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Marty Offline OP
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One hundred years ago, between 1918 - 1920 the H1N1 influenza virus, also known as the Spanish Flu pandemic spread worldwide resulting in 500 million persons infected and over 50 million deaths. The mortality rate of this pandemic was uniquely high among adults of ages 15 - 34 years.

Reports are that it was first introduced to Belize City and southern Belize in October 1918 by United Fruit Company laborers who had returned from Puerto Barrios where the pandemic was raging. In the north, it was likely introduced by a passenger on a mail boat and in Cayo, it was introduced by a motorboat from Belize City.

Countrywide, the death rate for the Spanish Influenza was 4% (as compared to the current 2.3% for Covid19) even though it peaked at over 16 percent in November 1918.

Orange Walk District registered the highest estimated number of cases (4,500) and deaths (330); Corozal, 3,700 cases and 200 deaths; Belize City, 2,556 cases and 100 deaths; Stann Creek, 2,500 cases and 140 deaths; Cayo, 2,000 cases and 136 deaths; and Toledo, 2,000 cases and 108 deaths. Given that the population of the country at the time was around 45,000 and the population of PG was around 900, the number of cases and deaths was very heavy.

As we continue to maintain stringent measures to protect ourselves from Covid 19, it is useful to remember that our ancestors have also been through one of the worst pandemics in recent history.

The H1N1 influenza virus emerged and spread worldwide during 1918 -1919. The pandemic had a uniquely high mortality rate in healthy adults 15 - 34 years of age. The virus was introduced to Belize mainly from Honduras during October - December 1918. In Corozal and Orange Walk, it was likely introduced via a passenger on a mail steamer. The Orange Walk district registered the highest estimated number of cases (4,500) and deaths (330); Corozal - 3,700 cases and 200 deaths; Belize City - 2,556 cases and 100 deaths; Stann Creek - 2,500 cases and 140 deaths; Cayo - 2,000 cases and 136 deaths; and Toledo - 2,000 cases and 108 deaths.

Containment efforts were limited to the closure of churches, schools, and places of public entertainment, and public and private gatherings of no more than 10 persons. A maximum fine of $100 was charged for violation of the regulations. Quarantine stations were also established in the districts and on Moho Caye. By the end of the pandemic, approximately, 500 million people were infected and 50 million people died worldwide.

Take note of the report from Belize which states that the men who were not showing symptoms were not quarantined and therefore passed it onto their families. THIS is exactly why individuals coming into the country were asked to self isolate!

Select documents from the Minute Paper Collection (Colonial Secretary Office Files) which gives insight into the how the 1918 Influenza was imported into the country, its symptoms, measures taken by the colonial government and statistics from the districts.

The copies below copies of reports back then show what it was like, including the conclusion of one which stated:

"The Churches, schools, and places of amusement were closed, and meetings of over 10 persons prohibited; and these measures undoubtedly, like quarantine, tended to check the spread of this disease." That was 102 years ago. Sounds familiar.

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Marty Offline OP
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MORE ABOVE....

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Courtesy Belize Archives & Records Service

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Fascinating - and always interesting to see how crises are either dealt with, suffered or diverted. This is why history is an important subject so that lessons can be learned and mistakes are less likely to be repeated.

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Report on Influenze Epidemic in Cayo District, Jan 12th, 1919

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The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in Corozal, Belize: An Unclaimed Letter Rediscovered

Grant D. Jones & Joel Wainwright
For Amandala

April 21, 2020- Belize is presently facing the most serious public health crisis experienced by any living Belizean. Fortunately, as we write, the country still has only 18 confirmed, positive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus.(1) Thanks to the quarantine, the transmission of the virus outside of Belize City and San Ignacio has been slow. If the quarantine and public health measures are followed assiduously, there is reason to hope that COVID-19 will spread very slowly and not overwhelm the medical system. Of course, the social and economic costs of this crisis - the social isolation, crash in tourism, and slowdown of trade, to say nothing of illness and possible deaths - are significant, with their own costs and consequences. These are hard times. It is normal to feel a sense of deep disorientation.

