January 2009

This is quite a difficult blog to write, for reasons that will become clearer below.

But first the good news. Thank you so much for all your christmas cards and messages. It's been wonderful to hear from so many people, and we have felt encouraged and supported by your messages and prayers. Please note however that most of the letters we received had been opened and resealed by the post office, and locals have the same problem with overseas mail. They tell us that the temptation to look for money is too great for the mail staff to resist.
We hope none of you had sent any!!

As well as Christmas celebrations, December contained a number of highlights for us.

For Malcolm's 50th birthday, we went away for two nights to a jungle lodge. It was absolutely splendid, deep in the rain forest of the Maya Mountains. We saw lots of wildlife, including various toucans (our first in the wild). On a night time jungle walk through the forest, we saw scorpions, wolf spiders and a tarantula in its burrow. Malcolm also accepted an invitation to try termites, fresh from the nest. They were a lot nicer than I expected: a bit wiggly, but tasty - a bit like slivers of raw carrot. Certainly nice enough that I went back for seconds! Ruth decided to decline; she likes her food less wriggly.

Also at Christmas, we were very pleased to be able to help provide christmas gifts to 40 children in a local Red Cross feeding programme. The Red Cross told us that they had organised a party, but had no gifts for the children. Ruth contacted the committee of the Belmopan International Women's Group, which she belongs to. They provided the money, and we had great fun shopping for suitable gifts and delivering them to the Red Cross, who were very appreciative.

Malcolm also finished the second part of the schools religion programme for the Anglican Schools, and got everything sent off to teachers at the end of term

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services went well, and then New Year's Eve was another big service at St Ann's, followed by a New Year's Eve party and dinner which we hosted at the Rectory. Our friends had arrived from UK on the 29th, and they helped us cook all day. About 50 people were fed and "watered", and it went well.

In the middle of all the Christmas events and services, Ruth had a wedding outdoors on a farm in one of the rural villages; she also had a wedding blessing for a Garifuna family including drumming and Garifuna prayers. They sing the Lord's Prayer in the Garifuna language to the tune of "when a child is born", all holding hands.

The following Monday, January 5th, we escaped with our friends for five nights rest and recuperation on Caye Caulker, one of our favourite places in Belize. We had a fabulous week, including our first taste of snorkelling on the reef. This was a truly wonderful experience. We saw lots of fish among the coral, in crystal clear turquoise waters on a not too hot day, and swam with Manta Rays and a Nurse Shark. Wow!

But now the bad news, which some of you may have heard already. St Ann's Rectory in Belmopan was burgled again on Saturday night / early hours of Sunday morning the 11th/12th January. (The house was burgled previously in September). They stole electrical items, Ruth's laptop (including back up and all her work) and our digital camera, while we were asleep. (The theft of the camera is the reason for not including photos in this post). But in addition, we were woken by an intruder upstairs in one of the bedrooms. What followed was extremely unpleasant and threatening. We cannot go into details, but it left us and visitors who were staying with us traumatized and distraught. It is now clear that we and the house have been watched, and targeted deliberately. The intrusion only happened hours after we got back from our few days away, and an hour after our lights went out.

The events of the night left us and our visitors very shocked. We saw them safely on to a plane back home, and then went to see our Bishop here. We have concluded that we, and the house, have been targeted, possibly because we do not have any residential neighbours in any direction. We were no longer safe staying there.

We have all had to work through the implications of this. If we can't live safely in Belmopan Rectory, then Ruth's role as priest in charge of St Ann's, and local manager of the new school, has been brought to an abrupt stop. We arranged an emergency meeting with the Church Committee, to break the news to them. They too, of course, were shocked and distressed. But they understand that we have to be safe. However difficult this is for all of us, it is of none of our making. All we can do is respond as best we can, and try to find ways in which somehow good might come out of evil.

Since then, we have been struggling to work out what happens next. As well as having several meetings with Bishop Philip here in Belize, we have spoken to USPG in London and to family and close friends in the UK. We have taken time to think about our options, not to rush our decisions, and see what possible ways forward we can find. For the last few weeks we have been staying with our friend Maggie Patchett, who has provided wonderful support and hospitality.

We hoped to find some new role for Ruth. Though the training institute is in Belmopan, it is not essential that I live there, as much of my work happens elsewhere. But Ruth can't live elsewhere and still be minister of St Ann's. So we have been looking for a new role for Ruth that uses her experience and skills, where we might make a fresh start. We have looked at several options over the past few few weeks. But none of the suggestions really seemed to fit. And in all of this, the central issue for us now must be our personal safety. As we have found, guaranteeing our safety here is difficult, when we have such public roles.

So we have agreed with Bishop Philip and with USPG that the best option now is for us to return to the UK. The aim is for us to have a period of compassionate leave, and to use this time both to recover from recent events, and to think seriously with USPG about our future options. We have now confirmed our flight details and have been busy tidying up loose ends here. Malcolm is handing over his training course this Saturday and taking his final service in San Ignacio on Sunday. Then on Monday morning we will return the car to the diocese and fly out from Belize in the afternoon. Flying via Miami overnight, we'll arrive back in London on Tuesday 17th Feb.

We've arranged to go in to the USPG office in London for debriefing and health checks. After a few days with family we plan to move into our cottage near Grantham, where we'll be based for the interim. Please continue to hold us in your prayers as we say our final goodbyes here and decide what the best way forward might be.