2024 - Channel 5 Belize

Celebrating Languages Across The World With The Peace Corps

Tomorrow marks the last day of Peace Corps Language Week 2024. The theme this year highlights the Peace Corps’ commitment to volunteer competencies like diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; International Language Week emphasizes the importance of language in fostering intercultural understanding. News Five’s Britney Gordon reports.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

The Peace Corps is a U.S.-based volunteer organization that partners with countries all over the world to assist and support developmental goals at the grassroots level. The Peace Corps in Belize is one of the longest-running programs in the region, operating since 1962 with over two thousand Americans who lived and worked in Belize as volunteers supporting projects in the health sector, agriculture, women’s empowerment, and education. Peace Corps Country Director in Belize, Nadine Rogers, told us more about their work in Belize.

Nadine Rogers, Country Director, Peace Corps Belize

“Since 1917, we’ve been supporting the Ministry of Education. They have a national literacy strategy and the goal of that is to get all standard one students reading at grade level. And so, we’ve got response volunteers that come and work with teachers to prepare them to be able to implement an illiteracy intervention with those Children that need the help. And then when we first came back after the COVID-19 pandemic we were working with a youth health and wellbeing project which this is its last year, but we’ve had volunteers working in that area they’re partnering with schools. It initially focused on the old health and family life curriculum, but now expanding into sports, exercise, nutrition, some of those other, broader, sort of health and wellbeing.”

According to Rogers, several initiatives that the Peace Corps participates in emphasize youth empowerment and well-being.

Nadine Rogers

“This past year we launched our new project in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Transport and it’s called Youth Empowered by Sports. So, we’re partnering with the National Sports Council coordinators and sports coaches at a number of primary schools and they’re working to ensure that these young people can get the benefit of organized sports, the discipline, the skill the strengthening and the opportunity to engage and talk about life skills and other things through a sporting mechanism.”

Between March eighteenth to the twenty-third, Peace Corps partook in its yearly celebration of International Language Week. It was celebrated under the theme “Language & ICDEIA: Spotlighting Intercultural Communication”. This refers to the commitment to volunteer competencies such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Nadine Rogers

“I think it was Nelson Mandela who famously said, if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head but if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart, right? And so at the Peace Corps, we recognize that language helps us to nurture, really meaningful connections and bridge differences and just live out the things we believe as an organization., live out our values. And so during Language Week, we celebrate the importance of language to our model of intercultural exchange. We have a development model that is not us pushing certain things. It’s an exchange and a learning and you can’t have that exchange if people are talking in different languages.”

Rogers explained that during language week, volunteers participate in several activities around the world such as virtual language lessons, live language cafes, and educational language booths. She said that here in Belize, the team in Belize is training new volunteers in Creole and Spanish.

Britney Gordon

“How do you feel that immersing yourself in a language helps assist the Peace Corps with doing the work that they want to do?”

Nadine Rogers

“Great question, Britney. Language learning takes great cultural humility, right? It requires you to give up the things you think you know, even the words you think you know and learn someone else’s words. But that approach is foundational to Peace Corps, way of doing development. It’s an invaluable skill that volunteers carry around with them. Long after they’ve left, they can still communicate in these languages. And language, it just goes beyond culture. It goes beyond what is on paper and what people say to each other in conversations, right? But it soaks up elements of culture and history. And you find that words, have meanings that carry through time and carry through place.”

Rogers further explained that immersing the volunteers in a language and culture also assists them in connecting with their host families. She said that as the volunteers move their work into more rural areas, the opportunity to connect with other languages that are less common and possibly endangered presents itself.

Nadine Rogers

“And as I mentioned, we’re taught, we’re teaching Spanish and Creole, but as we move into more rural communities, you may find that we would add other languages as well as those communities.”

Britney Gordon

“So it could possibly expand to Garifuna or some Mayan languages as well.”

Nadine Rogers

“For sure and we’ve done that in the past. And so, it really just depends on where project work takes us, what the need is but yes, it could include those.”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

BTV Says G.O.B. Should Do More for the Chiquibul

The Belize Territorial Volunteers (BTV) says that the government should do more to protect the Chiquibul Forest. In a press release, the BTV said that the government must take “decisive steps to halt this invasion”. That invasion the BTV is referring to is the illegal activities being carried out by Guatemalans inside the Chiquibul Forest. Earlier this week, Friends for Conservation and Development (FCD) that a flyover conducted recently revealed a newly constructed road inside the Chiquibul. The FCD says the road is for access to water, thereby facilitating for a more pronounced activity of cattle ranching activity in that southern region of the park by Guatemalans. Leader of the BTV, Wil Maheia told News Five that there must be an increase presence in the Chiquibul for its protection.

