Elizabeth Pridgeon

PCSD is a not-for-profit corporation, run by a group of volunteers, who seek to protect and respect the natural environment along the entire length of the Placencia Peninsula.  Established in 2006, PCSD now has a strong following of active members from all three villages of the Peninsula (Placencia, Seine Bight and Maya Beach) alongside an avid group of interested people who follow the organisation’s invaluable work from further afield.  A grass-roots environmental group of this nature is a critical force in the sustainable and appropriate development of any tourist area in Belize, and as such it is guaranteeing the livelihoods of future generations of the Peninsula.  This week’s Nation Builder is therefore the PCSD as an organisation, and its Board of Directors in particular.

PCSD has multiple objectives, all of which it actively ensures it fulfils.  The organisation circulates information to local residents (and other interested parties) about environmental and developmental issues of contemporary importance on the Peninsula, ensuring that dubious developmental plans cannot be ‘slipped’ through the approval process without the majority of residents being made aware of the implications.  Numerous such occasions could have caused mass-destruction of the native habitats without the prompt and proactive involvement of PCSD.  Controversial issues, such as Placencia North International Airport, the Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course and Placencia Marine have been vociferously contested, a campaign which has been continuously led by PCSD.

The organisation sought media support in August of last year when plans were leaked for a casino, hundreds of Canadian time-share apartments and the widespread ‘sale’ and development of just about every inch of the Peninsula that was before then unaccounted for.  Bringing to light the dubious nature of the National Environment Advisory Committee (NEAC), the PCSD focused on the excessive development proposals for Big and Little Channel Cayes, 14 miles northeast of Placencia, and demanded that the developers be mandated to complete a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).  Without the PCSD spearheading this campaign, and acting as spokesperson for many concerned parties, it is probable that unsustainable and damaging development would have gone ahead without so much as a backward glance at the destruction it would cause.  This is just one example of how PCSD literally fights for the rights of the natural environment.

Two key figures in PCSD are co-chairpersons Ms. Mary Toy and Mr. Vincent Lopez.  Both have been instrumental in fostering support for PCSD initiatives and in educating and promoting the importance of environmental protection for the entire Peninsula (and beyond). Ms. Mary Toy focuses her efforts predominantly within the Placencia community, while Mr Vincent Lopez works out of his home in Seine Bight.  Mr Vincent, affectionately called “Mr V” by all who know him, says he was approached by a couple who encouraged him to join in the early days of the organisation, and he has never looked back: once he knew it represented a group effort to protect the environment, he hurriedly joined and has been an active member ever since.  He considers his role, as a member of PCSD, to be a “Watchdog of the Environment”, and he takes this responsibility very seriously.

PCSD has recently started to publish a regular newsletter called “Roots and Reef” which is circulated both in hard copies and on the internet, which promises to secure wide readership and to continue the task of educating the masses about environmental concerns on the peninsula.  The group has also proved a role model to other environmental groups: the South Coast Citizens for Sustainable Development (SCCSD) was formed to extend such work of the PCSD into the Toledo district, and the Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development (ACCSD) has a similar role on the northern cayes.

The PCSD realise the crux of the development conundrum to be that, while rapid development may solve unemployment issues of the moment, they will destroy not only employment opportunities, but the very basis of our country in the future.  As such, the PCSD works tirelessly to protect the environment for a brighter Belizean future, building a healthy nation for our children’s children.  A truly commendable nation builder.

Last week, Belize said goodbye to a truly remarkable nation builder: Pastor Percival Slusher, who departed this life on Sunday, 14^th February 2010, aged eighty-two years old.  Pastor “Percy” was husband to adoring wife, Guillermina (nee Baizar), father to fourteen children (eleven of whom survive him), grandfather to 34, great-grandfather to 6, leader to hundreds, more likely thousands of Evangelical followers, and an exemplary role model to every Belizean who had the privilege of knowing him.

Few would believe that Pastor Slusher’s home had not always been in Belize, for he was known as a patriotic Belizean.  However, the Pastor’s early roots lay in Honduras, where he remained until tragedy befell him at the tender age of sixteen, when his mother died (his father having abandoned the family when he was still nursing).  And so it was all change for the young Percival, who headed to Belize to find support from distant family members in Stann Creek.  However, unaccustomed to Belizean life, and struggling to find a job, Percival soon moved northwards to accept the first employment opportunity he was granted, at Salt Creek Estate on the (now Old) Northern Highway.

