Two Years Later, A New Kitchen at Camp Belizario
Today, the Belize Defence Force officially inaugurated its newly refurbished kitchen at Camp Belizario in the Cayo District. It was once in a deplorable condition. With filth building up, the kitchen where soldiers generally had their meals was quite unsanitary. The new facility will now provide a space for soldiers to gather and for meetings to be held. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Back in June 2020, this was the state of the kitchen at Camp Belizario in Central Farm. It was unhygienic and unhealthy. Still, the officers posted there would consume meals prepared inside the kitchen. It had been that way for years, with the former B.D.F. Commander saying that the area was damaged and that there was need for serious repairs. Two years later, the military camp now boasts a new kitchen and building.
Lt. Col. Jermaine Burns
Lt. Col. Jermaine Burns, Commanding Officer, 2nd Infantry Battalion, B.D.F.
“The makeshift kitchen that we had in place to feed the men wasn’t close to as large as the space. So the first thing is the expansion of the area that we will be feeding the men and providing meals from. We were using a very small building at the back of this same existing building. The building gives us the opportunity now to do our butchering, our storage, our dining and preparation of the meals all in one. And it still has extra offices for our quarter masters that administrate approximately ninety men at a time with their goods and services that they require with respect to logistics.”
Minister of National Security Florencio Marin Junior tells News Five that the project, which started back in November 2021, enhances the living conditions and better supports the welfare of the soldiers of the Belize Defense Force.
Florencio Marin Jr
Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of National Security
“A lot of what you see if what we’ve inherited and we are tight with resources, so we are trying to pick the real essential elements where we can have the resources to fix it and as well provide it for the soldiers. I think our ministry, the big thing is welfare of the soldiers and so whatever we can to ensure that we improve the welfare of our soldiers we are going to be pushing real hard.”
Duane Moody
“Talk to us about the level of investment. How much did this cost?”
Florencio Marin Jr.
“This cost a little bit less than a hundred thousand because the overall structure was good. So we just needed to clean it out inside – I am not a contractor so I can’t give you the detail – but we cleaned it up so that it is clean and it is health for our soldiers to be in a good environment.”
But it is more than a kitchen. Lieutenant Colonel Jermaine Burns, the Commanding Officer at Camp Belizario, says that the upgrade will improve the soldiers’ capacity to do their work effectively.
Lt. Col. Jermaine Burns
“We will see a lot of energy saving so to speak because we have been doing all this work in at least five different parts of the camp so it is going to save us a lot and it is a welcomed facility because we have been anticipating its opening for five months now. It’s also an area that we can bring together our soldiers a little bit more. That synergy that brotherhood because, feeding them, we were scattered across the camp; conducting the administration that we will now be able to conduct under this one roof.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
