Parents raise funds for special children
It’s not disability week, but raising awareness about the reality of living with or caring for someone with a disability is crucial to improving the quality of life of persons with special needs. For the past three weeks, the Parent Association for Children with Special Needs here in Belize City has been hard at work, preparing glass jars, decorated with love and filled with chocolate, for sale this holiday weekend. According to the President of the Association, Hector Romero, the fundraising effort is just one of many his members have initiated to fund their projects.
Hector Romero, Parent Assn., Children with Special Needs
“One thing I would like to tell the community, everything that we do, we do it for love, love of our children. And we try to let the community be involved as well.”
“The reason for this project is to help us financially because with these sales, we’ll be probably creating a library to educate our members to learn about the disability their child might have in order to improve their lives to understand their child and that will help a lot. Also, skill programmes that we need to see it happen because when it comes to employment, it’s hard for people with disabilities to be employed. It’s unfair, but that’s the truth. We hope that that change eventually. ”
“People are not aware of exactly what the problem is, we just jump to conclusions. But if we are just given a little time, on a one to one basis with the person you will find that the person have lot of potential.”
According to Romero, the association has worked with members of the Traffic and Police departments as well as the business community, in order to sensitise and educate them about dealing with and employing disabled persons. If you would like to learn more about the association’s projects, please contact them at phone number 614-5749.
