End of our Speech Therapy Journey to Belize

Today is the end of our journey. We will be returning to normal life again and starting our externships for the semester. 

We want to thank everyone that supported our trip along the way. Not only did we all grow personally and professionally we really felt our project was successful and we did make an impact in Belize. We will continue to mentor the teachers from Stella Maris throughout the year  . This project will be an annual trip where we will continue to educate and be pioneers in bringing Speech Therapy to Belize. 
Departing quotes from our group members: 

Dr. Alan Sietel - Faculty Advisor
"This was one of the highlights of my career."

Brianna Bates - Founding President 
"Was so hard to leave the wonderful children and teachers that touched my heart over the past week. These memories will forever be with me. This experience was more wonderful than I expected and I learned so much! I never though my vision would ever happen." 

Gloria Riveria - Founding Vice President 
"Our experience at the Stella Marris School was definitely one we will never forget or could ever describe with words or photographs. It will forever be engraved in my mind, and I hope to return again. The energy at the assembly was beautiful, and I admit I shed a few tears. I will be leaving Belize with a heavyheart. "

Monica Benetz  - Founding Treasurer 
"What a roller coaster day today as the kids bombarded me with the most loving hugs & smiles. The humbleness & gratitude of the staff left me with a heavy heart & tears. Sincerely one of my best educational experiences & I'm blessed. I definitely would do this again."

Stephanie Perez - Founding Secretary 
"Unbelizeable. Plantain chips. It's better than what they had."

Victoria Wiatrek - Founding Board Member 
"The teachers and children at Stella Maris were amazing to work with and truly made this a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget."

Halah Alateeq - Founding Board Member 
"Stella Maris was an amazing experience for all of us. The children all touched our hearts and we will not forget them or the wonderful teachers. We are inspired by the teachers and staff that are devoted to helping these children. We hope this is the first trip of many thank you all who supported us along the way!"

Adina Gray - Founding Board Member 
"This experience was priceless. Definately something I'll never forget."

Meredith Kearney - Founding Board Member
"This place and the trip truly was unBELIZEable."

Leanna Sanez - Founding Board Member 
"So sad to leave Stella Maris school for disability children here in Belize  my kids and teachers were amazing to work with! I'm going to miss them but I'm so grateful for this experience and will never forget it!!!"

Kayla Keys 
"I cannot even begin to describe just how amazing our stay here was. The service learning was an amazing experience and I hope I can come back again."

This experience would not be possible without you! 

Special thanks to:

Dr. Alan Seitel 
Ms. Melissa Garcia
Mr. Ewart Robateau   
Marilu Salazar
Debbie Cruz 

Texas A&M University – Kingsville International Studies Office

Dr. Steven Tallant & Texas A&M University- Kingsville

Dr. Wilma Wright and University of Belize
Dr Thomas Fields
Elizabeth Laurence 

American Safety Consulting, LLC

VP Sales

Brehm, Havel & Company, LLP

Carrol Lake & Associates

Mauro P Garcia Funeral Home

Suarez Bros. Crane and Heavy Haul, LLC

JR Trucking

Diesel Impact 2359

Ms Keys & A.C. Jones High School student counsel

Kingsville Noon Rotary Club

Kingsville Morning Rotary Club

Our family and friends

Check our Facebook for more pictures on our speech therapy project at:
https://www.facebook.com/StudentsForGlobalCommunication

Thank you for following us along our journey to bring Speech Therapy to Belize!

Brianna Bates
Founding President 
Students for Global Communication

Zip-lining and Cave Tubing

Our last day in Belize was spent with "Major and Minor Tom" doing zip-lining and cave tubing. The caves were about an hour drive from Belize City. 

We did the zip line first which was 6 different tracks through the jungle. The first track or the "chicken run" had everyone a little scared but we all made it! The zip line tracks went though the jungle and over the river. This was definitely a highlight for a lot of people. 

The cave tubing was absolutely breathtaking. It is a 25 minute hike through the jungle to  get to where you start. Groups of 7 were tied together and your given a headlamp to see through the cave. Words can't explain how beautiful if was. It was a relaxing way to end our trip in Belize.

On the way back to Belize City one of the vans got a flat tire. They stopped in a village to fix it and jacked the car up with everyone still in it. Belizean way of doing it! 

While we were waiting to fix the tire in the Spanish speaking village some of our students played on the playground with the local children. They had developed a game like golf with marbles and holes dug into the ground. They had a whole course where they would flick the marbles into the holes and the winner had to have the least amount of shots to win. Humbling to see these children use their imagination to create their own game. 

