XAIBE

Elizabeth Pridgeon

Just over a month ago, the village of Xaibe in Corozal celebrated the 59^th birthday of the PUP wholeheartedly, warmly embracing the visit by the Party Leader, Hon. John Briceño, and members of the Party Executive.  The village has the appearance of a flourishing hamlet, bustling with activity, and always well maintained and carefully kept.  However, despite the emphasis on appearance and community solidarity, there are many underlying issues that are cause for concern at present.

The 2000 Census recorded 1254 residents of Xaibe village, but the village continues to grow and now takes up several square miles of land, neatly divided into relatively decent-sized residential lots.  The village boasts a well-maintained school, numerous grocery shops, a hardware store, a cybernet cafe and a swimming pool-cum-bar with intentions of opening a golf course and tilapia farm on site (although sensible members of the electorate are well advised to steer clear of the latter, as the landlord holds a misplaced grudge against the PUP and is quite venomous in his rambling political soliloquies).

The village as a whole has repeatedly voted the PUP village council, headed by the enigmatic Luciano Noh, for over 6 years and community affairs have – according to nearly all residents – worked well under the current council.  However, as is the case throughout Belize, finances are getting tighter and employment opportunities scarcer, and villagers from Xaibe are not immune to ‘feeling the pinch’.  Shop-keepers complain of heightened competition between vendors, a situation made worse by the overall decreasing demand for goods as more villagers are forced to rely on contraband Mexican goods solely to be able to provide for themselves and their families as inflation continues to afflict rural communities throughout our country.

The majority of villagers made their wealth during the climax of the sugar cane industry, and villagers are grateful to the past economy for having provided houses and land which, in today’s tight times, would be impossible to acquire.  However, the labour force of Xaibe today has forcibly become more fluid, adjusting to new industries and job vacancies that will at least provide a bare minimum salary, such as at the nearby Fruta Bomba papaya farm, and in the retail and service industry in the Free Zone and border Casinos.  For those who have not been able to secure employment locally, many have left the village to join more promising tourist industries in the Cayes and elsewhere in the country, although the current economic crisis is warranting many of these to suffer un- (or under-) employment too.

Regardless of the financial hardships experienced by most of Xaibe’s residents, there is still an admirable level of community solidarity and cooperation within the village.  The latest objective, adopted by an active volunteer group of 10 people, is the creation of a community park adjacent to the school.  This movement has received unwavering support from nearly all community members, and villagers have contributed time and resources to assist in the first stages of this project.  Already, land has been cleared and a trail prepared for the construction phase of the walkway, envisaged to follow the circumference of the park.  The village has a remarkable (and well organised) record of fundraising for the community park; initiatives have included a fair, a 5-aside marathon, the sale of BBQ, a talent show, tombolas, the sale of donated food and drink, and a grand raffle of the latest SMART phone.  There is no doubting that the park is something wanted – and needed – by community residents, and with local donations exceeding $1000 in profit, and the repeated volunteering of almost 30 village men to clear the land for the site, it could be presumed that the park is now well on the way to completion.  However, the village was forced to make an unenviable decision, after the NGO Humana People to People promised financial support and were then not forthcoming in actually donating it.  The village chairman, speaking on behalf of the village group, announced last month that the village would no longer depend on Humana People to People for support, and they had informed the NGO that they wanted no more communication with them.  There is a little uncertainty as to what triggered this decision, although villagers continue to fundraise, and the group recently purchased a bulk load of second hand clothing in order to re-sell and generate further funds to be used once the creation of the park re-starts.

It is rare that a grassroots village group is as proactive and successful as in Xaibe, partly because of divisions and discrepancies that invariably arise and divide the movement.  In Xaibe, however, residents remain as unified and supporting as ever, which further advocates the fact that any such village deserves to have a community park as it will be used for beneficial purposes that will further unite residents.  The long-term goal is to also create a pavilion in the centre of the park that will act as a performance stage and a place from which to deliver community speeches.

Despite these hard times, residents of Xaibe are striving to improve their standard of living, and to encourage the younger generations to stay in the village as opposed to seeking employment and futures elsewhere.  With limited support from the current national administration, and decreasing job opportunities on a national scale, it can only be hoped that the government will begin to make amends by reversing the current economic crisis and empowering the community to further realise their ambitions for the village of Xaibe.  Until then, it is understandable that numerous villagers feel neglected and have striven to promote the status and services of Xaibe without the financial support of the government or other outside organisations.  Determination and dedication are common sentiments in Xaibe, which continues to give hope that, for this village at least, the future may have a happier ending than many other places in Belize.

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