One potent tonic for this sentiment can be found in historical reflection, which can provide a sense of direction or at least a bracing sense of hope. Recall that this is not Belize's first experience with a public health crisis caused by coronavirus. Just over one century ago, Belize was devastated by the 1918-1919 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Like COVID-19, the H1N1 virus entered the human community from another species, then rapidly spread around the world. It was far more devastating, however, resulting in 20 to 40 million deaths.(2)

From September 1918 to March 1919, the flu crossed the entire Caribbean, causing an estimated 100,000 deaths regionally.(3) It entered Belize (British Honduras) in late September 1918, at the same time as Jamaica, Panama, and Guatemala.(4) The flu spread across the colony from south to north, beginning in Dangriga. It brought devastation to all the district towns, striking Corozal, Orange Walk, and the surrounding Maya villages especially hard.(5) An estimated 200 people had died by February 1919 in the Corozal District alone. In Orange Walk, the dead numbered 330. These are likely underestimates since colonial state institutions were skeletal in the out-districts. The author of the February 1919 report on the consequences of the flu, Colonial Surgeon (and archaeologist-ethnographer) Thomas Gann, acknowledged that he had no data on its effects in rural Toledo, since "it was impossible to reach the Indian settlements of the interior [to provide] relief measures". Across the colony, people died so quickly, and under conditions of such distress, that many bodies were buried hurriedly on the margins of their homes or villages.(6)

*
In 1977 or 1978, while living in Corozal, coauthor Grant Jones came into possession of an old envelope under long-forgotten circumstances. Apparently empty of contents, the envelope remained among Jones's files until March of this year, when he noticed its 1919 postmarks. Much to his surprise, he found a tightly folded letter inside which provided surprising new information about the flu pandemic. This fascinating letter, dated February 20, 1919, is written in formal English on one page of thin, faintly lined paper, apparently a page torn from a school notebook. It was signed in Corozal by Nassaria Hassock, who was writing to her daughter, one Mrs. Francis John, with an address in Port of Spain, Trinidad. She pleaded for news of her daughter's condition and reported details of the dreadful impact of the flu on Corozal Town, where the Hassocks resided at that time.(7) The text of the letter reads (with spacing approximating the original) as follows:

Corozal. February 20th, 1919

Mrs. Frances [sic] John
My dear Daughter, Your letter dated June 16th/17 reached us Sept 19/18, and we were all astonished that you never received three letters sent you by me. We are all anxious to know whether you are alive, for the "Flu" has killed so many persons here & hearing how rapid it was all over the W.I. we will be so glad to hear from you.

I am sorry to inform you that your Uncle Theodocio and my mother, Se�ora Leonora your grandmother both have died. Donatila got married to Leonido Sabido in August last. She too was very ill, but has re-covered. My goddaughter Laura is dead and also her mamma Herminita. Laura left me a child but John & family want to take the child away.

My godson Modesto is also dead. I have taken Fidelia from Mrs Alice Ireland & have her at home.

Ethel Matura's little baby is also dead. Mrs. White & hers are very well, so also is Alex & John. Now this is the fourth letter I am sending you, and if you get it write me quickly. All the family and friends send love to you. If you want to come write us saying directly how much it will cost - the name of your post office, and when you desire, so that we may do what we can to help you. Frances, Mrs. Messiah's daughter is dead; also Mr Chase. Papa & myself join in love to you and Mr John.

Your affectionate mother,
Nassaria Hassock

A letter like this provides us with an extremely valuable record, for it provides a singular glimpse into the human sentiments during the 1918 flu. Yet, like most historical documents, it provides no certainties. We offer a few observations, recognizing that these are hypotheses.

The text and language employed provide a few insights into the family and the social position and subjectivity of its author. Nasaria, the author's given name, is Spanish (but Anglicized as 'Nassaria'), indicating that she was probably among the mestizo settlers who moved to the region during the Caste War of Yucat�n. We assume that her husband was one John Hassock, who was possibly an investor in the region's nascent small-scale sugar production. During the 1910s the British community in the Corozal region was very small. Her English writing is fluid, suggesting a relatively high level of education for a woman in 1919-yet the stationary is not formal, and there is little evidence that Ms. Hassock had a particularly wealthy background. Her reference to Spanish names (such as "your Uncle Theodocio and my mother, Se�ora Leonora") in her family implies that her birth family was part of the Spanish-speaking community of Corozal. Perhaps Ms. Hassock, having been married to a wealthier Englishman, had been educated in Belize City? We can only speculate.

