Raleigh volunteers build school in Corozal
They come largely from Great Britain, with a few Belizeans thrown in for good measure. When they leave three months later it is usually with fond memories and real accomplishments. Today the volunteers from Raleigh were joined by villagers, students and a special guest from Belmopan.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning in the schoolyard of the Santa Clara San Roman R.C. School in the Corozal District, members of the British volunteer organization, Raleigh, proudly watched as the building they constructed with their own hands was officially opened by Prime Minister Said Musa.
The school desperately needed this 4-classroom extension to accommodate their students. Principal Florencio Barrera says at one point the overcrowding was so bad there were as much as 80 children in one classroom.
Florencio Barrera, Principal Santa Clara, San Roman R.C. School
“When I came here 5 years aback I found the classes overcrowded. In one classroom we had over 80 children. So we managed to refurbish the school and use San Roman Community Centre as an extension but the extension is not a good learning environment. It’s close to the highway and it is between two tortilla factories, so you know that noise pollution is there. So we tried to find donor agencies and one of them was Raleigh International and they heard our plea and they came.”
“If you notice we built it with the objective of putting 4 more classrooms maybe in the near 3 to 5 years because that old building is just dilapidated.”
Janelle Chanona
“Tell me about the relationship the community had built with Raleigh? I understand they were instrumental…”
Florencio Barrera
“Excellent. Excellent in that they as Mr. Magana pointed out, Raleigh broke the barriers of whatever you had, whatever feelings you have. They broke the religious, political and everything else and we just became one which is beautiful.”
These Raleigh Venturers are not construction workers and the physical demands were extreme. Some of them say they found their day to day motivation in faces of those who would benefit from their labour.
Daniel Aarons, Raleigh Venturer
“You see all the kids coming along each day and you think this is for them and you just got to look at the end goal and think it’s got to be done and just push yourself. That’s it you know, got to work for it.”
Janelle Chanona
“What’s the best memory they guys are going to take back with you?”
Jane Holden, Raleigh Venturer
“A week ago on Monday when we poured the roof. Because they were 300 bags of cement that were mixed and I think that worked out to like 30 tons. They had two ramps going up and people with buckets and we were just carrying buckets and buckets of cement and it took us 7 hours and the help of 40 locals and we had cement burns and scratches but the atmosphere was just amazing. There was a lot shouting, laughing and encouragement and that was just an incredible day, absolutely amazing.”
Alastair Becker, Raleigh Venturer
“It’s a proud moment when we were giving the school to build at the last phase, we were a week behind so we had a lot of catching up to do. So it’s been really hard work but we’re pleased with the result.”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“A building like this…a 4 classroom costs a total of $45,000. Now when we compare what we would have had to pay for skilled labour, we’re looking at a saving of close to a $100,000. It’s a great help and the good thing about it is that the community is involved in whole effort, giving time and effort.”
San Roman and Santa Clara now have enough classrooms for their students but overcrowding is still a big problem in Belize. Prime Minister Said Musa says there has been some progress but there’s still much work to do.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“I don’t think it’s as critical as it used to be after the World Bank project came into effect but we still have pockets of areas where we need to expand and expand not only classrooms but provide more teachers. What we’re finding is that the pupil teacher ration has been expanding beyond control so we have to ensure that we maintain at least the 30 to one, 30 students to one teacher, I think that’s the formula we can work with. But the next phase of our development has to be in secondary education because far too many kids are not getting the opportunity to go to high school. We want to expand that and the Minister is working very hard on that and also we want to shift the focus of education more to vocational skills training programs, computer science, etc and so on.”
Country Director for Raleigh, Rupert Miller says come July, more eager volunteers will be back in Belize to build three more schools. Miller says he sees a lesson for us all in projects like this.
Rupert Miller, Country Director, Raleigh
“It never ceases to amaze me what we can achieve and again that was reiterated by our school principal. It’s only through having the common goal and the common vision and with 15, 16 young people as the catalyst being here, we can construct a 4 classroom school, which for me is a fantastic human effort and a good example to everyone, to all of us I guess.”
Janelle Chanona Reporting for News Five.
Financial support for the project was provided by Catholic Schools Programme, British High Commission, Sugar Welfare Fund and Social Security Board. Earlier in the day the Prime Minister dedicated another school extension in the village of San Narcisso. In Toledo, education Minister Cordel Hyde presided over a similar ceremony at Punta Gorda Methodist School.
