The online space of Caroline Bach
So we got some great coverage of the Ending Violence meeting in local media, including a slot on the Channel 5 news and on the Krem and Love FM radio stations. Always weird to hear your own voice, even worse to see all your strange facial expressions on TV. Nevertheless, all good fun!
Can you have a beautiful piece of music along with an awesome video promoting girl empowerment? Yes, yes, yes! UNICEF Namibia and #TeamUNICEF have done an awesome job here.
“This video for the song ‘Goddess’ by up and coming US artist BANKS was inspired by UNICEF’s work on promoting children’s rights through sport and play and the Galz and Goals programme in Namibia which helps disadvantaged adolescent girls make healthy decisions on and off the playing field.
Most of the girls who take part in Galz and Goals come from vulnerable families experiencing lots of social challenges. Indeed, many of the scenarios in the film are real challenges the respective girls have had to overcome in their own lives. Filmed on location in Windhoek, Namibia – including the Katutura township where the football scenes were filmed.
Find out more about UNICEF’s work on sport and children’s right to play: http://www.unicef.org/teamunicef”
Today UNICEF Belize launched an intense two-day planning and learning meeting in Belize’s Biltmore Plaza. Together with more than 30 participants representing key ministries, the civil society, the police, teachers, UN agencies and other partners we are working to define the target areas, ways forward and key messages for a Communication for Development Strategy on Ending Violence Against Children in Belize.
This project is my baby and one of the main things I was brought here for, and I’m very excited to see it coming to life. I’m not going to say I wasn’t super nervous this morning before starting to talk in front of all these people, but I am very happy to say that the participants were engaged and active, that the facilitator Paula was great, and that it was actually a lot of fun – after a while I was even less terrified about being targeted for all those unexpected media interviews.
I dont remember what I said on TV and radio other than how exciting all of this is and how the aim is to ensure that it becomes an inclusive planning process and how we need violence against children to be addressed as a main issue across the society. I’m still waiting for the news broadcast to see if I managed to make any sense at all – and if I look nervous, haha.. anyhow, making some noise and taking important steps forward to End Violence Against Children in Belize!
The Lopascinskis were looking for places to stay during their one year trip around the world when they appeared on my page on Couchsurfing. They are a family of four, with two children aged 10 and 12, and two awesome Polish parents who decided to quit their jobs and embark on this adventure. I invited them to stay at my place, and they brought their curiosity and excitement along. We had a very nice time together on a walk around town, and I made the kids banana and blueberry ice cream and orange popsicles, while the dad cooked lobster tails from the market for us. It was very nice to get to speak Polish again for a while and getting a bit of a family environment in my empty apartment. Also, we realized that the parents actually know my father and live in the same city – so I’m sure we will meet again!
To read about the adventures of the Lopascinski family in Polish, visit their blog. And I wish them all the best on their journey!
We arrived in Kingston on Monday morning and headed straight to the first day of the cross regional conference on violence against children, chaired by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children along with Lisa Hanna, the Jamaican Minster of Youth and Culture and also Miss World in 1993 – still beautiful.
After the conference we went to the Red Bones restaurant in New Kingston, where we came across amazing Richard Nadoo and his exhibition “Reverbation of the Silent Echo”.. I was enchanted by the details and colours in his art, and the very complex story connecting the pieces. My favourite piece was already sold which made me really sad but I might get the opportunity to buy something from him at some other point. The food was nice and the atmosphere very cozy in Red Bones, despite the lack of promised live music.
On the second day of the conference participants from different organisations and regions continued sharing their experiences and challenges related to child protection, and the sessions ended with a presentation by Jamaican youth on the issues that they feel affect them the most.
After the conference we went to Bob Marley’s house, which has been transformed into a museum. Photography was unfortunately not allowed, but looking into Bob Marley’s recording studio, kitchen and bedroom, with all of their cool details and cool carpets and beautiful instruments was very interesting, and I actually never knew Bob Marley’s father was an Englishman who died when Bob Marley was 10 years old.
On our last evening I stayed in, relaxing for a bit before the 3am wake up call and airport pick up, and then we did the long trip through Miami airport – back to Belize, back to the breeze, back home. :)
A car swooshes by. “Y’all wanna buy sum Bob Marley?!” the driver shouts at us, while uniformed police hang out just a block away. Welcome to Jamaica.
Knowing that we had a conference to attend in Kingston on Monday, we decided to fly to Jamaica already on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend there and get a feel of the country. We flew over to Montego Bay on the northern coast of the island early Saturday morning – and got two days in the beach town. The water was clear as glass and people were generally utterly friendly. We had heard so many bad stories about how rude people are in Jamaica, how racist and insulting they can be and how dangerous it is to walk around as a tourist – but we got none of that. People were curious to chat, kids were confident and eager to play, strangers were smiling, and everybody wanted to share their Mary Jane. We kindly declined the offers and only stayed within the safe areas after dark – at most times we were the only foreigners around – and it was completely fine.
We spent our days playing on the beach and in the water, and the evenings having nice dinners. On Saturday night we danced, which was an experience in itself. Little did I know that many of the Dancehall songs have specific steps to them that the entire club does together, and at first I didn’t understand why the people would get all ecstatic, jump in the air and then pretend to “shoot the DJ” when a new song came on. I later got the explanation that “pra pra prra!” with a pistol-formed hand in the air is an expression of joy rather than aggression. “We show the DJ that we like the song, that we appreciate his work!” That’s how normalized the relationship to fire arms is in Jamaica. It’s sad and it’s scary – but nobody seems to mind.
I bought Red-Yellow-Green rasta juggling balls in Montego Bay. Six years ago a beautiful clown taught me how to juggle but I lost the skill as I fell out of love. I decided to learn again, thanks to Jamaica. A bit cheesy, a bit symbolic, it will be a practice in juggling and combining pleasure with responsibilities. Celebrating life and professionalism at the same time. Finding time to disconnect, but continue loving my job and giving it the time it requires.
It will remind me of all the emails sent and the one-hour work related Skype call I had just a moment before taking the photo above. And how I enjoyed it all.
Fun radio music, people biking, and a little view of what Belize City looks like. Hey – you even get to see one of the City’s two traffic lights! So – what do you think?
Finally – I took my camera out and took some photos on a lovely one-day trip we did to Caye Caulker on Saturday. A day with good friends, snorkeling, sun hang out, and delicious lobster.
Here are the photos from last weekend’s Bootcamp in the BTL park here in Belize. Cricel – the same girl who runs the Danza Revelation classes – was pushing us to jump, run, push, carry and pull – and it was a fantastic day packed with energy and great team spirit.
We were followed by Knight and Day photography – so I managed to get hold of some of the shots.. great stuff!
Can’t wait for the next time. I had Cricel promise it won’t be when I’m out of town. ;)
Today we had the Danza Revelation class with the lights turned off, disco lights on and DJ Khris spinning our tracks. It was like kicking all of our Danza moves in a real nightclub with a big group of friends, huge amounts of energy, and loud “awoooogah!” shouts – I’m so happy to have found this amazing group!
Took a little time-out to film one of the Brazilian songs we were doing – just as the sun was setting. Cricel Castillo in the front line, showing the way to shake it.