Regardless, the letter is a record of tragedy. It notes no fewer than eight deaths. So many children are orphaned that conflict arises over how many the living can care for (for example, "John & family want to take [Laura's] child away"). The mother has written three times before to her daughter but had received no reply. Given that this, "the fourth letter", returned five months later to Belize City via New York City from Trinidad, unclaimed and presumably unopened-it seems likely that the daughter and her husband had also died in the pandemic. This is literally a dead letter, finally to come alive a century later.

*
Curiously, in August 2013, Amandala published a request from Ms. Nayeli Parra of Mexico for genealogical information about members of her mother's side of her family. She requested help from readers "to locate our family in Belize �. The name of my grandfather was John Hassock, my granduncle is Simeon Agapito Hassock, and there is also Greta Ruby Hassock."(8) No response to her request was recorded in Amandala. We have attempted to contact the author of the letter but have not received a response. We hope that readers who have knowledge of the people whose names appear in this letter from 1919, as well as their descendants, will feel free to share that knowledge with Amandala and the authors of this report.

Ms. Parra's request ties the family described in Nasaria Hassock's 1919 letter to John Hassock and Simeon Hassock, who were almost certainly the sons of the elder John and Nasaria Hassock. The younger John Hassock was a Corozal voter in 1938.(9) Simeon Agapito Hassock, educated in London, was an attorney, magistrate, elected legislator for Belize District, and eventually Attorney General.(10) As the Editor of Amandala noted in reply to Parra's 2013 letter, he was "a Senator appointed by the Opposition NIP in 1965, and perhaps again in 1969. He was a Deputy Leader of the NIP at the time the party entered an alliance with the PDM and the Liberal Party to form the UDP in September of 1973."

The discovery of Ms. Hassock's touching letter reminds us all of the tragic toll of every highly contagious disease. It also provides a testament to the need for personal communication in times of crisis. In 1919, however, any written communication was painfully slow, knowledge of the wider world's experiences virtually non-existent, and medical understanding of diseases woefully inadequate. But even with today's scientific knowledge and instant communication systems, the power of personal experience remains no less moving and important than it was a century ago.

*
Grant D. Jones ([email protected]) is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina. He has published extensively on the social and cultural history of Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala with a focus on the Maya. Joel Wainwright ([email protected]) is Professor of Geography at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He is author, most recently, of Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of our Planetary Future (Verso), winner of the 2019 Sussex Prize for International Theory.

1 Given the lack of widespread testing, this may be a significant undercount. Still, the covid-19 situation in Belize is much better than we would have anticipated.

2 The typical name, the 'Spanish flu', is a misnomer, since the virus did not enter the human community in Spain, but in the USA or China (the scholarly debate has not resolved this issue). We will call it the '1918 flu'. The complete genetic sequence of the 1918 flu virus was recently sequenced: Reid, A., Fanning, T., Janczewski, T. and Taubenberger, J. 2000. Characterization of the 1918 "Spanish" influenza virus neuraminidase gene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97(12), 6785-6790.

3 Killingray, D. 1994. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in the British Caribbean. Social History of Medicine 7(1), 59-87.

4 Vollmer, S. and W�jcik, J. 2017. The long-term consequences of the global 1918 influenza pandemic: A systematic analysis of 117 IPUMS international census data sets. Accessed 17 April 2020 at https://cdn1.sph.harvard.edu/wp-con...nfluenza-pandemic_Vollmer_and_Wojcik.pdf

5 Gann, Thomas. 1918. Report on the recent epidemic of influenza, Minute Paper 3527-18, accessed 17 April 2020 at https://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubb...nish-influenza-in-british-honduras.html. Gann's 1918 report is our source for data in this paragraph.

6 For an account of this practice at San Pedro, see https://www.ambergristoday.com/content/25-years-ago/2007/december/06/epidemic-san-pedro.