In late 1951, as though a symbol that his end of suffering had come, Percival met his future wife, Guillermina, who later became the ‘rock’ of stability that would hold the family together when Percival found his calling preaching the Word of God, a calling which frequently took him away from home for long stints at a time.   By 1959, Percival’s whole outlook on life – and his entire future – was changed forever when he met Teacher and Pastor Ed Blomberg and his wife, who had recently established the New Hope School at Boston Village.  The Slusher couple were both baptised in the Northern River near New Hope, joining the family of the Gospel Missionary Union (which later became the Union Evangelical Churches of Belize – UECB).  As the couple’s family grew, so too did Percival’s role at New Hope, and having started as a menial labourer, willing to undertake any job, be it chopping the yard or running errands for the Church’s leaders, he slowly grew to be one of the most trusted workers on site.  By the late 1960s, he enrolled in Bible School and by the 1970s he was officiated in his new capacity as Pastor.  His first Ministry covered the parish at New Hope and Maskall, after which he was promptly relocated to the Stann Creek district.  And so the whole family moved to Stann Creek, and just as they had completed building a house and settling into their new ‘home’, Pastor Percival felt a calling to Orange Walk.  And once again the family relocated, residing for a brief interim period at King’s College while they sourced accommodation in Orange Walk, and then being blessed with the donation of a house from an ardent admirer, Mr. Celestino Cawich.

And this ‘blessing’ was the first of many such events that would distinguish the life of this beloved Pastor, who it was often said found favour wherever he went.  His first undertaking in Orange Walk was preaching house to house to anyone who sought spiritual guidance or support.  Rapidly, his followers grew in number and he was able to create a makeshift church in a small house on Queen Victoria Avenue.  Then, the mission began its first great challenge: building the Orange Walk Bible Chapel.  All the while, Pastor Percy continued his missionary work, and travelled throughout the district’s villages preaching the Word of the Lord, returning home with stories of his adventures to tell his children: from sleeping in a stable in San Estevan, to navigating the Rio Hondo between San Roman and San Antonio in the hope of selling Bibles.  Soon afterwards, due to persecution suffered by his children in the regular schools, the mission dedicated its energies to creating a new, non-discriminatory educational establishment, Chapel School.

In the late 1970s, Pastor Percy chose to continue his studies of the Bible in Michigan, USA, but after six months his physical separation from his wife proved too much for the couple to contend with, and he returned to his family in Belize, never begrudging the personal sacrifice he made for the sake of his family.  In keeping with this kindly nature, his wife says she always considered him “another Job”, having saintly patience and an unwavering faith.

Sadly, in 2001, Reverend Percy suffered the first of many strokes, which left him partially disabled in his upper body.  Over the following nine years, his body was rippled with repeated strokes, and despite trips abroad to seek medical treatment, he was unable to reverse the downward spiral of deteriorating health.   On 14^th February 2010 his suffering ended and his family rejoice that he was at last taken by angels to the house of his Lord.

His extraordinary life – the life of a true Belizean nation builder – was celebrated by hundreds at Orange Walk Bible Chapel on Friday 19^th February, and the community of Orange Walk can only Praise the Lord that the town was blessed to be home to such a remarkable man for so many years of his life.

Ms Ienna, who has been known as “Ms Birdie” throughout the course of her life, is almost a celebrity in her own right.  You can stop a passer-by on any street in Belize City, and chances are that even if they don’t know Ms Birdie personally, they will know of her.  And once you get around her neighbourhood on Pelican Street, just about everybody can direct you to her house.  Not only that, for within the political sphere, everybody knows Ms Birdie as one of the few people who never misses a PUP meeting, nor a conference, nor a rally.  For over 50 years, Ms Birdie has made it her objective to not just observe politics, but to actively direct them.

Ms Birdie was born the eldest child of eight, and lived at the family home on the north-side of the City.  The absence of her father meant that financial constraints on the family were particularly hard on Ms Birdie as the eldest, and even after impressive academic achievements at Ebenezer Methodist Primary School, she was unable to further her education at high school.  Thus, at the tender age of 12½ years old, Ms Birdie joined the working world, helping her employer cater three meals a day to working men temporarily based in the City.  After three years of earning at the most $1.50 a week (not to mention giving the entirety of her wages directly to her mother to assist with the maintenance of her younger siblings), Ms Birdie sought improved employment opportunities as a washer-woman for a brotherhood of priests, where she earned a much improved $10 a week.

Throughout her teenage years, Ms Birdie worked in order to support her family at home, and when she met Mr Gilbert Sealy and later married him, she did not forget her obligations to her family.  Moving to a new premises on Pelican Street (where she remains today) would have proved a great advancement for the couple and their two children had her mother not tragically died just days after the move; instead of beginning to acquire her possessions and develop her home as planned, Ms Birdie unexpectedly became surrogate mother to all seven of her younger siblings, who all remained in her care until ‘fleeing the nest’ in adulthood.  Few people would have so selflessly sacrificed their personal progression for the sake of younger siblings; Ms Birdie believes that her inspiration was her mother, who had always raised the family to know that they were like a ‘chain’, thus not one link can be forgotten nor neglected.

With nine children under her roof, Ms Birdie and her husband were (not surprisingly) unable to maintain the family without finding new gainful employment opportunities.  And so Ms Birdie began cooking food wholesale to sell to passing trade.  Johnny cakes and Creole bread became daily staples sold by Ms Birdie outside her house, which not only generated a supplementary income for the family, but also provided the growing household with nutritional sustenance sufficient to promote their healthy development.  Her culinary prowess rapidly became well reputed about town, and so when she started selling plates of food at mid-day (such as rice and beans, seré, and stew beans and white rice), her name for good cooking preceded her, and she created a niche market for herself in the fledgling street food industry of Belize City.  Even today, she still cooks every quincena to sell her produce to a regular crowd outside Brodies on Regent Street.

