Camera Helping KC Girl Build Belize Road
KMBC.com – LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. – A vacation with her grandparents has spurned a 10-year-old Lee’s Summit girl to start an effort that has gone international. Gigi Harris was visiting her grandparents in Belize this winter. Around New Year’s, she started shooting with her video camera what she calls the forgotten village of San Mateo (in San Pedro).
She said the residents were contented but have so little. She said instead of roads they walk on boards. “They were so happy with so little they were so amazing that I really wanted to help,” Gigi told KMBC’s Maria Antonia. “They are just these amazing people.”
Gigi brought the video back. She learned to edit on her mother’s computer. The Mason Elementary School student then posted her documentary online. “I really wanted to help,” she said.
As a result of Gigi’s five-minute video, people are donating to build a three-block long road for San Mateo residents. The work will cost $40,000 and half of it has already been raised. Some of the money came from Gigi’s Girl Scout troop. Gigi is working on a second documentary about construction of the road.
The University of Mississippi is now helping with Gigi’s project. If you want to donate to the effort, a check should be made out to “San Mateo Empowerment Project,” care of Dr. Kim Shackelford, University of Mississippi Department of Social Work, Longstreet, Room 214, University, MS 38677. To go to a Facebook page on the project, click here.
[...] a companion piece check out the latest from Ambergris Daily on Camera Helping KC 10 year old girl Gigi Harris who is helping Build Belize a [...]