7 The stamps on the envelope remind us of the complex international (US-centered) pathways involved with communications at that time. The letter was sent from Corozal on 02/20/1920, received Belize City same day; postmarked New York 03/14/1919; received Port of Spain 03/25/1919; certified "unclaimed" and departed Port of Spain 03/31/31; received New York 06/17/1919; departed New York 07/10/1919; received Belize City 07/20/1919.

8 See https://amandala.com.bz/news/simeon-agapito-hassock-family-tree/

9 See https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00011470/00005/550?search=hassock

10 On Sime�n Agapito Hassock, see Macpherson, Anne. 2007. From Colony to Nation. U Nebraska, p 172; also, this curious 1974 cable from the US Embassy, accessed 21 April 2020 from Wikileaks: https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BELIZE00463_b.html

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COROZAL & THE SPANISH INFLUENZA - HINDSIGHT CIRCA 1918
Source: Belize Archives and Service

"The epidemic was introduced to the town on October 27th by a passenger on the mail steamer "STAR". It spread at first slowly, but afterwards with great rapidity throughout the whole town, and later to the Indian villages and settlements all over the district, in which it reached a high rate of mortality, in some, as Campos, and San Joaquin, over 50% of those attacked.

Unfortunately for the people A.M.O Winter died of the disease on December 3rd., when it was at its height in town. I arrived in Corozal on December 1st., and spent two weeks there, till the epidemic was practically over.

A local relief committee did excellent work in the supply of food, medical comfort, and medicines to those affected and also when possible, in supplying local nurses to look after those families where all the members were simultaneously affected. The Indians suffered most severely, as in many cases it was impossible to reach them, in the bush, with food, or medicine; while pneumonia, as a sequela, was much more common amongst the Mestizos and Creoles. Probably 60% of the entire population, or approximately 3,700 persons, were attacked, of whom just over 200 died. Quarantine was tried when the disease started, but apparently without result".

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The Epidemic In San Pedro

Did you know that there was an epidemic in San Pedro many ago? Well, don't get scared that you missed it if you moved here around 1980. This epidemic actually occurred in 1918. It was part of a worldwide epidemic known as the Spanish Influenza that started right after World War I in the trenches of France. In a short time it reached the colony of British Honduras (Belize).

Back then, it would take a year for such a virus to make its way around the world. Although the virus probably originated in China, as do most flu virus variants, this flu appeared first in the British trenches on the Western Front in April 1918, then among German forces a few days later, then among French troops; it was thought the disease was caused by the horrible conditions of trench warfare.

At least 21 million people died worldwide, more than were killed in the fighting in the First World War. (Some historians say that large numbers of flu deaths went unreported in less developed countries. Recent research has shown that as many as 20 million people could have died in India, raising the death toll to between 40 million and 50 million.)

It was called the Spanish flu because it was first officially noticed in Spain in May 1918. It went on to kill an estimated eight million people there.

Soldiers returning home from the trenches at war's end didn't come back alone. They brought with them the flu virus. Although the flu normally kills the very young and the very old, this epidemic was most virulent among those aged 20 to 40. In some communities, it was a criminal offence to shake hands. Gatherings of more than six people were banned. Schools, theatres and other public buildings were closed.

The virus was tracked along international shipping lanes, from Europe to North America, then to Asia, Africa, Brazil and eventually the South Pacific.

Now in the age of international jet travel, a virus can spread in a few days. Epidemics are unpredictable in their timing but they do occur in cycles. And most scientists agree we're due.

Danny Vasquez, a Sanpedrano, wrote his memoirs telling us that when the flu arrived in San Pedro the men squeezed the lime juice and mixed it with rum and took that as medicine. He jokingly remarked that one day he and three men drank one bucketful of rum mixed with lime juice. The first one to die as a result of the flu was one Manuela Villanueva. Then there were two Sansorez followed by one Julio Tolosa.

