Care Belize works with disabled countrywide

We are in the middle of Disability Awareness Week and today one organisation that deals with the subject at the grassroots level let the public know exactly what it does. News Five’s Kendra Griffith reports.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Today CARE-Belize held an open-house to educate the public on their work.

Roxanne Jones, Community Rehabilitation Officer, CARE-Belize
“We work with children, birth to six years old who have physical disabilities. We use community-based rehab, which means that we go into the homes and do rehabilitation therapy what we offer accessible to the families. We teach families how to cope, education, how to do proper positioning, therapy-wise and things like that with their children.”

The N.G.O. has a community rehabilitation officer in every district and recently opened an office in Dangriga. Roxanne Jones is the Field Officer for the Belize District.

Roxanne Jones
“At present I personally see about thirty children per month and I have a waiting list and every couple months I have to find ways of seeing the children that are on my waiting list. Just the same, in the north there is like thirty-five children being seen, there is a waiting list growing. There is a high demand for human resources here.”

Kendra Griffith
“Approximately how many clients would you say you all have across the country?”

Roxanne Jones
“Across the country about this point we have about a hundred and fifty children that we see.”

Included in their display is a wall of fame, which acknowledges the efforts of individuals from each district.

Roxanne Jones
“They have a positive attitude for persons with disabilities; they work towards inclusion like in their schools, or businesses, or their community for children and persons with disabilities.”

“We have to my left a resources centre and that resource centre has been opened a couple months and that is there for education. We have a bunch of resources that have we have researched and purchased and equip the room as a library for teachers, students, persons with disabilities, parents, staff, everybody who wants to enlighten their awareness, enlighten their knowledge about persons with disabilities. So that is here, that is one of our highlights for today as well.”

The CARE-Belize headquarters is located at twenty-five Gabourel Lane in Belize City. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

For more information on CARE-Belize, please contact them at 223-5986.