Post Trip: Sustainability in Belize (Sarah)

In Belize, I have learned a lot about Mayan farmers and how their surroundings and culture impact their production. The type of production done in Belize is a sustainable goal to have a constant influx of food to feed their family. To me, sustainability is something that I learned about in a university setting. To be sustainable is to be constant in one form or another. Most Belizean farms are not an example of a sustainable business since most farms do not even sell their crops, but keep them to feed themselves and their families. The farms, however, are a sustainable source of food mainly due to the simple fact that the Belizean culture and environment have allowed for continued production.

To a farmer in Belize, the farm may be to one and only source of food, so it must be sustainable. These farmers did not learn their sustainability knowledge from a university, but their family and communities. At Polo's farm, Polo had over 30 crops all being grown at one time. This gives Polo and his family a way to harvest different crops at different times, and have a constant influx of food for the family.

The farming at Manuel's farm included what is called the three sisters farming practice, where corn, beans and squash are all grown together because of the benefits they all have for each other. These methods were passed down to him from his elders and have helped the crops bring in a good yield for Manuel.

Sarah Miller is an Agricultural Science major at Penn State

Day 9: I can't Belize it is over (Sarah)

With having so much to do and to learn about in the last week some things were strong reoccurring themes. These themes were inclusion of different modes of education, along with education of both male and female youth. With the trip including a visit to a Mayan community, Mopan Technical High School and Tumul K'in Center of Learning, there was a strong connection with many different modes of learning.

At both high schools, the students learned basics that we also cover here in the United States, like math classes. In my high school career, I did not, however, have as much hands-on experience that these two Belizean schools do. At Mopan Technical- the students learned different skills through choosing their path of interest. There were different class paths that students could choose from instead of having set classes with a few elective classes like I did. The students in the agriculture program would take care of their livestock as part of their agriculture class as well as classroom work. The students in some other technical classes went through different stages in their four-year high school programs that allowed different things every year, such as mechanical drawing on paper and then computer work as part of their program. At Tumul K'in Center of Learning- the students had practicals in the morning where they would wake up early and learn different hands-on skills before becoming engaged in classroom work. These practicals include every student and have them physically participate in the traditions and methods of their Maya people. The Center of Learning showed the Penn State group a traditional dance and then taught us the dance through participation, something that some other schools in Belize do not teach to their students.

Another mode of education was how several of the farmers taught their children about their farms. One of the farmers named Manuel said that he planted mahogany trees, especially for his children to come back later and harvest, like the mahogany trees in his fields. This type of hands-on education from one generation to the next about farming also applied to the cooking that was being done in the Mayan community that we stayed in for a couple of days. At one of the houses, the smaller group that I was with met a family with a young child who was already learning to make tortilla by watching her mother and playing with some of the dough. By the time that little girl is starting school, she will also be learning a lot from the people that her community welcomes in, just like our Penn State group. Her older sister Stacey talked to our group and seemed very interested to learn about our culture as well as share her own with our group.

When speaking about inclusion, both schools, Mopan Technical High School and Tumul K'in Center of Learning, included both their male and female students in many, if not all, aspects of their classes. At Mopan Technical High School, the day that our Penn State group took the tour, it was the girls turn to clean out the chicken pens; the boys had cleaned out the pens the time before. The girls did not hesitate to get to work and participate in this part of their class. One of the girls that lead our tour around the school said that some of the girls do not always enjoy doing the hands-on part of the class, but the tasks were still done. At Tumul K'in Center of Learning, all students did the morning practicals that entailed many tasks that may have been seen as a male-specific or female-specific roles in the past such as machete field clearing or cooking. The day that our Penn State group went to the Center of Learning we asked what they did for their morning practicals and were told that they had been doing machete work. Then after all of their students took part in their practicals, one of the boys went to help the cook make breakfast.


Sarah Miller is senior majoring in Agricultural Science at Penn State, with minors in International Agriculture and Sustainability Leadership

Day 5: Marie Sharp's (Sarah)

Throughout the trip in Belize so far, my classmates and I have been interacting with many different forms of education. Today we were able to engage in informal and non-formal education through different outlets, including a non-formal tour at Marie Sharp's hot sauce factory.

The tour leader, Danny, had asked the group if we were students and where we were from. At hearing our reply, he told about how he had never been out of his country of Belize and has never seen snow. Danny said that he might eventually travel out of Belize, but he probably wouldn't go to somewhere with snow. He then continued to tell us, later in the tour, how he was thinking of going back to school since he has only his associates degree. A degree that he was able to receive while at school in Belize, but furthering his education would mean that he would have to travel to another country.

