Religious volunteers give big to Anglican school
There is a long list of foreign organisations and institutions who play benefactor to Belize; donating everything from vehicles to medical equipment, books, and free labour. This week, one Belize City school found itself on the receiving end of such generosity… we stopped by to get the details.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It should have been a regular Friday for students of Queen Square Anglican School, but today there was a lot more going on than normal classroom activities.
The institution was visited by thirty members of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation from the United States. The volunteers are visiting Belize to spend time with the primary school?s staff and students and provide much needed support to the school.
Carol Babb, General Manager, Anglican Schools
? They are focusing on literacy dental health, constructing a security fence and also feeding a thousand children today and on Monday. At Queen Square Anglican school we have about a thousand children and the needs are greater here than at any other school.?
?We have a volunteer programme with the Episcopal Churches in the United Sates and every year we get at least twenty-five groups coming to volunteer in our schools, all of our schools. We have been very fortunate that all our schools have been blessed with donations and project work done by volunteers.?
Team members include dentists who are conducting free oral exams and in some cases even extractions.
While some were pulling teeth, out on the compound others were busy digging trenches, mixing cement, and laying bricks for the construction of a new fence. The group also brought along with them a large supply of reading books that will be used to initiate a lending programme as a way to encourage the children to read.
Patria Richardson, Leader, Volunteer Group
?We brought three thousand and forty library books. The school has a reference library, but not a lending one and Mrs. Mortis, the principal, said she had dreamed for years to have this lending library so we scrambled churches and schools in Dallas together and we collected three thousand and forty books for the school that have all been pocketed, marked medium, easy, and hard and will be ready for the children to check out.?
Administrative Principal Nelma Mortis says she is grateful for the overwhelming support that otherwise would have taken years to achieve.
Nelma Mortis, Admin. Principal, Queen Square Anglican
?I cannot say how thankful I am because if we are to offer quality education, we need to have resources in place and with the help of this mission group we are going to achieve a lot.?
The mission volunteers are also offering in service training for the school’s staff. They are scheduled to leave the country next week.
