Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise Partners with St. John’s Anglican Primary School

Saint John’s Primary School is an Anglican institution that has been serving the community for decades. Today, there was an official launch of a veranda that was installed on one of the main buildings on the school compound, giving students access to several classrooms on the second floor of the building. Valued at approximately ninety thousand dollars, the rebuilding of the veranda was done through assistance from Rotary. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. 

Duane Moody, Reporting

For the past two years, Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise has been partnering with Saint John’s Anglican Primary School in Belize City – upgrading its facilities and ensuring that the students, as well as the faculty and staff, have adequate infrastructure in place to promote health and learning.

Jose Ketz

Jose Ketz, Member, Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise

“Because our club focuses on the south side, we do projects in stints, three years or five years. I think we’ve committed to three years so we are here; we are supposed to be at this school for three years; I think this is year two. We focus on sanitation a lot which are bathrooms and then we focus on infrastructure. This veranda was really bad. So that’s why we decided to do this project. I think we spent close to ninety thousand dollars on this project and the veranda that was there, we broke it down totally and we put it up back again. So it took us maybe five months, but that was part of our mission. And then we wanted it to look good. After we do all this work, we didn’t want it to look bad, so then we painted the school, repaired the gutters, we did some facial boards. There is a little bit more repair but of course, we only can spend what we raise and our money comes from the community. So when you see us raising money, this is what we do the investment in.”

The reconstruction of the veranda on one of the school buildings is something that the institution needed, as it carries out the mandate of educating future leaders of the country. General Manager of Anglican Schools Doctor Jeremy Cayetano says that they are forever grateful for the support.

Jeremy Cayetano

Dr. Jeremy Cayetano, General Manager, Anglican Schools

“Right after hurricane Lisa, they came and started this project which is something that we really, really needed to happen. And we are happy that it is nice and sturdy and good to go. The Lord has entrusted us with the responsibility of taking care of children, which is big, which is huge. But because he is God, he doesn’t leave us there. He sends friends, he sends angels, he sends support for us and I am so grateful that Rotary is a friend of Saint John’s Primary School. They are providing it over and over again.”

….and while Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise has installed one of the biggest playgrounds at the institution, constructed the boys and girls bathroom and the painting of the facilities, Jose Ketz says that there are other projects they want to complete before the three-year stint at the school concludes.

Jose Ketz

“Today we meet with the new board. We are still on that committee and then every year we chart our year forward – what we will do, if we will work in the school what will be the project, how much money we need and then from there, we then start working again. So we should have another year here. There’s a lot of things we wanted to get done. There’s a building over that side that is complete not used; we wanted to do an audiovisual room. So we will have to go in there and see the amount of work, the amount of money needed for us to refurbish it and the amount of money we need for equipment. And of course we beg too so we’ll see what happens.”

Duane Moody for News Five.