The Mango Tree

In the middle of the school yard here at Mount Carmel High School there stands a mango tree, and underneath the mango tree sits an old wooden picnic table. There is nothing particularly special about the mango tree; for mango trees grow in every corner of Belize, and there is most definitely nothing special about picnic tables, no matter where they stand. This particular tree and table have been home to many of my memories while in Belize, and it is the memories that give an object any particular significance.

It was this mango tree that gave me shade on some of the hottest days of the past nine months when I was in desperate need for escape from the teacher’s lounge. I’ve sat under this tree with so many different people for so many different reasons. It was a place to get counseled in teaching by my mentors. It was a place where I learned so much about teaching skills and strengthened my resolve for my education goals for the year. It was a placed where I met with students. There we talked about our lives and found connections and helped each other learn Spanish and English. I watched countless sporting events, from futbolito to softball from the vantage point of this tree (and dodged a few flying objects from this seat coming from said event). I received guitar lessons from talented teachers, and choco-bananas from generous students. I have taken my English classes to this tree to discuss books and write poetry about mangoes and nature and learned a lot about the joys of spontaneous bursts of creative teaching. It is at the picnic table under this mango tree that many of my fondest memories of Mount Carmel High School will be set.

This tree is not only hold special significance for me but for all of those who have become part of the Mount Carmel family. As the tree has grown and matured, so has the school that has grown up around it. What was once a small, last-chance school in a far corner of Belize has now blossomed in the last 20 years to a place where hundreds of students can come to learn and grow and take a chance at having the most fulfilling future life can offer. And every year there is a new class that is prepared for release into the real world. As the year goes by and the final ripening of soul and mind take place, the mangos that form from the blossoms of this tree in the middle of the school yard also grow and ripen. The fruits hang from the tree, watching all that grows around them and silently awaiting the moment in which they will serve their purpose. It is tradition at Mount Carmel High School to let these mangoes ripen until the end of May. No one is allowed to steal a mango from the tree. No one, no matter how much they beg or bribe you, is allowed to help themselves to these delicious fruits for theirs is a special purpose.

At the last assembly of the year for the graduating class of 2011, the principal gathered the school for the send-off, and then sent the fourth-formers to pluck their mangoes as tradition holds. At the sound of go, the 46 fourth-formers were running from the basketball court to the mango tree. Up the tree they climbed, and suddenly there came a rain of mangoes, dropping towards all those eagerly waiting underneath. In a matter of minutes the tree had been stripped of its fruit and the seniors were walking off to their classes with bags bulging with the fruits. Mangoes were distributed to all the seniors and all those whom the seniors wished to share with (There were many more mangoes then seniors). Sticky fingers abounded and the sweet smell of mango wafted through the teachers lounge as we too shared in the success of our students.

This tree will continue to grow and continue to bear fruit, just as the Mount Carmel family will continue to grow and continue to send forth its own fruit into the world with every year that passes. I am proud that I too have become part of this tree, part of this family, and part of the beautiful work that is being done here in this little corner of the world.