Maya leaders seek participation in Toledo recovery
They had been spared the ravages of a hurricane for so long that few Mayan villagers in Toledo had any idea what to expect on the night of October eighth. Today, with thousands still homeless, none will ever forget those two hours of terror. This morning the nucleus of the area’s indigenous leadership offered their views on what the future may hold for what was once called the forgotten district.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
Their homes and livelihoods bore the brunt of Hurricane Iris’ wrath–and today representatives of Toledo’s Maya communities travelled to Belize City to offer their particular perspective on the disaster. The press conference, sponsored by the Maya Leaders Alliance, was not–as some people anticipated–used to solicit sympathy or charity…nor to bash the government or NEMO for any real or imagined mishandling of aid distribution. Instead, the leaders stressed the desire to use the disaster as an opportunity to achieve real development in Southern Belize.
Greg Ch’oc, Q’eqchi Council
“We are clear that Hurricane Iris has left us with the challenging task of rebuilding, but we want to emphasise that we must do more than just rebuild. Rebuilding will only take us to where we were before the hurricane, and before the hurricane we were disproportionately in the indices if poverty. We are eager to participate with the government as partners in the discussion and development of strategies to help our people to recover and further develop. For we believe that people should be the stewards of their development if it is to be sustainable and democratic.
While the call for popular input in the development process is not a new one, the leaders made the point that the Maya of Toledo are uniquely disadvantaged.
Valentino Shal, Toledo Maya Council
“You have people who have been living a life of struggle, a life rather than living for comfort, living for survival. And when people who are living for survival are struck with a tragedy and devastated, the little that you have is taken away and you have no other alternative, then what you do.”
What you do if you’re in a position of leadership is insist that in the short term affected communities have as large an input as possible; such as having first option to salvage forest material four housing and not allow outside loggers to exploit the environment, to have a say in retrofitting traditional homes to resist hurricanes and to develop policies which will maintain the strong ties between the Maya and their land. More detailed proposals will be presented in a few weeks time. Stewart Krohn for News 5.
Those viewers who wish to earmark disaster relief specifically for the Maya organisations can contact the Maya Leaders Alliance on Jose Maria Nunez Street, Punta Gorda, Toledo District. The email addresses are tmcc@btl.net or kcbtol@btl.net.
