National Drug Quiz in Orange Walk
After a week of activities, National Drug Awareness Week has finally come to an end, but don’t worry, they went out with a bang. This morning, students from all over Belize jammed into the People’s Stadium in Orange Walk to listen to their counterparts dish out the dirt on drugs.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Over 2,000 children, representing primary schools throughout the country, filled the People’s Stadium in Orange Walk. The students were there to give support to their candidate contesting the National Drug Education Quiz in Orange Walk Town. Although there were some bursts of showers and gusty winds, the weather did not affect the children’s enthusiasm. The contestants were asked a variety of questions regarding accurate drug information and positive life skills.
Quiz Master
“One of your good friends ask you to start a bad rumour against a girl in Std. 6 because your friend doesn’t like her. She says she will also give you five dollars for the favour, what will be your decision and why?”
Finalist
“First of all, I would answer my friend, I will not do what she is asking me because it is bad to start bad rumors about my friend. It will get back to me and they will think badly of me because I am the one who did it. So I wouldn’t do it and I would tell my friend if you have a problem with any of the girls in Std. 6, you can solve it in a peaceful way.”
The quiz was the highlight of a week’s activities to celebrate National Drug Awareness Week. It was organized by Eldrid Neal, NDACC’s Orange Walk District Coordinator.
Eldrid Neal, O.W. district Coordinator, NDACC
“Well I must say with the efforts of my other coordinators, we did most of the thinking part of it, like preparing the questionnaires working the prizes. But the technical and practical part of it, the Orange Walk District has a task force which comprises of some 43 members, well I have about 30 strong active members and we basically took the tone on, went ever 2 days and we rapport on it and we look at the logistics and we managed to reach today.”
Marlon McNab, NDACC’s Belize District Coordinator says this year, the community participation has been encouraging.
Marlon McNab, Belize District Coordinator, NDACC
“We had the general theme for the week and each district chose what they wanted, but especially in the Cayo and Orange Walk they had a little bit more community participation, not because they had more support, but because of the type of events they had. They called a lot of community participation, on the radio talk shows that did happen a lot throughout the week especially within the Belize District. We had a lot of people who called in and they did commend NDACC for the wonderful job that they have been doing and they did say that they want to encourage the rest of the staff to continue in this fight against drugs because they believe that the word is finally reaching out there.”
On Saturday, The National Drug Awareness Week comes to an official close. The week was celebrated under the theme; This Land of the Free can be Drug Free.
1st place for today’s quiz contest went to Vanessa Urbina of Louisiana Government School in Orange Walk while Leon Claire of Christ the King Anglican School in Stann Creek claimed 2nd. Maria Beslac of Holy Redeemer in Belize City finished 3rd. This is the 5th year National Drug Awareness Week has included a quiz competition as part of their list of activities.
