Corozal students help kids in south
It’s not the kind of hurricane relief that first come to mind in the wake of a disaster…but for several hundred hard hit children in Toledo, the gifts they are about to receive from Corozal may be the most cherished.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The “Pom Pom” girls of CET Corozal won themselves one hundred and fifty dollars in that town’s Independence Day Float Parade. But instead of spending the dollars on a party, the students used the prize money to make that amount of dolls for young hurricane victims in the South.
Beverly Orio, Teacher, CET Corozal
“Well I was very proud of them. They had planned this party and they had been planning it for weeks. And then to make the decision to give away that money to somebody else, and not just to give money, but to give of themselves as well, I was very proud of them.”
Today, three of the ten students who are from the institution’s sewing class, stopped by Channel 5 to show to us their labour of love.
Marhely Moh
“I feel happy. I enjoyed it because we are taking the dolls as a Christmas gift to the children and we place all our efforts in them. We are going to P.G. and give the dolls and make the children happy.”
Angelie Gilharry
“They would even feel better and happy to know that there are people who really love them and really want them.”
It was the class’ second community project and some of the girls did not know how to thread a needle.
Marhely Noh
“It was a lot of work. We take classes normally from 1:00 to 5:00, but we work from 8:00 to 5:00 to hurry up the work an take it to them as a Christmas gift.”
Sirley Cruz
“We had to make different types of dolls, so it was a little hard work to do it. But I had the pleasure to do it because I knew it was for a good reason for the kids who were victims of Iris in Punta Gorda. So I feel good about it.”
The group visited Channel 5 while en route to Punta Gorda to deliver the gift packages. Once there, they will meet with representatives from the Human Development Department and NEMO P.G., who will be in charge of the distribution.
Beverly Orio
“We’ll go through the list of the villages and decide which villages to go into and which villages to give the dolls to.”
The young women say while they believe the gifts will cheer up the children, they hope their act of kindness will be an inspiration to their peers across the country.
Sirley Cruz
“Well I think they have to think not only about themselves, but other people, because they are human beings just like us, and they feel, they suffer and everything. So we should think when we are suffering about others, how they feel. And they should think before they act.”
Reporting for News 5, Jacqueline Woods.
CET Corozal, which opened in November 1999, offers a variety of programmes to over seventy students.
