Maya Women’s Expo in Belize City
Cynthia Williams
There are only a few days left in March, which is being celebrated as Women’s Month. But there are still several activities coming up, including a Maya Women’s Expo in Belize City. Since 2012 is the year of the Mayas, the Women’s Department is putting the culture in the spotlight with the two day event, starting on Wednesday. The department reached out to several women’s groups in the two southern districts to showcase and sell their crafts, which are becoming increasingly popular as well as seasonings and cacao products. Cynthia Williams of the Women’s Department is extending an invitation to the general public to come out between nine a.m. to three p.m. on Wednesday or nine a.m. to four p.m. on Thursday. Williams also told News Five about another expo coming up this weekend.
Cynthia Williams, Human Development Coordinator, Women’s Department
“The Women’s Department would like to invite the general public to participate in the Maya Women’s Expo that will be held on March twenty-eighth and March twenty-ninth as part of Women’s Month activities. On March twenty-eighth it will be held at the Caye Caulker Water Taxi parking lot at the corner of North Front Street and Queen Street. This is an opportunity that we are very happy to provide to various Women’s Groups from the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts to bring their Maya products to sell. So it’s an economic empowerment opportunity for the women. All proceeds of all the sales done throughout the two days will go back to the women’s groups. And so we will be having Maya pepper, yellow ginger, casham, local coffee and hybrid coffee on sale as well as Maya blouses, jewelry and other handicrafts that the women’s groups produce. So we’re very happy and we hope that all the public comes in, bring in your children to get to know the Mayas and understand how these different products are produced. As I mentioned, we’ll have representation from some of the women’s groups who can show how they make the coffee, the casham and the difficulty of actually stitching the different Maya blouses that they have to make. So it’s an opportunity for people to come and purchase and contribute to the livelihood of these Maya women’s groups.”
Delahnie Bain
“Now, women’s month is winding down; any other activities coming up after the Maya Womens expo?”
Cynthia Williams
“Saturday, which is closing Women’s Month, we have three different activities in three different places. We’ll be having our Supporting Single Mothers Expo here in Belize City at the Bliss Parking Lot where we will be having manicures and pedicures for ten dollars each and of course, acrylics for twenty-five dollars. We’ll be also selling our first line of gourmet vinegars. We continue promoting the work of the Women’s Group in Stann Creek who produce these vinegars and so we’ll be selling the vinegars; a bit of sampling as well for them to be able to taste how the vinegar makes the difference in the food. So we’ll be having a bit of our salsa that we make at this event. We’ll also be having another supporting single mother’s expo in Hattieville.”
The third event on Saturday is a women’s tennis tournament in Belmopan. Also on Thursday night, the department is hosting its annual Outstanding Women’s Awards at the Bliss, starting at seven p.m.
