Dangriga residents volunteer for beach clean-up
Over the weekend, residents of Dangriga and members of the southern town’s new council participated in a beach clean up designed to improve the area’s tourist image. According to organisers, the project is a joint effort between Town Hall and the Petters Research Institute. We understand volunteers, including Mayor Frank “Papa” Mena, began work on Friday and by Sunday evening the difference was significant.
Russell Chiste Garcia, Dangriga Town Councilor
?We?ve gone from six feet to thirty feet in some cases; in some case more than thirty feet. The whole thing here was actually to show that in fact that Dangriga has a beach. We?ve taken the foundation that it the sand dunes and then transfer it to those areas which are poorly drained and in that way we have made a larger beach. The process by which Mr. Diego, that?s Patrick Diego, thanks to him he was able to listen to what we want to do and he in the end made the beach along with the workers. We were just, after that, collaborators.?
?We want to recreate Dangriga to be able to get ready for that massive inflow of tourism and then we, the people, will be able to manage the tourism effort because they will know what to do. It is their own beach, it is their programme. It is not only the beach, but we?re looking at our town, our drains, our streets. Again Janelle at this time let me say that Dangriga is the only town which has so few streets of asphalt. We have the highest incidents of dust storms in the country.?
Arlie Petters, President, Petters Research Institute
?The charge of the institute is with the development of Belize. Science, mathematics, and technology are the primary focus, but we also have a vast array of secondary focus that we are going to pursue in sectors such as job creation, technology infrastructure, public health, and here as you see in our collaboration with the Dangriga town council we can look at natural resources.?
Organisers would like to thank all the volunteers of the clean up campaign, especially Barbara Noralez, for their contribution. On July fifteenth, the Petters Research Institute will officially launch in Dangriga.
