New home for B.F.L.A.

They say appearances don’t always paint an accurate picture, but don’t tell that to the Belize Family Life Association. The ten year old organization today relocated its main clinic and headquarters to the old Belize City Hospital. B.F.L.A.’s Executive Director Jewel Quallo-Rosberg says the move to what was the operating theater wing, made possible by the Ministry of the Public Service, is a big step toward B.F.L.A.’s ultimate goal of providing quality sexual and reproductive health care to women and families.

Jewel Quallo-Rosberg, Executive Director, BFLA

“As you can see I think our surroundings is a lot more spacious. We are able to kind of set up areas. Like we have a section for the delivery of direct services in a much more confidential atmosphere. We have a little conference room and a meeting area which we never had before. People have their separate office spaces. There’s a nice waiting area section so we’re all more comfortable and therefore we feel that the quality of our services is going to be substantially better than it was before.

We have been going through a rough spell in terms of finance and obviously the move also has some sustainability issues for us. Meaning that we’re now paying no rent so that’s a part of our budget that will be eliminated and we are in a better position I think to do outreach session – to bring people in for training. I mean the space that we have will allow us to do that. And also to improve the image. I think after a while when you’re looking as if you’re in an area that is not improved, you know, people, the quality and the perception kind of changes. So we feel that we’ve given ourselves a facelift.”

That face lift, according to Rosberg, did not cost an arm and a leg. With generous donations of cash and kind from the business community, B.F.L.A. only had to come up with a couple thousand dollars from its treasury to complete the renovations.