Rotarians Donate Playground to All Saints Primary School

Over the last four days, Rotarians have been toiling in the sweltering heat to upgrade the playground for the students at All Saints’ Anglican Primary School in Belize City. The playground was completed and opened for play today. News Five’s Paul Lopez has the story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

All Saints’ Anglican Primary School in Belize City has a new playground. And, although students are out on holiday, some of them were present for its grand opening.

 

Maria Price, District Governor, Rotary District 4250

“With the Emmanuel Foundation, today Belize City has had fourteen playgrounds put in, this being the fourteenth one. So thank you very much for coming here and really doing such a great job for our children, our schools and our communities.”

 

Members of the Vegreville Rotary Interact Club in Canada were also present for the official opening of the playground. This is the ninth time that these clubs have collaborated with the Rotary Club of Belize to rehabilitate a playground.

 

Greg Senko, Rotary Club of Vegreville

“We are very grateful and privileged to come to such a beautiful country. I would like to thank the interact club for going beyond the call of duty. Yesterday in the heat, it was a pretty crazy event. And also, super big thank you to Cisco for providing the party and all the other help you have given us.”

 

Rylee Heisler, Interact Club of Vegreville

“A special shoutout to all the amazing students I worked with. We all united with a common goal, to build a playground and to bring joy to this community. Our hard work, teamwork and positive spirits kept us motivated to keep us going. Today we laughed, worked and made a lasting impact. I am grateful for every one of you.”

 

A little over six hundred students are enrolled at All Saints’ Anglican Primary School. The Rotary Club of Belize undertakes these kinds of creative educational initiatives as a part of its annual service projects, which also include feeding and literacy programmes.

 

Maria Price

“For the teachers, the students and community for all saints, this playground is a gift, a gift that has been donated by not only the Canadian people but the Rotary Clubs, the interact clubs who come here every year to do these projects and get such good feedback from us. So I hope from the local community wise that you take care of the playground. We found that playgrounds enhance attendance at schools, enhance education for children because they wish to come to school.”

 

Collin Estrada, Principal, All Saints Anglican School

“I pledge that the playground will be a safe space for our students, that it will be a place of friendship and comradery for our students. That is our pledge. On behalf of everyone, I would want to thank the Rotary Club of Belize, the Rotary Club of Canada, the Vegreville interacts who have been here. They have had a change in temperature whereby it is minus forty right now and it is snowing when they left home and they came to this blistering sun hot and they have done so without complaint, so let us give them a round of applause.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.