Ladyville child care facility seeks funds for expansion
About the only good thing to come out of the upsurge in reports of crimes against children in Belize is the increase in public concern over child abuse. Today News Five’s Janelle Chanona visited a place in the Belize District where some of society’s smallest victims are cared for.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Of the hundreds of Belizean children living in foster care and shelters scattered across the country, approximately twenty currently call the Liberty Foundation home.
Located in Ladyville, the United Kingdom based organization has been operating in Belize since last August. Victims of neglect and abuse, the kids range in age from seven months to eight years old. According to resident nurse Kevin Dawson, most are malnourished and unhealthy when they arrive at the home.
Kevin Dawson, Resident Nurse, Liberty Foundation
?We do we get attached to all of them. And whenever one is taken away from us, we feel it a lot. Because we?re already like, that?s our boy, or that?s our girl you know, a little baby you know. We feel it but we know what we are doing is for the best and if we see them going to a better place, a better home or something, that always feel good.?
For Director Joanne Rahn, the work of the Liberty Foundation is a labour of love.
Joanne Rahn, Director, Liberty Foundation
?I think one of the major goals of the home right here is to prevent the effects of institutionalized care. So this is sort of a place for re-healing and rebirth to find themselves, centre themselves, work out some of their issues, they all have lots of baggage that they bring with them; and to learn to trust, to learn to have and develop healthy attachments and then to matriculate back into Belize society as a healthy individual.?
The children attend home school courses on location and are separated into groups of boys and girls to sleep in dormitories. Rahn says the foundation actively fundraises in the U.K. and Belize to improve and upgrade the facilities of the campus.
Joanne Rahn
?Of course, we are always in need. A big chunk is right going into the school, we?d like to be able to furnish it, be able to get activities for the children. And the school really can hold up to eighty-five or ninety children, which leaves lots of slots available to the community of Ladyville and the more support we get, the more activities we can fund, the more teachers we can hire and then the children we can serve.?
The next Liberty Foundation fundraiser is a sponsored 10K and 5K run set to start at seven a.m. on July second at the Animal Park in Belize City. The sixteen-dollar sign up fee includes a t-shirt, refreshments and a donation.
Elizabeth Pridgeon, P.R./Fundraising Manager
?The funds will all come directly here. To be spent on the children here, to help provide for the new school that we are constructing and to continue assisting the children with their rehabilitation, education and health care.?
Janelle Chanona for News Five.
If you would like to participate in the Liberty Foundation run, please contact Elizabeth at 660-3443 or at the foundation’s Belize City office at number ninety Princess Margaret Drive.