Danny recalled that at first there was one death a day but then there were two and then three deaths per day. The policeman ordered that the church bell not be rung as was customary so that the villagers would not be alarmed. At first the villagers bought some pine lumber from Alamilla's Store but soon they ran out of lumber. Then they wrapped the dead on a piece of cloth and gave them a decent burial. Then the food was getting scarce. Those who were healthy got some fish and coconuts to be consumed. One villager, Francisco Verde grew arrowroot in the Basil Jones Area. This was ground to make flour. Before the epidemic nobody liked this to eat, but during the epidemic, everybody loved it.

Danny recalls that towards the end there were ten people dying each day and they buried their loved ones at night so as not to continue to scare the villagers. By the end of the epidemic which disappeared like a mystery about half of the population of San Pedro had died.

Other folks tell us by word of mouth that since so many people died and there being no coffins, a lot of people were buried in their own yards all over the village. That is why if you dig anywhere around the village you are almost sure to find some skeletons. This is probably the result of the Spanish Influenza epidemic that occurred more than twenty five years ago in the year 1918.

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At the high point of the epidemic in San Pedro people were dying like ten per day.


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As I read and reflect on the pandemic of 1918, I realize that my father was born in January of 1919. His mother was pregnant during the height of the dying. I never thought to ask him about life during those times, and I surely wish I had.

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On the 1918 Spanish Flu in Benque Viejo del Carmen

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times�" wrote Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities amidst the disquietude preceding the French Revolution. Belize, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a "worst of times," which, if we see it in the context of traversing through a tunnel rather than falling into a pit, could end up being the "best of times". Professors Grant D. Jones and Joel Wainwright in "The 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in Corozal, Belize: An Unclaimed Letter Rediscovered" published in the Amandala on April 24, 2020, speak about historical reflection as a "tonic" against disquietude in this worst of times.

Sr. Barbara A. Flores, SCN, Belizean educator and theologian, at the 12th Annual Signa York Memorial Lecture, takes historical reflection a step further when she speaks of soul-searching as a way of undoing the colonizer in us <1>. In this regard, she prompts us to introspection as a way of healing our historical memory. After all, as Jesuit Matt Malone says, memory is the soul of conscience, which is the motive force of change <2>. The current state of affairs, then, is opportune for soul-searching.

With the scant documention on the Belizean experience of the 1918 Influenza pandemic commonly known as the Spanish Flu, documents of the day such as the Hassock letter presented by Jones and Wainwright, hold significant historical value and draw on the human need for reaching out, as the authors are prompt to say, in the worst of times. The Arturo Versavel letter attests to another expression of human empathy, that of solidarity.

Fr. Arturo Versavel, a Jesuit priest who served as pastor in Benque Viejo del Carmen from 1908- 23, is credited for having brought down the Pallottine Missionary Sisters to serve in the elementary school system in Belize in 1913. In the early 1990's, I had the opportunity to access the church records at the Jesuit Residence in Belize City <3>. It was among the pages of the house diaries of Benqueviejensis Residentia that I came across Fr. Versavel's letter reporting on the 1918 pandemic.

The Influenza is said to have been introduced on October 11, 1918 into Belize Town by workers of the United Fruit Company arriving by boat from Puerto Barrios, with the last reported case happening on December 10, 1918 <4>. During this time, 100 deaths were recorded for Belize Town, putting the mortality rate in the old capital at 4% <5>. With an estimated population of 42,368 in British Honduras <6>, the overall mortality rate was 5.9% <7>. The first case of Influenza at El Cayo (San Ignacio) was reported on October 24, 1918, and, according to the report by Acting Medical Officer George H. Lewis, it was imported from Belize Town via the passenger boat Cacique" <8>. In his report, Lewis writes, "Unfortunately, I was one of the first victims and by November 7th, when I was able to return to my medical duties, found that practically the whole town was affected" <9>. It should be noted that El Cayo, just like Benque Viejo del Carmen, had approximately one thousand inhabitants. AMO Lewis stresses upon the generosity of Cayo residents who assisted the unfortunate with money, food, and service. Lewis estimates the number of infections at about 2,000 for the Cayo District. The death toll was recorded as 136, with 33 for the village of San Jos� Succotz which, like many of the Maya communities across the colony, had a high rate of morbidity <10>. Lewis concludes his report by listing the deficiencies of the times, namely, the lack of health care personnel, inadequate transportation, and a flawed system of communication via a telephone line which was down for the most part.

