Former Peace Corps Volunteer Launches Memoir About British Honduras

Ted Cox is a former volunteer of the U.S. Peace Corp. He lived in Belize back in the seventies, but maintained contact with Belize over the years. Cox has now put together a publication of the Jewel during the colonial period. That book, “When British Honduras Became Belize: A Peace Corp Memoir 1971 – 1973,” was launched today with the support of the National Institute of Culture and History. News Fives Isani Cayetano was on hand at the Leo Bradley Library for the event.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

A historical account of a pre-independent Belize, as seen through the eyes of former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Ted Cox, was launched this morning at the Leo Bradley Library.  The book titled, When British Honduras Became Belize: A Peace Corp Memoir 1971 – 1973 dates back to forty years ago.  But, it wasn’t until around 2011 that Cox decided to commit the photos and fond memories of his two-year stay to writing.

Ted Cox, Author

Ted Cox

“I decided to, about three years ago; work on putting the information together.  I reached out to reacquaint old Belizean friends, told them what I was working on, interviewed them, got my pictures organized, got the work, the letters and started reading them, putting them down in the computer chronologically to make sense and then I knew I was on to something.  It took about a year and a half to get it into a book which, any person writing a book it’s a matter of writing and re-editing, writing, re-editing, you re-write maybe fifteen or twenty times and during those re-writes I kept reaching out to people that would help me critique and try to mould into, you know, as best as I could into a true picture. Forty years, you know, memories change, you come up with maybe new stories in your head and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible and stick to the written word and to collaborate which I did.”

The publication is endorsed by the Institute for Social and Cultural Research, copies of which have been donated to the National Library Service for public perusal.  According to Cox, he had to return to a frame of mind that preceded modern Belize in order to detail his experience as a Peace Corps in the early seventies.

Ted Cox

“To do this book I had my head back for many years ago and I was talking and everything I referred to was what was actually going on forty years ago and I really, other than watching the news, it was a little bit about current Belize.  All of my head was in the past so I could try to just get that perspective as clear as I could and not be influenced by other things that have happened since then.  So I have to say that my mind main focus was to try to present a picture as close as I could to what I recall back then and that I had verified with friends.”

When British Honduras Became Belize: A Peace Corp Memoir 1971 – 1973 is also available for purchase locally. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.