Guardians of the Jewel, La Democracia, Belize

The Tufts IHF chapter works with the Guardians of the Jewel, a grassroots group which seeks to improve their small community by promoting social entrepreneurship while also protecting the beautiful wilderness of the Monkey Bay National Park that is their backyard.

During their 2011 visit, the Tufts IHF chapter focused on two projects. In response to Democracia village consensus, they helped start a community garden to aid the recovery from the hurricane last September that devastated their homes and gardens. The garden provides nourishing food for their families and extra produce to sell to local restaurants. They also produced a cookbook with favorite recipes from the meals that Miss Aretha cooks for the Monkey Bay Reserve visitors. Proceeds from the sale of the books go to scholarships and a lunch program for children whose parents cannot afford the cost of sending their children to the local school (the Belize government recently privatized primary education in rural areas).

“For the garden project we asked people what grows best. They planted and got some for home use which was good, because this was the worst dry season I have ever seen.”          -Aretha Wiltshire