The information provided in Fr. Versavel's letter differs from the figures given by the AMO. Fr. Versavel puts the death toll for Succotz at 70, out of a population of 310, and for Benque Viejo, 33 out of its 1,000 inhabitants <11>. The letter, styled in elegant penmanship on ordinary bond paper, is dated December 22, 1919 and addressed to Fr. Henneman. It reads:

[�] As I recollect, the pest struck us toward the end of October. It developed rapidly especially in Succotz. Our hardest time was in mid-November when at one time we had between Succotz and Benque from 7 to 800 people stricken at the same time. 70 people out of 310 total population died in Succotz and 33 in Benque. Of course, we were busy day and night. One day, I counted my calls in Succotz, attending individually 123 people either materially or spiritually. Relief Committee did good work but I was too busy to do much of that work, only referring desititute cases to them. Relief was always given. The Sisters did excellent work. I generally divided the work with them by visiting the northern part of the town in the morning while they took the southern. In this they would refer to me all urgent cases at noon when I also informed them of the names of those who most required their help.

Sr. Dominica caught the plague and was for several days in great danger. Sr. Reinildis had a slight attack; I had nothing but tired legs and bones everyday and the sad pity of burying my people. School was opened in the second week in December with very little attendance however. The pest lingered about us till February.

Signed
Arturo Versavel" <12>

It is evident that volunteer service played a crucial role throughout the 1918 pandemic, as Versavel readily points out when alluding to the work of the relief committee and the Pallottine sisters in Benque Viejo. As a matter of fact, the compassionate care by German nuns who had arrived five years earlier may have prompted Versavel to put as postscript to the story:

"I may add that the doctor stated that the lower mortality of Benque Viejo, in comparison with that of El Cayo, was owing to the nursing of the Sisters, both towns having about 1000 souls each."

As in many of the communities throughout Belize, the dead in Benque Viejo were buried in common graves at the campo santo - the municipal burial ground, what is today Centennial Memorial Park. Three names that stand out in the Benque Viejo narrative are those of Leopoldo Mendez, Gabino Quetzal, and Elias Contreras, who offered to bury the bodies 6 feet underground, wrapped in burlap sacks.

I still preserve the annotations on Gabino Quetzal's experience during the 1918 influenza, which he shared before his death. My recollection of Quetzal is that of a venerable elder kneeling at the verandah of the old Mena's house in Benque Viejo on a sunny afternoon on July 16 while the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel went by. This draws me to reflect on the fact that if we are to seek the light at the other end of the tunnel, we must do so in humbleness by virtue of our fragility against the monumental indifference of nature - as German filmmaker Werner Herzog puts it, and become present to one another as a community, in much the same way our predecessors did a hundred years ago.

The current episode in our story urges us to come to grips with our memory as a nation, in line with what Sr. Barbara Flores outlines. This calls for a shift in our cultural paradigms, a transformation in living out to the fullest the best of times. It is imperative for us, then, as Flores denotes, to celebrate our stories, while rejoicing in our core cultural values and traditions as a multi-faceted nation, knowing that God, as well as those who have preceeded us in time and space, are walking with us in our mission to shape the Belizean homeland.

Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM, Cap., in his reflection on the current pandemic, underscores the heroism laid manifest in the spirit of community displayed in cities, towns, and villages throughout this pandemic <13>. Failing to see its value through the optics of the best of times would be tantamount to remaining in lockdown to an old norm in the worst of times. It is this kind of recession, Catalamessa points out, that we ought to dread. In this regard, introspection as an inward journey becomes a blessing in every way, for in the act of freeing ourselves, we come to an encounter with our own true self to become a gift for others. Thus, in this inward journey to self, we are able to harness the power to embrace newness in the re-creation of social and economic structures that are humanistic, inclusive, and equitable.

