Greetings from Hopkins Belize,
As I reflect on the 1st half of 2025 there are many good things to share and many challenges. Struggles continue with BCCAR who struck off my NGO for the 7th time even though the annual report was submitted on time. They do not have a person at BCCAR who is knowlegeable about NGOs and it is endless problems with them so I am letting it go for now since we were never able to get a bank account (after 7 long years) for the NGO due to the errors in our BCCAR documents which after several years they have failed to correct despite hundreds of emails which are basically ignored.
I completed a project in Belize City this year (a 9 unit condo complex) and the owner launched it to full occupancy based on my business plan in 2025. I am very proud of the work I did on that project from researching and writing the business plan to handling all the bookkeeping to writing projections for the bank loans. I have been focusing on two projects related to sustainable development in Stann Creek. One is an 11 acre resort under development with orchards, nature trail and more. I have been overseeing their garden team and security team and handling payroll. The other project is being done by a Belizean who is moving home to develop a little ranch homestead (2 acres). I have been coordinating his independent contractors for clearing and filling the land, planting coconuts and bananas and cassava and coco, digging the well, getting electric set up etc. I also worked with an American who is moving here to identify and background check regulations on a property he wished to develop which will now be subject to international building codes to a certain extent. With ever changing regulations there is a real need for my research services for those that are moving here and setting up companies or building homes here.
Ministry wise I have been working with a small number of marginalized and disabled men to walk through the challanges of life with them. Its not an easy haul for men in Belize because the income they can command does not afford them a comfortable lifestyle at all and one sickness or tragedy can completely derail them. Many feel like there is no hope for them to ever progress in life or get land or build a house so my focus is on things like helping them gain new transferrable skills, staying healthy, developing their identity in Christ, learning to be men of God and finding them work to help them provide for themselves and their families. This is not an easy task since many have no high school education and already have kids but we just take it one day at a time and one step at a time most days. I continue to minister to several widows and others who are facing very serious illnesses such as needing a heart transplant or kidney transplant. There is not much I can do other than encourage them in the word of God and pray for them but I am faithful to do that and that is enough.
I also still maintain extensive online ministry including volunteering with Gang Prevention and Management Foundation, Island Donors Squad (strengthening blood donations in Belize), and I manage several small business facebook pages gratis for the technologically impaired. I also still have my public ministry fb page, city of zion discipleship training group, women in ministry page and group, art page, and I still publish articles on linked in. One of the things I am most proud of this year is completeing a research project that illuminates the gang related murders in Belize for the first half of 2025 with extensive data that I compiled from over 100 news articles. It will be released in the end of August for consideration by national assembly as they consider the 13th ammendment to the constitution.
I am still cancer free, praise God but have been dealing with pneumonia due to the permanent lung damages in my lungs from the illegal construction that happened next to my home in Belize City a few years ago. Its very hard to be consistent at work and at ministry when one is sick a lot. I also had multiple surgeries on my teeth this year as well. There have been the usual challenges with vehicles and refrigerators and somehow through the grace of God I have pushed through each one. As a disabled person I am always amazed at how much I AM able to function. I still limit my work to 10 to 15 hours a week which is more than enough for my conditions but by the grace of God I am surviving and even finding balance again after losing everything in Hurricane Lisa in 2022 and battling cancer for 5 years alone in a foreign country in the middle of COVID which resulted in the shutdown of my business (a guest house). All glory to God the father, his son Jesus Christ and with thanks and praise to the Holy Spirit who is my comforter.
I fully expect things to be looking up for me in the end of 2025. Most people would have given up and left Belize after all I have been through but by God’s grace I am no longer just surviving but starting to thrive. This is the view from my hammock where I spent loads of time recovering from trauma, studying God’s word, strengtheing myself through bible study etc. I am privileged to live on such a gorgeous beach in Hopkins.
Blessings to you,
Gretchen
View from my healing hammock at my house in Hopkins Belize. Praise God