Children on the border benefit from international initiative
There was a time when any news coming from the western border meant trouble, be it military or diplomatic. But as we have reported, in recent years intense scrutiny along the frontier has highlighted the fact that while negotiations to settle Guatemala’s territorial claim to Belize continue in the corridors of power, for the most part peace has already been declared on the ground. And as News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports, officials are using that spirit of cooperation to make a difference in the lives of those who need it most.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
“The community of Arenal is decidedly unique. It’s the only village in the country that has a football field with one goal in Belize and the other in Guatemala.”
Ricardo Chulin, Principal, Arenal Primary School
“Arenal, like many other villages bigger than Arenal has the same aspirations, has the same needs you know.”
But for the last fifteen years, the children of Arenal have been forced to attend school in less than ideal conditions. According to Principal Ricardo Chulin, a lack of infrastructure meant cramming more than a hundred students into a single room.
Ricardo Chulin
“The facilities were terrible. We were using the community centre, which was used for meetings for the village, dances, and so any time we found that during weekends, the next week Monday, the charts are down, everything is broken down. It was terrible. The conditions were very terrible there in the community centre. Infant one to Standard Four bunched up together, the kids there don’t paying attention and are listening to the other teacher and students. It has been very terrible.”
Kenneth Cook, Canadian High Commissioner
“It goes without saying that education is the single best development investment a country can make.”
But the village’s sustained efforts to build a school finally paid off late last year. With assistance from the Organization of American States, the Government of Belize, the Canadian Government, the Belize Defence Force, the Roman Catholic Church, and several private companies, in November construction on a five classroom structure began.
This morning school children happily transferred their chairs into their brand new building.
Ricardo Chulin
“It’s going to be a big change and I know education should improve.”
Like many communities along the border, most students here are Belizeans, but everyday a number of Guatemalan boys and girls trek across the football field with a strong motivation to learn English.
Julio Rosalez, Guatemalan Teacher [Translated]
“Peace is the most important thing in a community, and like in everything, there are certain limitations that divide us, but with God’s will, we are one body, one entity, living as one big community here in Belize Arenal and Guatemala also.”
But despite an intimate co-existence, on the ground the difference between life on both sides of the border is glaringly obvious. Only five hundred people live on the Belize side, but they have the luxury of running water and electricity. But the more than two thousand Guatemalans next door depend on lamps and generators for power and the river for all water needs. A pedestrian bridge connects Arenal, Guatemala to Melchor de Mencos and while the residents here do make the nine mile journey regularly, the distance has created closer ties with Belize.
Ricardo Chulin
“The students, the teachers, we are like brothers in the same profession and there are no hard feelings whatsoever between Guatemala and Belize.”
Janelle Chanona
“But in your classroom you do teach that there’s a border?”
Ricardo Chulin
“Of course we do teach that there is a border that we need to respect. Guatemala needs to respect Belize and Belize needs to respect Guatemala, that border line should be respected.”
Maintaining Belize’s territorial integrity is priority one for the B.D.F.
Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett, Commander, B.D.F.
“Arenal is a perfect example of Belizeans and Guatemalans co-existing peacefully and it’s primarily because everybody knows where the border is.”
According to B.D.F. Commander Lloyd Gillett, while foot patrols and flyovers continue along Belize’s porous border, defence now includes diplomacy.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Gillett
“That has meant cooperating with the Guatemalans in terms of organising joint patrols that meet on a weekly basis along the border, exchanging information about illegal activities, and trying to bring projects like this school in Arenal where we can help with the development of the people living in the border areas.”
Encouraging that atmosphere of cooperation and camaraderie is the mandate of the O.A.S. as part of ongoing efforts to settle the Guatemalan claim to Belize.
Miguel Angel Trinidad, Director, O.A.S. Border Office
“The peace is the result of the agreement among the government, but everyday is the construction of the peace is from the people, the children from the childhood to knowledge of the meaning of the peace. First of all the school, the learning every day, the sharing difference, education is the most important. … The comprehension, the knowledge of the people is easier in comparison to the institutions. That is the feeling.”
Primitiva Rivas, Standard Six Student
“I would like to leave my classmates and the rest of my community with a challenge that I hope to see become personal to each of you. Put not only words but action to what motivates and inspires you, even if it does not pertain to Arenal. Drive to make your vision a reality that will benefit not only your future but also your community in which you reside. Thank you very much.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona
During today’s opening ceremony, Belize Telemedia announced that the Arenal Primary School will be one of the first rural institutions to join its wireless high speed internet programme, set to come online in early 2008. The five classroom building was built at a cost of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