The Spanish Flu lingered on until the summer of 1919, taking its toll on a third of the world's population. The so called 'herd' immunity may have been achieved then <14>. In British Honduras, churches, schools, and entertainment places were closed, with gatherings reduced to 10 persons or less, and people were advised to use a handkerchief dampened with eucalyptus oil to cover their mouth and nose. According to PMO Gann, quarantine lessened the spread of the disease, which in the end, recorded some 1,014 deaths out of 17,256 reported cases of infection <15>.

There is every indication that COVID-19 will be walking with us for a while. Belize is far from acquiring 'herd' immunity, and a vaccine is not forthcoming. As such, the moment is 'kairos' for us to reclaim our story in order to unleash our human potential as a nation.

The story brought to life through modest writings like the Hassock and Versavel letters pours upon us a spirit of resilience and heroism of the few who did so much for so many, echoing Winston Churchill's wartime speech. Actualizing these stories is an invaluable tool in making a conscious decision to seek the light beyond the tunnel so that as a re-created nation we may reclaim our stature as the new Belizean citizens -those men and women who, in the vision of George Cadle Price, will "[bring] earth nearer to heaven, perfecting creation, from which will arise the new world of time and eternity."

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1
Flores, Barbara A. "Culture, Spirituality and Transformation: Undoing the Colonizer Within Us. " Belizean Studies 24.2 (2002): 1-7. Print.

2
Malone, Matt. "An open letter to my fellow white Americans." 8 June 2020.
America: The Jesuit Review.
Web 8 June 2020. < https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society>.

3
The archives for Belize is now under the care of the Jesuit Archives & Resource Center, which holds the memories of 14 past and current administrative provinces in the United States, including the Missouri Province to which the Jesuit Belize Mission has been attached since 1894.

4
Gann, Thomas. Report on the recent epidemic of influenza. 17 December 1918. Minute Paper 3527-18. Accessed at "The 1918 Spanish Influenza in British Honduras." Ambergris Caye. Com. 1 April 2020. Web. 3 June 2020. <https://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubb...18-spanish-influenza-in-british-honduras>.

5
ibid.

6 Keltie, John Scott, and M. Epstein, ed. The Statesman's Year Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the year 1920.
London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1920. 3 June 2020. Web. <http://books.google.com.bz>.

7
It is estimated that a third of the world's population - 500 million, got infected with a mortality rate of 10%. "1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus)." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 20 March 2019. Web. 3 June 2020. <http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html>.

8
Report dated January 12, 1919 to PMO Thomas Gann in the previously cited Minute Paper 3527-18

9
Ibid.

10 In reporting on the northern districts, Gann notes that it was impossible to reach the Maya communities inland with food or medicine, and that pneumonia, as a consequence, was much more common among the Maya than among the Mestizo and Creole.

11
It should be noted that Gann notes the inaccuracy in the data supplied, given the remoteness of indigenous communities and the inaccessibility to information.

12 With permission to reproduce, Jesuit Archives and Research Center, St. Louis, MO., U.S.A.

13
Good Friday Homily delivered at St. Peter's Basilica. April 10, 2020. Web. 3 June 2020.
<https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-fr-cantalamessas-homily-for-good-friday-97954>.

14 "Spanish Flu." History.com Editors. 19 May 2020. Web. 3 June 2020. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic>.

15
From the Minute Paper 3527-18 cited earlier
Price, George C. Address to the Graduates Claver College, Punta Gorda. 5 July 1966. Reel 3951. Belmopan:
Belize Archives & Records Service. Microfilm.

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The Spanish Influenza which affected Belize in 1918 . The Indian Villages refered for Orange walk are people of Yucatec Maya (M�asewal) Ethnicity .

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Part of my grandmother's journal writing more than 70 years ago provides a unique peek at my grandparents' experiences of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic. These are histories and " her-stories" hardly told or documented in Belize. I am deeply grateful for publishing their writings in my book, To Educate a Nation: Autobiography of Andres P. and Jane V. Enriquez. I'm even more eternally grateful for being a product of their sacrifices and their survival against all odds. As we all take all measures to protect ourselves from COVID 19, this page from the book reveals part of Belize's experience with the 1918 pandemic.

