News for Winter 2018

The product was shipped from our MESA warehouse in a 40’ container… similar to the one shown above. Scott Salyers and Gary Davis made the arrangements for the shipping on our end and Judy Williams made all the arrangements to receive and store the container in Belize until the team could arrive to start setting up the Resource Centers.

The container was unloaded and stored at the Citrus Products of Belize plant. This major operation concentrates orange juice and then sends it to Europe. It is about 9:30 AM on Sunday, distribution day and the fork lift driver is unloading everything from temporary storage in the 53’ Trailer. We asked the schools to come at 1:30 PM for pickup, but some school administrators were already waiting for their product… 4 hours early.

Will Mosby, Rotarian from Rotary E-Club One World and Mario Bull sort through the computers to insure that each site gets the appropriate equipment to operate their computers.

Everything is set up and we are ready to distribute. Of the 19 schools asked to pick up that day, 17 made it. One called and told us the road was impassible and they could not possibly pick up that day. In the end we took a 45 minute boat ride (with two boats) to deliver and set up at Monkey River.

Each school signed an Inventory Sheet for their product. A copy of the Inventory sheet was sent to the Ministry of Education (Central and Local Office), the Managing Authority,
Resource Centers International, the Rotary Clubs of Dangriga/Hopkins and Placencia.

After distribution the Mission Team visited each school. This is Elcedia Awe’s 3rd Mission and is our ‘social butterfly’ as she knows everyone and is a great asset in helping the pre-school teachers integrating their product into the classroom curriculum.

Each school we visited was unique, having different challenges and opportunities. One thing that I noticed over the years of visiting the schools is the progress being made toward making the education process better for the students. This was demonstrated by better trained teachers, better equipment and a more stimulating educational environment.

The televisions are a big hit. Although it varied greatly from school to school… the average child did not have a television at home. What was rewarding is that the teachers understood that the television can be used as a learning tool, not just entertainment.

Elcedia helping set up a library from the shelving we built and the books we brought.

The exercise mats are an inviting surface to read on and are greatly appreciated.

Will Mosby our IT specialist worked many hours on getting the computers ‘internet ready’. Although we recommend not using the computers on the internet we realize that most of them will be in the end. Each computer has educational software installed… so internet usage is not necessary.

Will and I had the weekend off. I took an afternoon off to visit Roseville, an isolated Mennonite community located in a large valley in the Maya Mountains. The river was too deep for our Jeep to cross so I swam. I could have taken the pulley system and kept my feet dry.

So many immigrants have been coming to Belize that some schools have become overwhelmed by the influx. Thus children are being bused from one community to another because of overcrowding. Some schools we visited were brand new and a model for what school facilities should look like. Other schools were old and overcrowded, presenting principals with unique operational challenges.

This is one of two private schools we placed resource centers in. Schools in Belize are either government, church or private. Each school in turn is run by its own Managing Authority. As an example the government schools are run by the Government Managing Authority, the Catholic schools by the Catholic Managing Authority… and so on. The funding for the schools comes from different sources. The Ministry of Education (in general although not always in practice) builds the schools and also pays for the salaries of administration and staff as well as the curriculum books. The Managing Authorities and schools pay for the day to day operation such as utilities, repairs, computers, non –curricula books, sporting equipment, supplies etc.

Our efforts fulfill the vital need for the educational product not supplied by the government. These products help insure a well rounded learning, physical growth and social development experience for young students.