Wil Maheia, Leader, Belize Territorial Volunteers

“We find it very, very sad that on international days of environment, Belize is priding itself on protecting our natural resources yet turning its back to all the incursions and degradation that’s happening to our protected areas. We call on the government, we call on the UDP who has been very quiet throughout all this. This just didn’t start yesterday. This started more than 10 years ago and it continues to grow. There’s over 2000 hectares which is larger than the entire Belize city that has been deforested. Now the average Belizean cannot even go on the side of the road and clear land without being arrested. Why can’t the government stop the Guatemalans? Obviously they don’t care because they are not doing anything, right? Three years now since this government got into power. Nothing has been done to really stop the incursions into the forest in my opinion. Yes, I give the government a big applause for building the Sarstoon Forward Operating Base. That has reduced the amount of illegal fishing. If we do the same in the Chiquibul it will reduce the incursions. It will reduce the degradation of our protected areas. This is Belize. This is what we have.”

Belize Celebrates International Day of Forest

On Thursday, Belize joined the global community in celebrating International Day of Forest. This year’s theme is Forests and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World. The theme highlights the need for the development of new technological solutions to fight against deforestation. On Thursday, forest officers along with B.D.F. soldiers replanted about a hundred mangroves along the coastline of Cattle Landing Village in the Toledo District. We spoke to Forest Officer, Minerva Gonzalez.

Minerva Gonzalez, Forest Officer, Forest Department

“The theme for this year as every year there is a different theme, is forest and innovation. So it speaks to how we use technology in order to maintain our forest, conserve and protect and restore our forest. This here is a technology. While it might not be a computer, having any sort of intervention by man, using different equipment is the use of technology. We are being innovative in trying to restore the forest we have lost.”

Princess Kate Announces Cancer Diagnosis

Catherine, Princess of Wales, announced today that she’s been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing “early stages” of treatment. Princess Kate made the announcement in a pre-recorded video statement on social media.

Catherine expressed her diagnosis as a “huge shock.” She clarified that while a London surgery in January initially appeared to address a non-cancerous issue, subsequent tests detected cancer, prompting her medical team to recommend preventative chemotherapy, which she’s currently undergoing. She expressed anticipation for a return to her work once she’s fully recovered. She concluded with thoughts for those battling cancer, urging them not to lose hope.

MET Office Issues Heat Alert

The National Meteorological Office of Belize has issued a Heat Alert. The advisory says “Temperatures are expected to exceed 97F inland. Residents are advised to stay hydrated and avoid outdoor activities as much as possible, especially during afternoon hours.”

Inland is expected to be 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here are some tips to stay hydrated in hot weather:

-Drink Plenty of Water
-Eat Hydrating Foods
-Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine:
-Take Regular Breaks
-Wear Light Clothing
-Replenish Electrolytes

Pet owners are also advised to keep their pets hydrated.

PM Briceño on Immigration Officers Accused of Theft

In an interview with PLUS TV in Belmopan on Thursday, Prime Minister John Briceño said, “What has happened, as we all know, the Jamaican national has made an accusation, and the police have reviewed the tape, and they believe that they have enough information or evidence to be able to do a full-fledged investigation.”

As News Five reported, a Jamaican national lodged an allegation against an immigration officer at the Philip Goldson International Airport. The Jamaican national is accusing the immigration officer of stealing several thousand U.S. dollars from them.

Chief Executive Officer Tanya Santos of the Ministry of Immigration said that, despite earlier social media reports, only one officer has been apprehended for interrogation.

In the interview, PM Briceño, who is also the Minister of Immigration, said, “I’m told that the Jamaican was, and I can’t go into too many details, but basically passed over monies, and then when he tried to leave the country, he was told he can’t leave the country, and so then he got upset and made this report.”

Briceño stressed that this sort of behaviour cannot be countenanced and that “it needs to end now, and we need to find a way to get rid of all of those people that behave in such a manner.”