We are all sad to be leaving and cherish all the experiences we had over the past two weeks. 

Brianna Bates
Founding President, Students for Global Communication

Stella Maris: Day 4

We were all sad this is our last day at Stella Maris. The children and teachers have taught us so much in a few short days and we are fortunate for this experience. We wished we could have stayed longer. 

We finished up the PECS(picture exchange system) for the classrooms that wanted them for their nonverbal students. We made a total of 10 sets of about 30-40 pictures and various boards. This is one thing the teachers had asked for help with since they didn't have any and didn't know how to make them or implement them. Unfortunately the PECS system requires a lot of training but we encouraged the teachers to research more online and to email us with any questions.

We distributed the rest of the materials we had brought and toys. After seeing the classroom materials we decided to also purchase some more toys, books, and school supplies with the funds from TAMUK for our student organization. 

Each of us made a plan for the classroom we were assigned to and gave suggestions on what to do with each student. 

At the end of the day they held a farewell assembly for us. The children sang songs and said prayers for us. The students' also gave presentations and gifts to whoever worked in their classrooms. I don't think there was a single dry eye in our group. The principal gave everyone a thank you gift and some baked goods the children made. 

We donated a lab top computer to the school at the ceremony that has therapy materials and a few games. The students and teachers were very appreciative since they didn't have any modern computers.

We have been inspired by the teachers, students, and principal at Stella Maris. We hope this is just the beginning of a long term relationship and ongoing  partnership with Stella Maris School. 

Another thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way! 

Brianna Bates
Founding President, Students for Global Communication

Stella Maris: Day 3

Our third day at the school of Stella Maris in Belize City started when the bus picked us up at 8:30 am. As soon as we arrived we started picking our material for the class activities that we've planned. Then, each grad student and her undergrad partner went to the classroom that they screened the day before. It's amazing how much activities could be done with minimal resources. The Super Duper materials were super duper helpful, though! We made sure that we use the donated material in our classrooms to familiarize the teachers with.

A group of us spent the rest of the afternoon working on developing PECS from scratch "literally".  The girls searched for pictures of the most common items online. Then, they had to use contact paper to laminate them. Eventually, we run out of contact paper and had to use Duck tape to laminate! This activity made us appreciate the resources we have in the States. There, the PECS is only a button away ready for purchase. We learned that if you need something you can make it happen with minimum resources. All it needs is determination and teamwork! 

We ended what we called a PECS party by 10 p.m. in the hotel's lobby and then started writing our daily reflection journals. Also, we finished preparing our long-term-plans for the kids and wrote some suggestions of activities to provide the teachers with. 

5 PECS boards and a couple of hundred sticky cards later we ended  a very busy and productive day.

Oh also, It's official, we will go zip-lining and cave tubing on our last day in Belize!!

       Halah Alateeq

Stella Maris:Day 2

               Luckily we were able to finish the training for the teachers this morning and the rest of the day was spent in the classrooms, which was very exciting as well as informative and educational. We were paired with an undergraduate and each of the pairs was assigned to a classroom. My partner and I are in a classroom with 11-18 year olds. We screened 10 of the 12 children using the Fluharty and everything was relatively smooth. The teacher in my classroom was very grateful to have us and eager to learn what she could do to help the children better communicate. The class was a mixture of disorders and the teachers had explained to us that the students are generally divided by age rather than disorders except for a few specialized classrooms for autistic and deaf children.

There are two teachers in each classroom but before lunch only one teacher works with the children. When we walked in, the teacher immediately pointed out the several children that were a concern but she believed one girl in particular had a lot of potential to communicate more effectively if only she was able to receive some speech therapy. After screening her articulation, I was able to understand the teacher concerns. I did a trial therapy run with her after lunch to see if she

would be a good candidate for articulation therapy. Success! The teacher was very interested to see how I conduct therapy as well as interested to find out what she could do to help as well.

I am very excited about the work we are doing and at our end-of-the-day meeting with our professors and colleagues I heard so many stories of success in just the first day. We were all bouncing ideas off of one another about the children in our individual classrooms and so much learning was happening and it was a beautiful thing to see and be a part of.

Adina Gray
Founding Board Member, Students for Global Communication

            

Day one at Stella Maris School

Today was our first day at the Stella Maris school. Each group did a presentation on a different part of our field; the presentations included speech therapy in general, fluency, voice, articulation, language, autism, augmenative communication, and cognition. For a lot of us these were our first presentations and they all went pretty smoothly! Dr.All seemed very pleased and the teachers were really appreciative.

