U.S. students spend Spring Break volunteering in Belize

It’s become a trendy thing for American college students to devote their Spring Break to volunteer service instead of just partying the time away. But for the undergrads at the University of Louisville, coming to Belize is nothing new as the Kentucky school’s International Service Learning Programme has been active here for the past seven years. Today News Five spoke with members of the University’s Department of Justice Administration at the Belize City Family Court.

Bob Quaife, Board of Trustees, University of Louisville
?We have Pan-African studies, we have law, the professional law school is here represented, our engineering school, coaching, health, physical education, among others. There is also another division that is growing and has become quite robust and that?s our medical, dental, nursing programme, which is working in Gales Point, for the fourth year. They see a thousand patients in three days. People have received new teeth; they received treatment for chronic problems, as well as acute problems. We are certainly not here to replace the healthcare system which is wonderful in this country, but it gives them some direct on site care that they might not otherwise receive.?

J. Price Foster, Professor, University of Louisville
?What my students do is come here and spend time with the Police Department, spend time with the court system, spend time here with the Family Court for example, and we compare our system to the Belizean system and see how they?re different, how they?re similar. And so our students prepare before they come here, as much as they can, on our system and your system and so they can see how the systems are different and we share notes. I match my students up with people in Belize who do the same thing that they are studying and they compare experiences and sometimes we learn better ways to do stuff and sometimes we can suggest better ways to do things.?

Kathy Solomon, Community Specialist, University of Louisville
?It?s great, there is a lot of opportunity here and lots for us to learn and for us to give them. Especially domestic violence, because it?s definitely developing here and becoming more aware and the legislation is getting more aggressive.?

This year there are fifty students and thirty faculty members participating in the University’s programme in Belize.