B.S.C.F.A. Responds to B.S.I.’s Position on COI

Last night, we told you that A.S.R./B.S.I. denounced Prime Minister John Briceño’s decision to launch a Commission of Inquiry into the sugar industry. It was gazetted on March nineteenth, prompting a statement from the multinational company. The miller contends that the decision is politically motivated and erodes B.S.I.’s investor confidence. Today, members of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association’s executive team were present for day two of the budget debate inside the National Assembly. They were there to support Jose Mai, the Minister of Agriculture and a member of the B.S.C.F.A. Alfredo Ortega, the Vice Chairman of the Committee of Management commented on B.S.I.’s position.

Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman, BSCFA

“Like in any case it is a pity they behave in that way because in all, before they had said that they want to put two commissioners on which they had named them, from Brazil two join the other three persons from Marishous. So they were on board long before this thing with the commission of inquiry. It is nothing new, so it is a pity to hear from them now on this date that they will be coming out and say they will not support the commission of inquiry. I think that the prime minister has to take better steps and better decision in regards to this commission of inquiry, because as you can recall, the prime minister and the minister of agriculture have mentioned many times that once the commission of inquiry brings out their information that information will be used by the cane farmers, not only the BSCFA but the other associations to get better commercial agreements and also it will assist the Government of Belize to produce a modernized sugar industry. So to us the BSCFA is not a surprise, but we believe that Belize should not admit that multinationals comes and place in our throats or in our mouths what they want things to happen in their way. Belize is a nation of laws and rules and rules must prevail. If, look, I will use this example, whenever a Belizean opens a small business and GST gets to know there is a business, they come directly to the business and investigate so that person can pay their GST. So if they do that to small Belizean people, why shouldn’t they do that to the multinationals?”

“If they want to go, let them leave”, B.S.C.F.A. to B.S.I.

In its release, A.S.R./B.S.I. noted that it will have to reevaluate its options in Belize. Well, B.S.C.F.A. says if A.S.R. wants to leave Belize then let them leave. Ortega says, the industry will not collapse in the absence of A.S.R.

Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman, B.S.C.F.A.

“Of course yes, if we the BSCFA were prepared to buy the mill we had the money in hand ready to do so. It is a pity that the government at the time didn’t give us the opportunity to buy it over but rather they chose to give it to BSI. So if they want to go, let them leave. The industry will not die because they want to leave. There are other investors that want to come into the country. But because the design of the Sugar Industry Act, many of them that come just go away because as it is in the monopoly of BSI/ASR. SO we are not afraid if they want to pack and go because we know that will never happen. They are just trying to threaten us and the government so that we fall at their knees and do as they please.”

B.S.C.F.A. Says PM has Moral Responsibility to Sugar Industry

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister told reporters that he does not listen to B.S.C.F.A. press conference. As you may be aware, the association holds a number of press conferences to ventilate its concerns to the public. They also use the opportunity to get across direct messages to political leaders like PM Briceño. The association did just that on Tuesday. We asked Ortega for his response to the PM’s remarks.

Alfredo Ortega, Vice Chairman, B.S.C.F.A.

“The prime minister well knew before he was elected how the sugar industry was. He was the one who said that once he is elected he would work for the betterment of the sugar industry, that the industry would be one of his priority that he would be creating the marketing committee in the first one hundred days of government. That has not happened as yet. So, we do believe that as the prime minister of this country to look over the sugar industry and to see that the industry has the necessary tools for it to be viable.”

Reporter

“Who is not listening to your press conferences is the prime minister. He said so yesterday, what is your response to that?”

Alfredo Ortega

“Well it is a pity that now that he is elected to give that type of response. I think that as the leader of the country he has a moral responsibility to the sugar industry.”

Minister of Agriculture Says COI is What is Best for Sugar Industry

During his contributions to the budget debate, Jose Mai, the Minister of Agriculture, confirmed that he and Prime Minister John Briceño have a difference in opinion over the commission of inquiry into the sugar industry. Mai noted that the commission of inquiry has been gazetted and as a result is now law. He further stated that while there is resistance, he believes this is what is best for the industry.

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“The recent protest was handled well. It would have been under the UDP the security forces would have been led by some rough neck UDP, man handle the cane farmers, they would have roughed them up, have their guns raised and let us remember who shot to death Anastacio Guiterrez of Asan Victor, Prime Minister Barrow refused to meet with cane farmers to address the matter. This is unlike our PM who cl4early we do have difference of opinion, but nevertheless have taken his time to meet with both sides and I am hopeful we will put this sugarcane matter to rest. And while there were some delays with the signing of the commission of inquiry, it has been signed and it is law. We do expect resistance but again I am convinced we all want the best for this industry.”