L-P Community Ambassador reflects on trip to Belize

by Bettina Kaphingst
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, December 2, 2006

Bettina Kaphingst, Lewiston-Porter High School senior and 2006 Community Ambassador to Belize, is shown at the left with another member of her group, Bijal, and members of her home stay family: her mother Ava, brother Terique and sister Leanna, and a close family friend.

Belize is a country in Central America which many people have never even heard of (and that included me, before this trip), but if you’ve ever been there you know that it is an ‘un-Belize-able’ place. My experience there as the 2006 Community Ambassador proved to me that this description was perfect.

We spent the first week residing in a wildlife sanctuary/environmental education center called Monkey Bay. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to become oriented to life in Belize. We went on various excursions where we saw the wildlife up close, hiked through some nearby caves, and saw our first real Belizean Creole village, among other things.

After a week at Monkey Bay, we went on to stay with our host families in the village of Crooked Tree. Our group members were paired up, with two of us staying in each Belizean household. My ‘sister’ and I had two home-stay brothers about our own age (16 and 20) and two younger siblings, ages 5 and 8.

Staying with our family was definitely the best part of the trip, because they were so sincerely caring and fun to be with. Almost every night we hung out with a huge group of extended family and friends, just having a good time listening to music or playing cards and talking. While we were there we also did a community project which consisted of painting the community center so it could be turned into a center for local teens. It was great to see the difference a simple paint job made when we saw the finished project. When we had to leave the families, we all realized that no one wanted to go, and just about everyone made a sincere promise to return some day.

The last four days of the trip were spent in the Belizean Keys, on an island called Tobacco Caye. This was the part of our trip was mainly relaxing and we acted like tourists. We got to snorkel on the second biggest barrier reef in the world, do a little island hopping, and soak up the sun. It was the perfect end to our amazing trip.

The experiences I had, the friends I made, the second family I acquired, and the memories I hold all contribute to making this one of the most memorable summers of my life. I’ll never forget the trip, and especially not the people, who let me to become more self-confident and to see a culture I’d only ever heard about. The trip was everything I wished for it to be, and much more beyond that.

Bettina reports that since her trip she has run daily as a member of the Lew-Port Cross Country team, teaches swimming and lifeguard instruction for the Lewiston-Porter Continuing Education Program and has been extremely busy with college applications and school visits.

She adds that she has also developed a short presentation on her extraordinary trip and would like to show this to any non-profit organization in the area. Contact Bettina at 285-9164 to book a presentation.

Ambassador information seminar to be held next month
Sandra Olsen of the Lewiston-Porter Community Ambassador Program reports that an information/orientation seminar for those interested in serving as Lewiston-Porter’s Community Ambassador for 2007 will be held Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, in the Lewiston-Porter High School Library, beginning at 7 p.m.

“We will select the new ambassador on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007,” said Olsen, noting the event will take place in the Community Resource Center (old Primary Building) on the Lew-Port campus. “This is when approximately 25 service group delegates come together to hear the student applicants speak, read their essays, answer questions. At the end of the night we will announce the 2007 Ambassador. Each trip includes a family stay, a community service project and the ability to make everlasting friends while learning a whole lot about yourself.”

Olsen adds that the group’s chief fund-raiser for the program is its auction/reception (date and location to be announced). “We’ll have lots of food, silent and basket auctions, some awfully fun speeches by local politicians and some music! It is turning into a nice community event,” she said.

For further information, call 745-7381.