Belizeans head to Taiwanese medical school
On Saturday, two Belizean officer cadets of the Belize Defence Force will leave the country bound for Taiwan. Twenty-one year old Chantel Castillo and twenty year old Hugo Rosa received scholarships from the Ministry of National Defence of Taiwan to study medicine at the National Defence Medical Centre. The program is for seven and a half years, but before they get to their medical studies, the cadets will first spend four months enrolled in a language course and another eight weeks in military training. This afternoon the officer cadets told us the scholarships are a dream come true.
Chantel Castillo, Taiwanese Scholarship Recipient
“Quite honestly I have a mixture of feelings. I am happy, I am excited. Of course there is also a feeling of nervousness in going away to a new country and experiencing a whole new culture, but I honestly feel honoured and blessed at the opportunity that myself and the other cadet, Hugo have been given.”
Hugo de la Rosa, Taiwanese Scholarship Recipient
“My reaction was, I am blessed, I am honoured. I feel it’s a privilege that many youths would want to have and I know it’s competitive, especially medical career it’s very difficult to get in and I know that I motivate those youths who are in sixth form who wan to study to join the B.D.F. and so that they can gain opportunities to go foreign and to bring their dreams to a reality.”
Joseph Shih, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize
“We are very happy we are able to open a new page for our cooperation with the B.D.F. and of course it’s in our effort continuously to uplift and enhance the capacity brewing in the B.D.F. this is going to be a long program, long training, seven years and at the end of that become a general practitioner.”
Col. Dario Tapia, Deputy Commander, B.D.F.
“We are strengthening the relationship, military to military and hence those two scholarships and in the future we are hoping to get pilots trained in Taiwan.”
Kendra Griffith
“What can you tell us in Mandarin?”
Hugo de la Rosa
“Ninhoa, which is hello.”
Chantel and Hugo joined the Belize Defence Force about a year ago. Chantel is from Belize City, while Hugo lives in Guinea Grass.
If you are one of the many Belizeans students looking for a way to further your education, both Deputy Commander Colonel Dario Tapia and Ambassador Joseph Shih, say in the coming weeks they will be seeking other applicants who want to study abroad. The officer selection begins at eight next Friday at Price Barracks. Applicants need to bring proof of citizenship, education, and clothing because they will be confined to the barracks for the two-day programme.
Joseph Shih
“I am very happy to report that next week actually, we are going to announce again the Taiwan program for 2008 in concert with our international cooperation fund. That’s the largest program we offer, scholarship I mean, for the Belizean students. Last year, for instance, we have twenty-three students as recipient of I.C.D.F. program and also six for Taiwan scholarship program. So that makes Taiwan as one of the largest scholarship giving countries. But I encourage to take this opportunity of course, the students of Belize to take full advantage of the opportunity.”
Col. Dario Tapia
“People who want to join the officer corps of the Belize Defence Force that we have an officer selection board scheduled for the twenty-eight of February and the eighth of March. It’s a two-day process. As long as they are in sixth form, minimum, they have graduated from sixth form or are enrolled to finish sixth form for prospective candidates so that we can send them abroad to do a particular course of studies. So if any of the Belizean young fellows who are willing and want to serve their country, this is an excellent opportunity to sit this selection board.”
The Taiwanese scholarships are for persons interested in earning Bachelors, Masters degrees in that country.
