Training facility for women opens

It has no money, no equipment and no permanent staff, but this evening Eglah’s Training Centre for Women was officially opened to the public. The facility, located at the corner of 43 West Collet canal and Racoon Street, was named after the late Eglah Menzies, a Belizean educator, who died in 1995. According to the Centre’s founder and programme director, Jane Menzies Bennett, following her mother’s passing she wanted to return to Belize to continue her work, that is helping women–and young girls in particular–acquire the skills necessary to succeed.

Jane Menzies Bennett, Founder, Eglah?s Training Centre
?She was the pioneer adult educator back in the sixties and seventies. Eglah Menzies used to hold typing and shorthand lessons in her home. One day I just decided I want to do this to continue her work into the twenty-first century and help women who dropped out of school; elementary school or high school. So, hopefully we will be able to help people with what I call life skills. Some people who have responded to the surveys that we conducted, indicated for example, they need to brush up on their reading, writing, and arithmetic. So, literacy is definitely one area we want to focus on.?

?My board recommended that we did a sample group, in terms of surveying and they identified four hundred households in the Port Loyola Area. So that?s our sample group and we?ve done at least two hundred and fifty-seven households so far. So those are the people that we are going to start with. We are going to go back to the surveys and pull from it groups of people who have common interests and we are going to start developing programmes to meet those needs.?

Menzies says they will be targeting women at the grass roots level. Because the centre is a non profit organization, a minimal fee will be charged to the students to help sustain the programme. International funding will also be sought. Anyone who believes they can benefit from this new service can call telephone number 222-4548.