Generosity

One of the most beautiful things about the people in Belize is their openness and generosity. I have been showered with gifts left and right from my students, from earrings and jewelry to drawings, letters, and snacks and candy. It also turns out that the culture behind this generosity is one to get used to and learn from.

In Belize, if someone offers you something, whether it be a snack, a piece a gum, or a glass of water, it is generally the polite thing to do to accept that generosity, whether you are trying to just be polite or are really are not interested in what they have to offer at all. This is a tough thing for me to accept. I like to graciously decline offers of food or candy or whatever, especially if someone spent their money on it and there’s not much to go around. But this hesitation recently got me in trouble.

The final bell of the day had just sounded minutes before. I was all packed up and heading off the campus when I was accosted by some of our male students who had just stopped at a street snack shop.

“Miss, it’s hot today, no true?”

I responded that it was indeed a hot day. And it was, with a heat index of over 100 degrees. The dry season in Belize had officially reared its ugly head. (There was one Belizean who told me that it was going to get so hot that all I would be able to think was “God, what did I do wrong that you would send me to Hell early?”) We walked together a little further, when one of the students offered me the popsicle he had just bought minutes before at the snack stand. Popsicles are heavenly, but I felt bad because I had just seen him buy the thing for his self just minutes before.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t need it, and you just bought it…” was my confused and trying-to-be-really-polite-but-failing-reply

“I want you to have it.”

“Thanks, but I really can’t, you just bought it, are you sure?”

And with a smug little grin on his face the student responded: “I want you to have it, so take it and stop complaining about it!”

I was silenced at that moment and slightly embarrassed. But I quickly recovered and, thanking the student and saying my good-byes, I quickly walked away from them and their continued snickering in the direction of home, while eating that delicious green popsicle.

It was in those moments walking home that I realized that in my own life, even when I don’t have a lot to give, I like to give what I have to those around me. It’s a blessing to be able to have anything to give. And for that student, it must have been the same way. And my refusal, though polite, was an insult to that blessing.

It just still goes to show that, even after 8 months of living in this community and as a part of this culture, I still have a lot to learn.