Red Cross video proves poverty in Jane Usher and surrounding areas exists

As part of the project, a ten minute video was also launched highlighting the work that the Red Cross has been doing in the Jane Usher Boulevard area and how community involvement has improved conditions. The images, however, also show the great need that still exists in the poverty stricken areas.

Lily Bowman

Lily Bowman

“We had launched a video and it’s a part of our program that we were doing over the summer, again with the Jane Usher Boulevard showing how the situation right now links to climate change. We’re already seeing the effects, but we show a Jane Usher Boulevard that is run down, that is suffering from kind of neglect, the families are using garbage for land fill, the homes are all in terrible state of repair, they are all prone to flooding and this happens as I mentioned before with just regular rainfall. It shows though, on a positive side the work that the Belize Red Cross has been doing with this community, how they have formed into a tightly knit disaster response team, how they have been trained, equipped, developed and they are now even registered as the JUNA, which is the Jane Usher Neighborhood Association and we are very proud of them. So it shows, yes a community that was neglected to a certain point and is in a state that needs a lot of improvement and a lot of attention. But also, it shows a community fighting on their own to make a positive change.”

During the two months, a cleanup campaign was also started with equipment purchased through funding from the Norwegian Red Cross. Plans are now underway for the Belize Red Cross to start new projects in two communities that have not yet been chosen.