Leaders attend Civil Society in Port of Spain…

The Summit of the Americas will begin Friday in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the rest of the Belize delegation arrived in Port of Spain earlier today. The arrival of the U.S. President and other hemispheric leaders are expected to pitch higher the summit fever before the opening ceremonies. All week long, the throng of reporters, activists and regional leaders have been attending pre-summit activities. And today in Port of Spain, the main event was the Civil Society Forum. Wiliam Neal, co host of Channel Five’s morning show Open Your Eyes attended the forum and interviewed some of the participants.

Hazel-Ann Luke-Douglas, Participant, Civil Society Forum
“Well it has been an exciting experience. What I have seen and heard is the enthusiasm of all the organizations of trying to get something done in this hemisphere, trying to give people an opportunity that would afford them chances to be in a better society. They are trying to develop policies and procedures that will allow persons to have education, better standards of living, simple amenities in life. It has been a really good experience for me as a social worker because I am seeing where people understand what are the needs of the underprivileged; if you call them that.”

Grace Talma, Participant, Civil Society Forum
“What we have done is to examine the role in modern day society, the role that civil societies have to play in influencing governments and other actors in terms of making changes to social development. And so what we have been looking at—and over the two days we’ve had a number of presenters as well as workshops this morning. What has happened is that the entire sort of different messages that we’ve had, it’s been very exciting and sometimes very provocative. But what we need to say is that generally, our civil societies here have been reminded of the very important role they have to play and that they are playing in ensuring social change in the development process of this country in the context of globalization and what in fact is happening with the economic crisis. One of the great benefits I think is that we’ve been able to network and to exchange information with so many different people from different countries and we realize that we have one thing in common. It’s that we already believe in the work that we’re doing and the passion that we have.”

Carla Sainsbury, Belizean Participant, Civil Society Forum
“I think the need for people on a whole and all economic situation in the country—I know that it’s important for us to be here and gather together so that we can forward all the information to the ministers and hopefully the prime ministers of the U.S. and of other countries will pass this bill so that we will be able to get better funding for NGO’s and to improve the life of people on a whole.”

William Neal
“Now, has been your impression because it seems to be a very large gathering?”

Carla Sainsbury
“It’s been good. I think a lot of the logistics were messed up but overall I think it was good and we have good participation. However, for Belize, I’m the only representative here and I start to say I wish that there were more representatives from Belize and from other Caribbean countries.”

William Neal
“Now, why do you think this forum is so important for the civil society and throughout the region?”

Carla Sainsbury
“Because a lot of NGO’s fall under civil society and not only that, there is not enough funding for the Caribbean. So we’re fighting for funding to fund our organizations. So the need is there and we know that this will make possible through this kind of meeting and this kind of forum.”

William Neal
“And why do you think the average person in believe should be interested in what’s happening at the Summit of the Americas?”

Carla Sainsbury
“Because it will affect their lives and it’s going to affect the country of Belize one way or another.”