Jaguar Creek

Environmental Field Station: University Classes & Researchers

Armenia Development Center: Programs for the Village of Armenia

The Eden Conservancy & Jaguar Creek Reserve: Preserving Rainforest

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King's Children Home

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Information Manual

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How Do You Get To Jaguar Creek?

Contact Jaguar Creek

Armenia Village is located just four miles from Jaguar Creek. The village is part of the Cayo District, the second poorest district in Belize. It began as a small gathering of squatters and due to their insistence and government help the Village of Armenia was born. According to the 1997 census there were 585 people living in this rapidly growing village and in 2002 there were about 1200.

According to the Village Chairman about half of the village is of Guatemalan or El Salvadoran origin. The other half is split equally between Ketchi and Maya, the indigenous people ofBelize. Although there is little outright racial animosity between these groups, there is also little cooperation and to a large extent this is because they can not communicate with each other. Small numbers of other ethnic groups exist.

According to the Central Statistics Office the GDP per capita for the nation was $4,546 BZE ($2,273 U.S.D.) in 1997. Most of the men who are employed in Armenia Village either work in the surrounding citrus orchards or at Cisco Construction Company, but unemployment is high and not all persons are employed as much as they would like to be. In addition, due to a lack of skills training, most jobholders from the village work in areas of manual labor with a normal daily wage being on the low end of the scale at $20 BZE ($10 U.S.D.) per day. This small salary coupled with the high cost of living makes for a very difficult life for the villagers.

Due to culture and the high unemployment, very few women work outside the home, though some make handicrafts to sell. Many families have small plots of land on which they grow their food and also cash crops for the local markets. Men and boys tend the fields while women and girls cook, clean and take care of the house and child rearing responsibilities. Because of the little money the husband makes for the family, there are a few wives now that have to venture into the working world. The majority of families have between 5-10 immediate members, and it is not uncommon to have several generations living in the same 15 foot by 20 foot tin or palm thatched home. A wide variety of housing exists with some houses made of jungle materials with dirt floors and others with cement block walls, cement floor and a tin roof. Since the village has no electricity, only those who can afford a generator and its costly gasoline have electric lights at night. Electricity is slated to come to the village "soon".

A typical village meal consists of either rice and beans or corn tortillas with bean soup. Both meat and fruits and vegetables are used sparingly due to cost and custom. The people in the village are not starving; however, there are signs that some of the villagers are malnourished. These signs include very thin, reddish tinted hair and the very small size of some young people. Malnourishment occurs due to the lack of nutrition information.

About half of the villagers have water pipes running to their yards. However, the generator which pumps water to the homes is often broken, and so villagers must use the village manual pumps. Unfortunately, the two village manual pumps cannot adequately handle this demand, and as a result the wells are often dry. During the dry season, even when the generator is working, the well that it draws from dries up as do both village pumps. Carrying water can be a chore that takes up a considerable amount of time every day and that often done by the children. The pump and well water is usually clean to drink; however, there have been occasions when a large number of the people from the village became ill and doctors in Belmopan thought the illnesses were due to polluted water.

The villagers have access to low cost medical care in Belmopan, 10 miles away. However, some of the villagers are still unable to pay the small medical fees, the cost of transportation, and are unacquainted and therefore, at best, cautious about modern medical care. In addition lab fees and surgery costs, although very low by US standards, are often borne by the patient - with the result of people deciding to do without. The most prevalent medical problems in the village are internal parasites, worms, pink eye, and infected wounds. Many of the village health problems could be easily cured or avoided with proper health education and more responsibility taken by the villagers to improve their health.

There is a primary school in the village, grades one through eight, which has over 200 children enrolled. School lessons are taught in English, the national language of Belize. However, English is not the primary language of any of the villagers and the children usually do not learn English until they begin school because at home all the villagers speak Maya Mopan or Ketchi or Spanish. Student learn little English because of not practicing. The little practice they get is in class but as soon as they are out they get back to their home language. Most of the parents have had very little education, perhaps up to 8th grade, and many cannot read or write in their mother tongue or in English. Accordingly, very few parents are able to assist their children with schoolwork. Despite mandatory school attendance, with little enforcement and a sizable number of parents not placing a high importance on their children's education, some children work at home or in the field rather than attending school.

Even when they are in school the children still work very hard apart from their studies. Most children perform the tasks of washing clothes and dishes, carrying water from the pump, selling handcrafts made by their mothers or themselves, and gathering firewood.

For most of the villagers an eighth grade education is the most they could reasonably hope for, though unfortunately many of the children do not even finish eighth grade. In order to attend the only local high school, which is in Belmopan, students must first pass an exam. Unfortunately none of the only 7 graduates from 8th grade passed this exam in 2002, but that they got to the 8th grade and graduated is commendable given that the total population of the school is 200. Two Christian high schools in Belmopan accept those who do not pass the exam, but because of this their academic reputation suffers. In addition high school is only possible if the family can afford the registration fees, tuition (if private), books, uniforms, bus fares, and can afford to have the child study and not work. Because of all this many students are not interested in school and although high school and university level education is possible, few dream of it.

Teachers are hired by the government, are paid a low wage in comparison to other professions, have a wide range of education and qualifications and all live in other towns. They are to be commended for their work with large class sizes, few materials and sometimes little parental or community support.

There are six main churches in this village and none have services primarily in English. The services of the Baptist, New Apostolic, Pentecostal (Rivers of Life), Church of God and Roman Catholic Church are all in Spanish while the United Pentecostal Church service is in Ketchi Mayan with some English translation possible. Many of the villagers attend a church regularly and at night with no electricity in the village there is sometimes not much else to do but to play dominoes or cards at a popular shop in front of the school.