Belize get free entrance to museum during September

Free entrance to Museum of Belize in September

Channel 5 Belize | There will be plenty to see and take part in during the celebrations of Belize’s twenty nine years of Independence. Favourite events include the Carnival Road March and the Citizen’s Parade. It is a time of year that all Belizeans across the diaspora return home and what better way to treat them than with a free guided tour of the Museum of Belize. That’s right, the museum is offering free entrance and tours to all Belizeans during the celebrations.

Shauniece Heusner, Research and Education Officer, Museum of Belize
“We’re having “I am Belize” weekend because we’re celebrating the month ogf September, our twenty-nine years of independence. Since the team for this year is “United and Proud, Moving Forward, I am Belize” we chose that name I am belie weekends because all weekends in the month of September will be free for all Belizeans to come in and view the museum. Our opening hours will be nine to one p.m.”

Jose Sanchez
“What will people be able to see during the month of September at the Museum?”

Shauniece Heusner
“Everything on exhibit. You can come in and you can go at your own pace. We will have the Pirates exhibit on display, Stamps of Belize, Coins of Belize, logwood, peoples’ display, the Maya Masterpieces, Jades of Belize, and Insects of Belize. You can come and you can shop and buy souvenirs and mementos at our gift shop.”

To accommodate the cruise lines and the patriotic alike, the museum will be open for a few hours during the tenth of September.

Back to school scholarships from Belize Kids First

Belize Kids First Scholarships

Channel 5 Belize | With the lingering effects of the economic hard times, many families battled to allocate the back to school dollar. For a few, it was a little less painful through initiatives that sprung to ensure that the children looked smart and were well equipped to report to the classrooms. News Five’s Isani Cayetano has the story of a scholarship program that recognized three students who love all that the classroom has to offer.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Primary schools across the country re-opened classrooms this morning to welcome their enrolment for the new academic year. It’s a difficult economic time, but parents and teachers have been busy getting things together to allow for a smooth transition. The process, for most, began in June at the end of the last school year and continued today with orientation. While some parents have been able to cover the cost of registration, others have been struggling to make ends meet. This morning one local organization, with help from the Belize City Council, made life a bit easier for a handful of needy students. Leading the charge to keep these students in school is Annie Palacio, founder of Belize Kids First.

Annie Palacio, Founder, Belize Kids First

“We have found out that many children attend school but they don’t really have what they need. Most of likely tuition is one of the main things and the organization was just there for them to get their tuition to go back to school but we found out that the children need much more than that. So we ended up paying for tuition, books, uniforms, other accessories including shoes, even down to socks because if you want to attend school you need to look successful. So we didn’t stop at just at tuition but we took care of everything else for most of these children and most of them come from homes that their parents are really trying. They’re unemployed, they’re seeking jobs but they can’t find it at the time and these children want to attend school.”

Realizing the importance of that idea to assist these children was Mayor Zenaida Moya-Flowers. (more…)

Benny’s Belizean Megastructure

Benny's New Superstore

7 News Belize | It is among the tallest structures in Belize and The long anticipated opening of the multi-million dollar Benny’s Superstore mile 2 and a half on the Northern Highway took place today. Our team was as curious as anyone else and found that the new six story mega structure offers a few welcome perks to customers.

Jim McFadzean, Reporting
It stands six storeys high and boasts more than 18,000 cubic feet of space, making it one of the most spacious commercial shopping centers in the old capital. So why all this space?

Sean Feinstein, Managing Director
“We have been in the same location for quite some time now, the company has expanded its lines; 3,4,5 fold over the years; we’ve gone into equipment; we’ve gone into appliances; we’ve gotten much deeper into the tool line, heavier into lighting and we basically outgrew our space 3 or 4 years ago.”

While space remains a premium at the old Benny’s showroom on Regent Street, as one can see behind me, there is no shortage of that here at this superstore. (more…)

Editorial: Season of Stress

Amandala | Well now, here we go again. In Belize we believe the hurricane season really begins with September and ends in October. These two months are when we have historically experienced most of our hurricane excitement.

The thing about a major hurricane is that in a matter of three or four days, after the first serious warning, you may have to pick up everything you can and run for your life, and when you reach your place of refuge, sometimes less than a day after that you may be given the “all clear.” Go back home, and resume life as usual. Hurricanes, beloved, are humbling experiences. They put things in perspective. There are no guarantees in life.

In the years since Hurricane Mitch scared the bejesus out of Belizeans in 1998, then swerved south at the last minute to devastate Honduras and the Bay Islands, San Pedro Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker have been battered by Keith, Placencia has been levelled by Iris, and Corozal Town and environs seriously damaged by Dean. Casualties have been minimal, but structural damage immense. It is impossible to make an accurate assessment of the damage to agricultural crops and marine fisheries.

Despite these serious storms, Belizeans realize that, compared to New Orleans, say, we have been fortunate. Since the last time Belize City was struck by a major storm, Hurricane Hattie in 1961, New Orleans has been struck twice by brutes – Betsy in 1965 and Katrina in 2005. The law of averages suggests Belize’s population center, which was merely bothered by Hurricane Greta in 1978, would be wise to say some prayers. (more…)

2010 September Celebrations Kick Off

Official Plaque

San Pedro Sun | Sunday August 29th 2010 marked the official Opening of 2010 September Celebrations. Under the theme “United and Proud – Moving Forward – I am Belize!” The opening ceremonies took place at the St. George’s Caye Cemetery. The day included presentations by: Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture; Dr. Jaime Awe, Ms. Diane Haylock, Mr. John Searle, Jr. among others. Food and entertainment were provided.