Jeremy A. Enriquez

During the month of July that year, my husband became very ill with a persistent and severe headache, cough, cold and high fever. All his joints were aching and his back was painfully stiff. I believe this was a result of the changing weather conditions he had experienced as he walked through the Pine Ridge area on the trail from San Antonio. During that long strenuous journey under the blazing heat of the sun, a heavy shower suddenly came and he became soaking wet until he shivered under the cool weather. Further along the journey the sunny weather returned and blazed again. Shortly thereafter, however, the dark clouds covered the sky again and the cold shower drenched him until he shivered. These changes between heat and cold on his tired body made him very ill. Because of his illness, he had to take a leave from school and remain at home while he recovered. We could not go down to Punta Gorda until near the end of August, just about two weeks before giving birth.

On September 5, that same year 1918, our first living child Olivia Justiniana was born in Punta Gorda.

News came in September 1918 that the Spanish influenza was raging in Belize. By October, all schools were closed as the influenza was spreading throughout the colony and people were dying everywhere. My husband had not yet fully recovered from the illness he had in July and so his body was not strong enough to resist the flu. He became so much worse that the doctor decided that his case was hopeless. I thought that I would have lost him and buried him, but I made sure to take very good care and nursed him back to good health. Even I myself became sick but I had to force myself to be strong for both the newborn and my sick husband. By the blessing of the Almighty, we both got better.

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Jeremy A. Enriquez:

Part of my grandmother's journal writing more than 70 years ago provides a unique peek at my grandparents' experiences of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" pandemic. These are histories and " her-stories" hardly told or documented in Belize. As we all take all measures to protect ourselves from COVID 19, this page from the book reveals part of Belize's experience with the 1918 pandemic.

[Linked Image]"We sailed away from Corozal Town later that morning and arrived in Progresso in the afternoon, shortly after school was over for the day. Mr. Enriquez gladly came to meet us at the pier with a few school children and men to help us carry our luggage to our home. I felt such a relief and joy to finally arrive at my new home after all that rough travelling with the children all the way from Punta Gorda It was so good to be with my husband again.

However, the joy of arrival was quickly disturbed by some trouble. As soon as we were about to unpack and settle in, the village policeman arrived at our home and ordered Mr. Enriquez to immediately return the children and me to Corozal Town. I tried desperately to explain that the Nurse had granted me permission to travel but since I had no admission papers as proof, he did not change his mind. There were strict laws to make sure that the outbreak of Yellow Fever in Belize did not spread to the other parts of the colony. I felt very, very disappointed but we had to follow their orders. Immediately the boat returned with us to Corozal Town. Mr. Enriquez also came along to try to sort out the situation.

Soon after we arrived in Corozal Town that night, the officials sent a telegram to Belize asking permission for me to go Progresso since they found no kind of illness on me. The reply to the telegram took long in coming. Because Mr. Enriquez had only a day and a half leave from the school manager, he had to return to Progresso without the children and me before the time of his leave expired. We felt very disappointed that he had to return alone as there was nothing we could do but wait for the permission from the health authorities in Belize."

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HISTORIC MEMORY BUILDINGS: QUARENTINE STATION AND MARRIED MEN QUARTERS

It is rare that you would find an old map with markings of certain historic memory buildings and then find photos of those historic memory buildings. The photos below are such a case.

On the uploaded map you will see a section of the Princess Margaret Drive referred to as Circular Road. That road was not named Princess Margaret Drive until after Princess Margaret's visited in 1958. On the right side of the map you will see references to three buildings: the Quarantine Station, the Married Men's Quarters and the Poor House. The uploaded photo will show the Quarantine Station and the Married Men's Quarters. The photo must have been taken around 1905 during the last Yellow Fever outbreak. The exact location of the Quarantine Station, which is the building that is furthest in the photo, would have been where St. Anthony's Trading Center building Is located today, or opposite where Baymen Avenue meets the Princess Margaret Drive. The block dots on the map refer to where yellow Fever deaths occurred.

It is interesting to note that Yellow Fever was transmitted by mosquitoes and the large pool of water near the quarantine buildings must have been a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

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Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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Outbreak of yellow fever in Belize, British Honduras in 1905. Number two and number three photo shows suspicious cases in Belize City, action is taken to get rid of stagnant water along with yards filled with trash.

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