This non-formal interaction also included explanations of the hot sauce process, along with a background of the company. Danny told how the women that work in the hot sauce factory are still employed because Marie refused to upgrade to machines that would have replaced the workers. Marie had a purposed plan for the machine but put the plans to the side when her workers would have nowhere else in the factory to work. To this day (mainly female) workers process the fresh produce in the factory and cut the vegetables by hand for hours during their workday.

Marie Sharp's company prides themselves on being not only a productive company that brings in a large revenue but also a company that provides a livelihood for their factory workers and their farmers.


Sarah Miller is a Penn State Senior majoring in Agricultural Sciences.

Sarah Miller's Blog Post #2 - Only 12 Days Away!

There is less than two weeks until the journey to Belize starts. I could not be more excited for the trip at this point, thanks to the teachers and amazing students I will be traveling with. As a class there as been so much going on and being learned in just a three hour time slot every Monday night. There has been a guest speakers, one named Abdur and another speaker named Dr. David Webster. There are class readings that have been assigned through the semester to accompany the knowledge of our speakers. I am still currently reading the second book, The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, but finished the first book, Understanding Belize: A Historical Guide, which had much to offer about not only the history of Belize, but the culture as well. Along with the two books to read, there has been many class engagement activities like the culture simulation that has stuck with me on how people from different cultures come across to one another.

Abdur was the first speaker in our classroom. He engaged the class in a conversation about sincere and genuine curiosity. He talked about other cultures and how having a sincere and genuine curiosity about the other culture that you are dealing with is important so you can understand the other culture better, and learn how the culture works the way it does, rather than become upset by actions of others.

Dr. David Webster was the next speaker to come visit our class. He is an Anthropologist working here at Penn State. Dr.Webster talked to the class about the Mayan culture and some of his work at the temples. Through his, and other's work, the Maya culture has been shown on temples and statues to have worshipped corn. Maize was a big part of the Mayan culture and their kings even had names that involved maize.

The book Understanding Belize gave a lot of background context that showed me how the country has come to be what it is today. The book explains how the country evolved, between the British Honduras and hierarchy in the country to the way the government has changed to todays system. The books explains many aspects of the economy along these periods of time, like the export of wood products, sugar cane and other foods.

The cultural simulation was one of many engagement activities that have been incorporated into the class. I have traveled before, but usually to places where others know that I am a tourist, or the place has similar culture to my own. I tried to be respectful of other cultures, but being a tourist that did not do a full search into the country and their culture, I did not know what was and was not accepted. It never crossed my mind of I was even being disrespectful or not. The only times I can think of any backlash from differences is when I went to Ecuador with a group called VESA.

In Ecuador, I knocked on a door to a hostel, a wooden door. I never thought any different of it, we were supposed to ring a bell, I did, but when no one came to the door I thought the bell had become broken, and I knocked. The owner of the hostel came to the door yelling at me for knocking. It is hard to tell if that was part of the culture to not knock or if it was his prized door. Either way, the simulation showed me how you must be observant and decide if it is a cultural difference or a personal difference.

Reflection after any activity may lead to a different thinking of the occurrence. The tour guide on the VESA trip told myself and a group of two other girls that with the next group he wanted to have someone climb up the side of a small cliff and carve VESA into the cliff where there had been a spot cleared by others, as well as signed by others. I said why not now, and climbed up to carve VESA into the side of the stone. He acted as if I was crazy, but I did not see the difference between what the next group could do or what I could do. Now looking back, he might have meant for one of the guys from the next group to climb up and carve the project group name, it might have not been my place in the culture to do such a thing.

Introduction : Sarah Miller

Hello. My name is Sarah Miller and I am currently a super senior (fifth year) at Penn State. I will be graduating with an Agricultural Science degree that includes International Agriculture and Sustainability Leadership as my minors. I began my journey five years ago thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and I have grown many interests since that initial day at PSU Berks campus.

Through coming to college I have grown into many new hobbies and interests, like horses. I joined the PSU Berks Western Equestrian Club before coming to the PSU Western Equestrian Team here at University Park. The picture to the right is Gunner, my horse, and myself a couple summers back, when I first bought him. He was bought from an auction and has not specification of breed or age, but is apart of the many things that Penn State has opened doors to.

Traveling has also become a passion of mine through Penn State. In just the last couple of years, I have traveled to New Zealand and Ecuador for different volunteer opportunities that I have found through the University. At the beginning of these experiences I did not think about the learning aspect of the trip, but have learned a lot while being immersed in a different culture. I think Belize will be a great immersive learning experience, just like my past trips.

In Ecuador I learned how intricate a language barrier can be on a personal level, but I also see this as part of the experience in non-English speaking countries. If everything was simply explained, the hands-on understanding would not be perceived the same way.

What I think I most look forward to about the trip is being able to interact with the different people throughout the week. I have met many people during my travels that have become amazing parts to my life, whether they know it or not. Learning but also memories are what is to come.