helicopter flew assorted dignitaries (Commanding Officer of the Belize Defence Force BDF Col Tapia; Deputy Chief Forestry Officer Marcelo Windsor; Natalie Rosado of The Nature Conservancy) and film crews from two Belizean TV news channels to the remote location by the Guatemalan border.

• The OC was also attended by TFW Country Manager, Rafael Manzanero (CEO of TFW’s project partner FCD) and senior Park Rangers. All those present thanked the volunteers for their outstanding efforts, and spoke of the huge contribution to the management of the Chiquibul.

• After the OC, when the helicopter had left, the team and less important visitors began the two-day hike out to Natural Arch, the location for the team’s rest day on Sunday. A Trekforce Landrover and BDF army truck will transport the team from there on Monday (17/3/08) to the start of their trek phase in the Eastern Chiquibul.

• They don’t know it yet, but after seven days moving south exploring this untouched region of forest, they will rendezvous with canoes and the equipment required completing the last 26km of their journey down the Raspaculo Branch of the Macal River over two days. HOW EXCITING IS THAT ?!

Teams Complete Mammoth Trek

The North and South teams have successfully completed their crossing of the Maya Mountains in small groups over the last 2 weeks. With big smiles when they reached Caracol, the groups sat and watched the sun set after an amazing 9 day trek which saw them making their way through tough and untouched jungle.

Trekforce HQ is still waiting for images of the trek as all cameras are on project while the groups work hard to get ready for their opening ceremonies next week but here are a few for now....

Trekking is hard work. The volunteers must carry everything with them so they can set up camp each night...



Ice cold drinks are always a welcome sight after the Maya Mountain Trek...



The North Team celebrate at the top of Caracol...



Then the finale- watching the sun set over the jungle canopy and listening to the calls of primates and birds...

First Phase of Project Completed by North Team and South Team Get a Special Visit

The North team have managed to clear the first 3.5km of the boundary line. With the first phase complete, the group are rewarding themselves with a trek to see a bit more of the rainforest. They headed to San Jose on Sunday 24th February where the trek started and they returned this weekend to begin phase 2 of the project which will be to clear the other 9km of boundary! Phase 2 will also involve the group finding water. It may be the rainforest but because the team are going so remote, they are yet to find easy access to a natural source. Belize Defence Force is currently delivering plenty of water to them in jerry cans until they find water of their own…All adding to a sense of adventure for the group!

Talking about a sense of adventure, we mentioned that the groups had a difficult time getting into their project sites on a previous blog? Here is what they had to contend with.....




The South Team have begun the construction work on project. The group have had a visit from 2 light engineers- members of Belize Defence Force who are assisting with the construction work. South Team also had a visit from country manager Greg, who flew in by helicopter with Brigadier, Deputy High Commissioner, Mr Manzanero (CEO of Friends for Conservation Development) and the Minister for Defence to talk to the volunteers and witness the exciting developments which Trekforce are proud to be a part of!

Jungle Training Week in Pictures

This time last week, here is what the volunteers were up to...

The buddy system in action! The Trekforce Buddy System is all about trust...




River crossings are lots of fun and Trekforce show volunteers how to do it safely...



Josie, a Trekforce medic shows us a perfect example of a fire. Question is, did she light it herself?!



It's ok, they're just pretending! Volunteers learn about First Aid and CPR



Stretcher carrying is hard work, but the group work together to complete a search and rescue exercise...

Project Groups Chosen

Sooner than expected we have had a call from the jungle! Country Manager Greg called us at 4pm UK time on Monday from the Trekforce Satellite phone to tell us that the volunteers had chosen their project groups and everyone was in good spirits after their first few days in the rainforest.

The Northern Project Group are:

Standing (L to R): Ian (AL) Lara, Jim, Tess, Alex McGee, Kat, Laura, Stuart, Dr Josh
Kneeling (L to R): Katie (EL), Eloise, Josie (Nurse) Clare, Sara




The volunteers’ main focus of the project will be to mark out the 13k boundary line for the National Park. This will include clearing jungle across tough terrain- A real challenge! The group will also record any notable flora or fauna they see along the way too. They could be returning in 2 months time having discovered a new plant or spotted a rarely seen frog!

The Southern Project Group are:

Standing (L to R): John “Boo”, Will (Staff Assistant), Alex McNichol, Nick, Kieron, Sully (EL), Simon (AL)
Kneeling (L to R): Lawrence, Sophie, Synoeve, Sam, Kat (Nurse), Vanessa



The group will be in the south of the Chiquibul National Park which is a largely unknown area. Farmers on the Guatemalan side of the border have been cutting jungle for farmland but this cutting is now encroaching onto the Belizean border and the Chiquibul National Park. If they keep going, the jungle will sadly be destroyed. The main aim of the project is to construct an observation post, accommodation and cooking facilities for national park rangers to inhibit these illegal activities effectively.

The groups had a slow and challenging journey onto their project sites, as the roads and jungle tracks were extremely muddy due to the rainfall they had had over the last few days. However, they made it! And apart from a few sore feet, the volunteers can’t wait to get stuck into their rewarding projects!

When we get the next report from the jungle we will let you know, but remember, no news is good news!

Trekforce HQ