A Playground at St. John’s Anglican
The Rotary Clubs of Edmonton, Canada and Belize gifted the Saint John’s Anglican School with a playground. The outdoor recreational space is fitted with swings, slides and ladders for the children to play. The playground was salvaged from a community in Canada and installed in schools grounds. Today, it was officially inaugurated and News Five was there.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Saint John’s Anglican Primary School received a playground from the Rotary Club of Edmonton, Canada. This is the fifth school in Belize City to receive a donation like this, the construction of a playground. The outdoor play area comes fitted with swings, bridges and other components to make break time fun and exciting. Principal Darlene Belgrave says that this little “park” on the school grounds will help in different ways.
Darlene Belgrave
Darlene Belgrave, Principal, St. John’s Anglican School
“Months ago we had a little playground that was causing problems and they wanted to be pushing each other but now because it was so small this bigger one will accommodate much more children and I believe we have discussed the rules for the playground so they will be able to interact with it more better. They will come earlier because they will want to play. We have a rule where once the bell has rung; they won’t be able to be on the playground. So, they will come earlier so they will be able to make use of the playground and I think our attendance will really improve. Most of them are from the Collet Division, Port Loyola and some are from Lake I. As you said, it is true that they don’t have much play facilities, so it is a plus for us at the school.”
This playground was salvaged from a community in Canada and the Rotary Club of Edmonton shipped it to Belize. They partnered with the Rotary Club of Belize and installed the playground here on the school grounds. A brand new structure like this one would cost thousands of dollars, but St John’s Primary received this one free.
Rod Karius
Rod Karius, Chairman International Service Committee, Edmonton Rotary Club
“Play is a very important part of learning and so if we can equip school yards with playgrounds, it just adds to and improve the learning experience of the students. This playground came to us from another community in Alberta, Spruce Grove. Children benefitted from it for many years and due to a development it was taken out of the ground, salvaged and brought here. It was put in shipping container. It arrived here in December. Our team of Rotarians arrived here last Friday and we worked for four days to erect this playground. In Canada a playground like this would probably cost a hundred thousand Canadian dollars. So, a new playground would be very expensive. But we were able to bring it down here where the only cost was the shipping, a bit of new materials and probably if I had to put a value on it, it would be about twenty thousand Belize dollars and we had to raise those funds to bring this playground here.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
