Heartless thieves raid Living Hope School
While the burglary of a school may have once been considered a rare event, these days it appears to be commonplace. The latest institution to suffer the injustice and indignity is Living Hope, located on the ground floor of the Belize City Centre. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports.
Natalie Lino, School Manager
“Those people did a job, I must applaud them. They really messed things up but they have not shut us down.”
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Faculty and students at the Living Hope Preparatory School received a shock when they showed up for class this morning. Sometime between Saturday evening and this morning, a thief or thieves broke in through a back door and stole cash, electronic equipment and even food from the refrigerator. As a final insult, the perpetrators urinated on the kitchen table. Because of the damage, today administrators were forced to send students home.
Natalie Lino
“They were saddened. Our kids are already going through a lot of stuff and they don’t need to see this.”
On a hunch, school manager Natalie Lino and principal Stanley Saunders checked the air conditioning vents adjacent to the building and discovered that the thieves had stashed some of the loot inside. While the find brought some relief, Lino says the burglary has dealt a major blow to the institution.
Natalie Lino
“We are working hard here, the students who come here, they need a school like this. What will happen if all these children land on the streets? We will have more crimes like these. So we are trying to prevent that from happening, help us to keep schools like this open. And those people who bought stuff, please stop buying stuff. Please stop buying stuff. Give back those stuff to the schools that are being robbed at this moment. There are a lot of schools who are being affected by this same crime and I pray that you will stop buying stuff from off the streets.”
Lino and her staff spent the rest of the day trying to clean up the mess and thinking of ways to make the school more secure.
Natalie Lino
“Putting heavier locks, fixing all the doors that have been busted in and pray and hope that this doesn’t happen again. We are in the City Centre yard, downstairs at the Civic Centre but they do have a security guard but I don’t, I have an explanation to why this happened and why no one was contacted. I don’t know.”
Media queries have revealed that a K.B.H. security guard patrols the City Centre Compound nightly but there was no report of the burglary. When we contacted K.B.H. this morning, Stewart Barton confirmed that his company is contracted by the National Sports Council to perform several tasks but he contends that despite several warnings, the council has done nothing to improve the integrity of the compound. Our own tour of the yard revealed this gaping hole in the chain link fence near the school’s rear door. A well worn path is evidence of how long the space has been there.
Since its establishment in 1999 as a preparatory school for drop outs, Living Hope has received contributions for its feeding program from the Ministry of Tourism as well as financial donations from a number of organizations and private individuals. News Five last visited the school three weeks ago when the Angelus Press donated a year’s worth of school and office supplies to the institution. With those items now stolen, Lino is once appealing to the community for assistance.
Natalie Lino
“Books were destroyed, food was destroyed was taken too, equipment was destroyed, if they could donate to us, we would be more than happy to receive it. They could come right here and speak to Mr. Saunders, he’s the principal and he’d be more than happy to take the donation.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona
If you would like to assist Living Hope, please call Natalie Lino at 207-0139 or 601-9088. In addition to its daytime students, the school also offers night classes to adults.
