Raleigh winds up 7 years of service
They are not the first group of foreign volunteers to set up shop in Belize and will no doubt not be the last. But the bonds of friendship left by over a thousand Raleigh Venturers who have worked here since 1995 will endure perhaps even longer than some of the buildings they constructed. On Monday News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams was on hand to document the last of Raleigh’s many accomplishments in Belize.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Prime Minister Said Musa touched down in Chunox Village in the Corozal District to open a school. But it wasn’t just any school, it was the last of twenty-two schools Raleigh International has built over its seven-year stay in Belize.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I am very happy at this time when we are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of our independence, to be able to share in the inauguration of this new school. I can’t believe that they built six classrooms of this size for sixty thousand dollars. Anywhere else in Belize, if it was built in the conventional way without volunteer labour, you’re looking at about three hundred thousand dollars at least. They did it for sixty thousand dollars. And it shows what can be done when the spirit, Fajina Spirit, the spirit of volunteerism stay alive in our country; so much more can be accomplished.”
And Raleigh’s accomplishments certainly have to do with more than just building schools. Andy Wahid is Raleigh’s country director in Belize.
Andy Wahid, Country Director, Raleigh Belize
“We have built a library/resource centre in San Benito Poite and I’m glad to say that’s already full of books and just an additional resource for the existing school down there. Apart from that, we’ve refurbished two teacher’s houses in the community of Indian Church and the school itself at Indian Church was in a rather dilapidated state, obviously the children still having their lessons in there, but we’ve sent a team up there and they’ve refurbished that, put in a new roof, new doors, windows and a big mural on the outside as well.”
British High Commissioner Philip Priestly, who was on hand for the inauguration had high words or praise for Raleigh’s work.
Philip Priestly, British High Commissioner
“It’s a moment of happiness because I can see very, very clearly in front of me that the British taxpayer’s money has been well spent. And that is actual proof positive and I can go back and say, the money, with the help of others, in co-operation with other is being well spent and for the benefit of the young people we see here today.”
For principal, Moises Mesh, the one hundred and eighty by thirty-foot six-classroom concrete structure, started as a small idea just over a year ago.
Moises Mesh, Principal, Chunox RC School
“For it was on the fifteenth of July when we started a little dream. It is on the sixteenth of September we woke up and saw that the dream was a reality.”
A different reality is confronting the international Venturers today. It’s time to move to a new country. They originally came to Belize for three years and have stayed twice that long.
Lucy Varcoe, a Venturer who stayed here for two years in the mid 1990s, said her cherished memory was the early days in San Benito Poite, a remote village in Southern Toledo, near the Guatemalan border.
Lucy Varcoe, Raleigh Venturer
“We built three buildings all together, but before the road got there we had to carry in all the bricks, all the gravel and sand by hand, and that was hard work. That sticks in my mind for a long, long time.”
Raleigh International takes up their next assignment in neighbouring Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where they will continue with community projects and environmental protection. Belizean youths also stand benefit from Raleigh’s outreach.
Andy Wahid
“We have set up a bursary scheme together, which will see five young Belizeans every expedition, representing Belize in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. So for the next three years, six expeditions, we’ll have five Belizeans flying their flag.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
In addition to Venturers from the U.K. and other countries, some one hundred and forty Belizeans have participated on various Raleigh expeditions.
