Germans donate school furniture to Iris victims
An international effort centred in Germany has resulted in the donation of a large quantity of school furniture for victims of Hurricane Iris. On Tuesday, the shipment of desks, chairs and blackboards arrived at the Belize City port. The items were donated by schools throughout Germany that heard about the hurricane and the damage it caused to a number of educational institutions in the south. The campaign was spearheaded by Ingwer Seelhoff, a German journalist, who has been visiting the country for the past fifteen years and wanted to do something to help the children in the Toledo District. To implement the project, a working relationship was established between Seelhoff and the Belize Lions Club. Today, that shipment was received by former Lions Zone Fifty-nine Chairman, Dr. Chris Bennett.
Dr. Chris Bennett, Ex-Chairman, Belize Lions Zone 59
“We expect seven hundred desk, and each desk will seat two children. So we have seven hundred desks and in fact fourteen hundred chairs for the schools in the Toledo District. The Lions in Belize and the Lions Club in Germany, myself was the Zone Chairman at the time, but now we have Alex Kisling who is the present Zone Chairman and we’ve had the Ministry of Education, Mr. Valentino Shal, through the Toledo Maya Council, Mr. Mick Flemming from Chaa Creek, we even have a professor of archaeology, a German professor, who is in fact married to a Belizean and so he got involved with this project also. And finally, we are here now, the shipment is here in Belize and we’re grateful for the port and shipping agents, Belize Estate, who provided…all the charges were removed that they normally charge for shipment. And so it’s a really a big collaboration between Germany and Belize. But praise must be given to Mr. Ingwer Seelhoff who has worked tirelessly to do this project.”
Jacqueline Woods
“Have the schools been identified?”
Dr. Chris Bennett
“We have, through the education office in Toledo, identified a number of schools who will need these chairs and desks and some blackboards also. But I imagine that as the days go by, as weeks go by, it will change somewhat and some schools might get less and some more.”
On Friday, the shipment is expected to reach its final destination in the Toledo District, where local organisations will help with the distribution. The help arrives just in time for the new school year.
