Exploring Belize

FEATURED STORY

EXPLORING

BELIZE

A trip down memory lane. Hakeemah Cummings connectswith her heritage as she takes us on a journey to Belize.

B E L I Z E

CENTRAL AMERICA'S HIDDEN GEM

W o r d s & P h o t o s b y H a k e e m a h C u m m i n g s

It’s always a tough question to answer. “Chicago,” is my go-to response, but it never feels completely true. “No, where are your ethnically from?" asks the questioner – pointing me towards my roots, which, judging by my hijab and deep skin color, is usually presumed to be foreign. “Well, my parents are from Belize...” I always say, with an awkward feeling in mychest. I claim Chicago much easier than Belize, because frankly, Belize had only existed in my daydreams. Tales my parents would tell us about their youth in my mind played in 10 second stories, filtered in sepia. Graying flashbacks of our last trip to Belize 17 years ago filled in the spaces, but it felt that the memories hadn’t much to cling to. That feeling in my chest was disconnect. Disconnect from a land I loved, but didn’t know. I routinely separated my own origin from the birthplace of my parents because I have felt detached from Belize my entire life, untilnow.

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I have only met one other first-generation Muslim Belizean-American in my lifetime. And that was only online, in a quick informal message. Imagine living your whole life having never actually met anyone just like you? It’s a confusing cross of feelings that I can only analyze in retrospect – unique and strange, proud and apologetic. Arab and Desi Muslims were constantly confused by my mix of ethnicity and religion. At times, they immersed me in their culture so much so that it felt the purpose was to make my identity more palatable to them. I loved the exposure but resented the replacement. The Arab girls I went to school with visited the Middle Eastannually, and I was secretly jealous of their travels. They enjoyed the privilege of eating the authentic foods, hearing the authentic language, walking the land the prophets walked, and being around people just like them constantly. They stood firmly on the side of pride, never apologetic. I yearned to achieve that appreciation for my identity as well, not only for

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myself, but also for my for my two young daughters.

Seventeen years after our first family visit, we returned to Belize this summer of 2018. We stayed mainly in Belize City, near my huge extended family who reside there. From there, we traveled to explore various parts of the country during our 2-week stay. We drove to the northern parts of Belize, near the Mexican border, to Corozal and Orange Walk where we got our first taste of the gorgeous Caribbean Sea. Later, we traveled south through the Mayan Mountains to Hopkins, a coastal town that is central to the Garifuna people of Belize. With their own language and rich Afro-Caribbean culture, the Garifuna are an ethnic group of people that live in Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala. Our 3-night stay in Hopkins was a highlight of the trip. We rented a gorgeous beach home, where the seashore was our front yard. While the beaches are not privatized, we were so secluded that it felt like our own. We spent time relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, eating local food, and soaking in the beauty and fun that the Caribbean sea has to offer.

My maternal great grandfather was a Wykah Native American. My mother says her memories of him are limited, but he was a dark-skinned man who actually emigrated to Belize possibly from neighboring Nicaragua. I would look at myself in the mirror on occasion and try to map any Native features of his I may have inherited. Maybe it’s the almond shape of my eyes, or the angular strength of my jaw. In Belize there are local names for the native tribes that originated in the region, but most are somehow related to the Mayans, the great civilization of Native Americans who once populated most of Belize. Mayan ruins of ancient city centers lay now like ghosts of nations past across thecountry, somewhat vacant, although not deserted. They’re now tourist sites and national parks in Belize, and in some areas the Mayan culture is still practiced.

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On such site is Altun Ha, just outside of Belize City. We visited Altun Ha on our trip, and this experience truly embodied the crossroads of identity I set out to discover on my trip to Belize. I stood in the courtyards where the Mayans erected their dieties and I scaled the shrines where they worshiped them. I was humbled by God’s guidance of my own parents to Islam, in a land and at a time when Muslims were extremely rare. They passed that guidance on to me and I was blessed to have only known Islam as a way of life since birth. In high school, when I was surrounded by Arab Muslims, I remember feeling that somehow my Islam wasn’t understood as my own, but somewhat borrowed from people who have had generations of Muslims in their families. Their Islam, that I shared in because my religion did not match my ethnicity. But a blessing is never borrowed. It is bestowed by God on whom He wishes.

The same feelings descended upon me again during my trip, this time during cave tubing in the water-filled caves at Jaguar Paw, about 1 hour from Belize City near Belmopan. Our excellent tour guide, nicknamed ‘Fry Jack’, a fried bread Belizeans love to enjoy for breakfast, informed us that the caves were previously used by the ancient Mayans as temples for worship and hideaways during wartime, amongst other uses. What seemed like a large piece of rock, eroded from the mountain that contains it, was actually the carved face of a Mayan diety. It was an eerie feeling to be able to travel in the paths that my ancestors traveled for the first time. He showed us how the Mayan explained natural phenomena, such as the winter solstice, by the arrangement of their false gods in the rock. Again, I grew deeper in my own appreciation of Islam and how my religion has guided me, in comparison to the religion of my ancestors.

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One of the many beauties of Belize is the Belize Barrier Reef. It is a 190-mile long reef that lines Belize’s coast line, the second largest barrier reef in the world. A 45-min water taxi ride from Belize City landed us in Caye Caulker, one of Belize’s many tiny islands (cayes), close enough to the reef that we were able to snorkel with nurse sharks and stingrays that call the reef their home. A beautiful island town lined with palm trees and a laid-back Caribbean vibe you can feel immediately upon arrival, Caye Caulker was a must-see for anyone visiting Belize. From Caye Caulker, one can also seize the incredible opportunity to see the Great Blue Hole, a giant sinkhole near the Belize Barrier Reef, one of the top five scuba diving sites in the world. This is an adventure I look forward to partaking in on a future trip.

As a young girl, I squealed in excitement at every rare recognition of Belize. The travel channel would suggest it as an exotic destination for romantic honeymoons or jungle explorers. Every time I heard an accent similar to my parents’ my ears would tingle, thinking we had happened upon another rare Belizean family. But it always turned out they were Jamaican, West Indian, or Guyanese. Caribbean restaurants never carried our classic menu items, fry jacks and fried beans, ducunu, panades, and the Garifuna favorite, hudut. I was the kid in class who lied and said that I had sloppy joe for dinner, when really I had garnaches, a meal resembling tostadas, made from fresh corn tortillas and fried beans. My classmates would never understand, and it seems that trend of being misunderstood followed me in life. My trip to Belize resolved that disconnect. I have such rich culture and so many reasons to love my identity. I proudly and unapologetically say that I am Belizean, and yes I am Muslim since birth, and there is nothing confusing about that combination. I hope to pass down this appreciation to my two young daughters through frequent trips to Belize to learn and

discover more about who we are and where we

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