At Risk Youths employed to repair streets

Unite Belize Initiative comprises of youths who have otherwise fallen from the wayside. Most of them are well known to the courts but they have come together for gainful employment. The youths at risk have been at work repairing the stretch of road between Albert and Regent Street adjacent to the Bank of Nova Scotia. The project, spearheaded by Kolbe Foundation, concluded today. News Five’s Jose Sanchez reports.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

The cutting of concrete with the skill saw, the shoveling and placement of tar, the meticulous care to detail with the trimmings of this street, these images typical of a work gang, it’s a labor of love and gainful employment for some whom have been regular fixtures at the courthouse.

Jose Sanchez

“If you weren’t working on this project, what would you have been doing right now?”

Charles Neal

Charles Neal

“I just mi wah di heng out at Majestic Alley, chilling; nothing much deh fi do. So I glad fi di lee project dehn di put together to keep we off the streets. I wish dehn coulda mi get more streets fi we do so that we coulda mi have more things fi we fellas do.”

Jose Sanchez

“Because if you don’t get more jobs like this you would probably have to go back to hustling right?”

Charles Neal

“Right pan di street again; normal thing.”

Francis Woods

The Kolbe Fondation and Unite Belize is spearheading this project.

Francis Woods, Representative Kolbe Foundation/Unite Belize

“This is a pilot project: paving a street with concrete and using as much manual labor as possible. We got help from the Prime Minister, B.T.L. and Scotia Bank—came up to about twenty thousand dollars the cost of this street. It is roughly about two hundred feet by thirteen feet. We did a little extra by putting in the sidewalls so that folks didn’t have to walk through drains and things like that.”

Jose Sanchez

“And is this more sturdy than a regular paving or what was being done before?”

Francis Woods

“Yeah this quality concrete that we poured will definitely last a long time; we can pretty much guarantee that there will be no potholes. But the most amazing thing about this street was that it was done mostly by using manual labor. We had one barrel mixer and the rest was wheelbarrows and shovels and buckets and we kept about fourteen to sixteen guys busy for about two weeks.”

Shane Young

Shane Young

“I just di look for work to keep off street and noh just think fi do no fool. I would just want ask all the business spot weh in front of their street is bruk up; to give the big man Cisco wah lee business to help we out. give di lee man wah lee six thousand fi make ih fix dehn street and then ah next one to give wah lee six thousand. And then wah six thousand and six thousand make twelve thousand and that could feed the ghetto youth them right there and get wah next job. You see how good this job yah look. We woulda come every day and do thing like this. It wah make we eat, make everybody eat, make everybody feel good and nobody noh di get no hurt, nobody noh di go do no fool; not shoot nobody but all other kinda way weh dah fool. I think this dah wah really good job and I have to say thanks to the community. That dah weh I have fi sey big man, thanks.”

Francis Woods

“Well these guys are at risk young men and this gave them an opportunity to work; help beautify the city, build good infrastructure and at the same time get an income. And what we hope to do by this pilot project is to get folks to sponsor streets. We have Calle del Mar, we have streets in Lake I Area, in Southside Area that need paving. So we are breaking it down to fifty and hundred foot section. We can get folks to donate six thousand dollars and that will do a fifty foot section on an average width of about sixteen to eighteen feet. That’s what we really hope because Belize City has a lot of streets that need repairing and we certainly need jobs. These at risk young men certainly need a chance to earn an income and have an alternative.”

Jose Sanchez

“This is certainly something that should be continued?”

Charles Neal

“Yah I think they shoudla got more streets fi make; not only me, but a lot of youths on the street woulda look fi lee job. I think it woulda slow down crime, maybe if the youths had something to do, they wah got their mind set on one thing and not on this and that. At the end of the day, everybody need wah lee hands out.”

Charles Neal and Shane Young continued to work, hopefully to renew their commitment to society. They had little time to notice that while they enjoyed an honest day’s wage, two cops passed by with youths who were just like them on the way to the courthouse…more lessons to be learned with programs of rehabilitation. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.