The grandchildren of a couple of my siblings speak Amerikayn, which is very worrying to at least one of them, and very worrying to me, because it isn’t right for us Belizeans to have our young people yanking as if they’re from New York or California. Naturally, if you go to live in somebody else’s country you have to follow the line —when in Rome do as the Romans do —but dis ya kontri da Belize.

Ah, one must pay attention to one’s own yard, and the discussion with my siblings got me to listen keenly to my own grandkids, and what do you know, one of them could cross the Rio Grande with no problem ataal. It must be the daam tablets and the television. Most of us grew up on the feed from old Radio Belize, and Kiddies’ Corner was dominated by foreign fare, stories and music, but at least the host or hostess mi di taak di English wid fu we accent. On the tablet and the television, everything is foreign Amerikayn, to the bone.

Yap, the yanking is going on right under my nose! If you dream of a green card, you’d love to hear the bwai twang, but me, I noh deh wid that.

Ouch, I have a few family members in the tourism and BPO industries, an dehn di yenk tu. Me, if my name was on the ballot and the people were wild enough to give me their blessing, I’d insist that when Americans come to Belize they be spoken to in true Belize English or braad Kriol. Of course, I wouldn’t touch the conversation in the BPO, because that trade is dependent on twang, but tourism, that’s flora, fauna, and also our native culture.

Me, I’ve never had any desire for American citizenship, and I think talking Amerikayn in Belize is unpatriotic, shows no love for home, so I brought up the matter of the Amerikayn to my grandson’s mom and grand-mom, so we could get a good plan to make the boy get the proper appreciation of weh ih kom fram.

They told me I was running sweat about nada because my granddaughter had been deep into the Amerikayn too, until she turned five and went to public school, St. Jude RC in Camalote. Hmm, some things you know are true without further explanations or research, and my granddaughter’s un-Amerikayn when she speaks English is all the proof I need. I think my siblings’ grandchildren go to private schools, and they either have to persuade their children to send their children to government schools, or they have to have a strong talk with their grandchildren’s teachers.

That story about public school, how it cures the overzealous Amerikayn in our young people, got me to thinking about the Garinagu (Garinagou?) leaders and their worries that their young ones aren’t speaking their mother language with gusto. I love the different flavors of Belize, and any of our tribes losing their culture and language is something to worry about. We must preserve the language and culture of all our core tribes!

I have heard the suggestion that young children should be taught in their first language in their first years at school, but that would impede their learning of English. Some pointed to the Kriol project, but my knowledge is that the project sought to teach children who spoke Kriol as their first language to differentiate between Kriol and English. The fact is that non-English speaking children have a better path to proper English than Kriol-speaking children, if Kriol-speaking children don’t understand the big difference in the structure of the two languages.

I think the trouble for the Garinagu is that they allowed other tribes to assimilate into, become a part of, their core villages. There are facts we have to face in this world, and one is that where there is no segregation there will be complete assimilation, and the end game to that is that all of us will talk Amerikayn, and celebrate their Thanksgiving and Halloween.
I expect the Yucatec Maya are getting close to seeing their language completely assimilated by Spanish, but the Mopan and Kekchi should be holding on, because their core villages are predominantly, like nearly 100%, ethnically consistent.

Facebook difficulties

A Facebook friend, “A”, messaged me to ask about one of my Facebook friends, “B”, because B had asked for her friendship and I was the only friend B had on her, ehm, resume that she knew. A said she was very particular about whose friendship she accepted. I confessed to A that I couldn’t vouch for B because I had NO criteria for friendship, that it wasn’t a concern until recently, after a new Facebook friend used the phone facility on the messenger, and because I was too busy for her conversation she did bad things that forced me to change my password. Agh!

I absolutely hate not accepting a friendship offer on a link like Facebook, but because of that experience I have become a lee bit circumspect, and I feel so not me about it.

An important share from Ms. Sylvia Waight

We have lost control of Covid-19 and so, while we continue to do our best to prevent catching or spreading it, we must place greater effort in fighting the disease when it invades our bodies. Most of us are drinking our hot teas made out of local herbs, and those of us who have a little cash are buying our vitamins. It’s a pity the new coronavirus attacked us at a time when we are near helpless, almost flat broke. Our new government must put more fruits and vegetables in the grocery basket, and a bottle of vitamins.

Ms. Sylvia sent me some ideas on fighting Covid; I don’t think she got it from a Belizean institution, but I think it’s valuable information so here goes:

Due to the collapse of the health system, we, the health professionals, have prepared this message for the people, in case you do not want to risk going to the hospital immediately: Symptoms appear from the third day after infection (viral symptoms).

1st Phase: Body pain, eye pain, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, runny nose or nasal congestion – burning eyes, burning when urinating, feeling feverish, scuffed throat (sore throat)

It is very important to count the days of symptoms: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Take action before the onset of fever. Be careful; it is very important to drink plenty of fluids, especially purified water.  Drink plenty of water to keep your throat moist and to help clear your lungs. Hydrate and take a lot of vitamin C.

2nd Phase – (from 4th to 8th day): inflammatory: loss of taste and/or smell, fatigue with minimal effort, chest pain (rib cage), tightening of the chest, pain in the lower back (in the kidney area). Here is the difference between fatigue and shortness of breath— lack of air is when the person is sitting, without making any effort, and is out of breath; fatigue is when the person moves around to do something simple and feels tired. Covid-19 binds oxygen, so the quality of the blood is poor, with less oxygen.

3rd Phase – healing. On day 9, the healing phase begins, which can last until day 14 (convalescence).

Do not delay treatment; the sooner the better! Good luck, everyone! Sit in the sun for 15-20 minutes. Rest and sleep for at least 7-8 hours. Drink one and a half liters of water per day. All food should be hot (not cold).

Keep in mind that the pH of the coronavirus ranges from 5.5 to 8.5, so eat foods such as bananas, lime ’! 9.9 pH; yellow lemon ’! 8.2 pH; avocado – pH 15.6; garlic – pH 13.2; mango – pH 8.7; mandarin – pH 8.5; pineapple – 12.7 pH; watercress – 22.7 pH; oranges – 9.2 pH.