It looks like we have a lot of work ahead of us this week. The teachers brought up stories about some of their kids and we will probably be screening a lot of students.  The teachers brought up a lot of concerns about their students hearing and articulation, so it looks like we will be putting our Fluharty kits to good use. We are also going to give interjection advice for the teachers to follow once we leave. We believe that Stella Maris could benefit a lot from our work here and we are really hoping to set up a speech therapy program for them. A couple of teachers even expressed interest in going to school to earn the degree.

Overall I believe the school had a humbling effect on all of us today. The school was only for students who had a disability and it was very overwhelming. As an undergraduate in have nor had the chance took work with clients yet so it was a very new experience. In the United States therapists like to use inclusion to integrate these children into the general classrooms. Here the students are isolated to this one school, some even live on campus. It is very different then what we experience back home.

These students were very loving and welcoming toward us, but from our classroom you could hear a couple of children throwing tantrums. This has to be difficult on the teachers there. A classroom full of children with disabilities has to be way harder to handle then a room full of normal functioning children.  We believe we can help these teachers create a better form of communication with their students in the hope that it will make their job a bit easier. They all have so much to deal with it and they amazed us all with their upbeat attitudes.

Kayla Keys

Belize Zoo and trip back to Belize City

Sunday, January 5, 2014-- The rain finally stopped, and we made our way from San Ignacio to the Belize Zoo that is located 29 miles just outside of Belize City. The zoo was founded in 1983 by a woman named Sharon Matola who arrived in Belize the previous year to create a documentary about the rainforest; however, when the project stopped, she was left with twenty animals to care for. She realized that the animals could be used to educate the people of Belize and its visitors. We learned that all the animals in the zoo were not removed from their natural habitat. In fact, the animals in the Belize Zoo arrived there as a last resort, because they were found injured, orphaned, were born in the zoo, were given to them from other zoos, or were confiscated by the government from individuals breaking the law against owning wildlife.

As soon as we arrived, our group decided to follow the map backwards, so we began with the owls. A zookeeper named Jorge was tending to them and was ready to let us interact with the mottled owl whose name was Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa lived up to her name; she was so beautiful with her big eyes! Jorge mentioned that a group of visitors were about to meet one of their jaguars, Junior Buddy, and invited us to watch. Two women and another zookeeper were in a cage awaiting for the jaguar to come by. When he was in sight, I believe just about everyone was amazed by him. Jaguars are such graceful creatures, yet they can kill a human within seconds. Our group decided to go in the cage to interact with him. The zookeeper in the cage with us mentioned that they are the first in the world to "somewhat train" their jaguars, as they are very independent-minded and do whatever they want. The zookeeper got Junior to do a few somersaults for us, while providing positive reinforcement by giving him a treat each time. Then, the jaguar was instructed to jump on the cage, so we could touch its paws and belly. It was an incredible experience!

Other animals that we saw were harpy eagles, grey foxes, crocodiles, jabiru storks, deer, vultures, parrots, toucans (the country's bird), otters, spider monkeys, and so on. After walking around for a while and being a bit disappointed that we couldn't find some of the animals hiding in their cages, we ran into the zookeeper, Jorge. He asked us what animals we had and hadn't seen, and he told us that he would show us the animals that we didn't get to see. He had a bucket of raw chicken and lead the way. We got to see the puma, ocelot, black jaguar, jaguarundi, kinkajou, and margay up close thanks to Jorge. He made our experience at the zoo that much better. Towards the end of the tour, the zookeeper asked us if we wanted to hold a snake, so he brought out a python and put it around us as if it were a scarf.

If you don't want to miss out on seeing any animals, stick to the zookeepers. They are more than happy to show you around and bring the animals out from hiding, so you can capture some great photographs.

After the zoo, we made our way to Belize City to check in at the Princess Casino and Hotel, which we will be staying at for the rest of our stay in this beautiful country. A group of us decided to wander off a short distance from the hotel to watch the soccer game that was going on just across the street. Unfortunately, we only caught about five minutes of the game before it was over. However, it was interesting to stick around for a few more minutes to do observe the people around us. It was interesting hearing everyone around us speaking Kreole.

It has been an entire week since we arrived in Belize. This country has yet to cease to amaze us and continues to teach us something everyday.

Gloria C. Rivera

Vice President, Students for Global Communication