St. George’s Caye to become the newest village in Belize

St George's Caye Belize - photo by Astrum Helicopters

Love FM | Yesterday, at the official opening of the September Celebration, it was declared that St. George’s Caye would become the newest village in the country. This past Tuesday Cabinet approved a request made by the St. George’s Caye Community Council for the official designation of St. George’s Caye to village status. Gabriel Martinez is the Minister of Rural Development.

Gabriel Martinez; Minister of Culture

“I would like to premise my remarks by first of all conveying my congratulations as Minister with responsibility for Rural Development to the members of the St. George’s Caye community on having garnered the consent of the Government of Belize to become the newest village among the 194 villages and communities in Belize. Needless to say this is a stealer accomplishment particularly for the members of this community who for many years have envisioned village status for this caye. I also must congratulate the members of the St. George’s Caye Community Council going as far back as 1998 under the chairmanship of Mr. Karl Menzies for seeing St. George’s Caye not only as a historical land mark in Belize, which it is and which we Belizeans are proud of, but as a place to be preserved and properly administered.”

The residents of St. George’s Caye, almost one hundred strong, will now have more control over the affairs of the caye as the community council will now be replaced with a village council. (more…)

Belize students improve in more than half of CXC subjects

Amandala | The preliminary May/June 2010 results of the regional examinations for secondary schools and junior colleges have been released, noting substantial improvements over the 2009 performance on a range of subjects, in some cases showing better results than the average regional performance for the Caribbean.

The release informs, “English A and English B demonstrated notable improvements of 16.5 and 24.3 percent increase respectively in the proportion of subject entries receiving satisfactory level of performance or above (grades I-III). Mathematics exhibited a 1.7 percent increase for grades I–III.”

For Belize, “Preliminary [CXC] results show that of the 31 subjects sat, performance improved in 18 subjects; declined in 12 and 1 remained the same.” Regionally, of the 34 CSEC subjects offered, performance improved in 14 subjects, declined in 14 subjects and remained the same in six subjects.

Belize performed above the regional average in Information Technology with 90% passes versus the 83% regional amount of passes. “The reoccurring challenges of Programming and Database Management were once again cited as weakness of candidates,” said the regional CXC office. “In addition, the examining committee has recommended that teachers pay more attention to the areas of Problem Solving, Programming, Database Management and Binary Arithmetic.” (more…)

Water taxi says no one was injured on boat

San Pedro Water Jets

Channel 5 Belize | About a week ago, San Pedro Water Jets, opened a branch of its operation in Belize City. The new water taxi business hopes to bring competition to the industry. But an incident which occurred after four p.m. on Thursday appeared to have damaged the reputation of the organization rather than the boat in the question. According to the general manager of the domestic branch of San Pedro Water Jets, no one was injured in the incident.

Harrison Longsworth, General Manager, San Pedro Water Jets (Domestic Branch):
“Actually what happened was that on approaching the pier on the back side of Caye Caulker, which is the normal approach to let the people off on that pier, a cable broke on the console of the boat and it didn’t stop as quickly as it should have. It was gliding in—normally the way it glides in to settle at the dock, it couldn’t be reversed in time and it hit the bulwark. It was a slight bump, it wasn’t anything of consequence and the break in the cable happens as any veteran captain or seaman will tell you, these cables will break; they may be new and they will break. So it happens minimally, but this in an incident where it happened and the captain lost control of the engine briefly and it came to a stop by hitting the bulwark.” (more…)

GOB plans to makes changes at Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve

Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve Belize

Love FM | The Government of Belize has launched a multiple-ministry approach to the sustainable development of the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve. A team of CEO’s from various government ministries including the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Tourism recently toured the reserve and discussed opportunities for the creation of a model for sustainable development which aims to fuel an increase in tourism in the area.

The plan being considered includes the transformation of the Douglas D’Silva Camp into a planned community which will serve as an activity centre for the area, the establishment of a training camp for the Belize Defense Force in a designated area of the reserve to provide greater presence by our security forces in the reserve and upgrading the St. Augustine Airstrip as a part of overall municipal airstrip upgrade projects as well as upgrading the main access road from the Western Highway.

Belize Chamber of Commerce and Idustry calls for meeting of Public Account Committee

Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Love FM | The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is calling for a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives. This is in response to the findings revealed in the Auditor General’s report for April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. A release from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry says that since the release of the report it has been calling for the assembly of the Public Accounts Committee.

This extremely important parliamentary committee is charged with ensuring that the rules and procedures instituted for the proper management of public funds are adhered to and with protecting against the abuse of power in the use of public funds. The Chamber says with the re-invigoration of the Office of the Auditor General, the demonstrated professionalism of the current Auditor General, and the five of seven reports tabled in the House of Representatives to date, there is absolutely no reason for an inactive Public Accounts Committee. The Chamber publicly renews its call for the immediate assembly of the Public Accounts Committee, for its participants to approach their mandate with the importance it deserves and for the release of regular reports of it work. (more…)