Aside from her cooking and family duties, Ms Birdie still found the time and energy to partake actively in the political process, in which she first became involved in 1954 (even though, at the time, she still didn’t qualify to actually vote).  She assisted the fledgling PUP with their promotion of independence by accompanying representatives on their canvassing campaigns, and she voluntarily helped the party in whatever way she could because she knew that the PUP could lead Belize into a brighter future.

A great role model in Ms Birdie’s life was Ms Gwen Lizarraga for her selfless contribution to the Belize City community.  I think it is safe to say that Ms Birdie, in every way, mirrors the achievements made by Ms Lizarraga, and in some aspects even exceeds them: from providing a ‘home’ for her seven orphaned siblings, to caring for her extended family, to contributing to the food providers of Belize, to altruistically promoting the betterment and development of her country through the People’s United Party.  Since 1993, Ms Birdie has also been an active Justice of the Peace, and she is recognised by the Order of Distinguished Service.  And throughout it all, Ms Birdie has remained a faithful servant of God, dedicating her daily devotions to the country of Belize and its people.  There could, surely, be no greater Nation Builder than Ms Birdie.

Teacher Idollyn Adolphus has, for the past 27 years, dedicated herself to the Ontario Christian School (under the umbrella of Belize Faith Missions), based in the village of Ontario along the Western highway, situated just a few miles west of Belmopan.  For the past seventeen years (of the 27 years total service), Ms Idollyn has been one of the most proactive and productive Principals the school has ever known.

To really understand the dedication that Ms Idollyn has shown, it is necessary first to appreciate the setting in which she works.  Ontario Christian School was the most successful and long-standing project to have been initiated by Rev. Millhollen and his wife when they first came to Belize in 1958.  Their vision was to establish a community that would not only live according to Christian principles, but would actively minister these principles throughout the district too. The Millhollen’s had numerous visions that they fulfilled: firstly, their Church (latterly renamed as the Millhollen Memorial Tabernacle) grew to have one of the biggest congregations in its area; secondly, the residential home they created for elderly members of the community was well patronised and became a leader in its field during its years of existence; and thirdly, the school and former children’s home grew from supporting a handful of adolescents, into being a major player in the district’s educational sector.

Today, Ontario Christian School, under the leadership of Ms Idollyn, educates 386 students between the ages of 3 and 14 years, from a catchment radius spanning between Belmopan and San Ignacio.  While the school continues to be considered as falling beneath the Belize Faith Missions organisation, it is now also part-funded by the Government of Belize, and local fundraisers are also necessary to support in-house initiatives.  Thus projects such as the Feeding Program, created by Ms Idollyn to cater food for the most needy students, are self-funded by weekly “Glad Rag” days, which collects sufficient funds to buy the ingredients and cook the food for the Feeding Program every Tuesday and Thursday.

Ms Idollyn has captured the respect and admiration of hundreds of parents, staff and management officials in her twenty-seven years at the school, through various programs that she has initiated to promote the betterment of the school.  When Ms Idollyn first arrived, the exterior of the school was somewhat drab and dreary, and was housed principally in the church building itself.  Today, the entire school premises are brightly painted and eye-catching to the visitor, which is no small feat now that the school uses nine classrooms and a computer lab.  Furthermore, outside the classrooms is now a well-furnished park for which Ms Idollyn worked hard to acquire the donations of extensive playing facilities including monkey-bars, see-saws, swings and climbing frames.  Another major change that has occurred through Ms Idollyn’s influence is the introduction of a school uniform for pupils of Ontario Christian School, and more importantly the acquisition of donations from congregations in the United States for those children whose families were unable to purchase uniforms.  The safety of the students has always been a principal concern of Ms Idollyn too, and when she saw the opportunity of acquiring a fence around the perimeter of the premises, alongside encouraging the Ministry of Works to create a speed-bump on the road outside, she avidly fought for both, and was successful.  Never one to shy away from applications and proposals, Ms Idollyn can also be credited with acquiring the funding for the plumbing which transformed the former latrines for students’ use.  Another proposal which Ms Idollyn wholeheartedly undertook was to seek funding for a computer lab, and computers to equip the lab; needless to say, Ms Idollyn never leaves a project incomplete, and the school now hosts one of the best 22-computer labs in the district.

Ms Idollyn never anticipated working at the Ontario Christian School, but a chance encounter with the initial founders directed her to a new career and a new life-path – which has proved to be one which Ms Idollyn certainly does not regret.  However, at the end of June, Ms Idollyn will be retiring from her post of Principal at the Ontario Christian School, and she will be sadly missed by students, parents and staff alike.  Following a lifetime’s career in the education sector, however, Ms Idollyn’s retirement will be far from a time to rest and relax, as she has already committed to another administrative job at a primary school in San Ignacio town, where she lives.  After so many years dedicated to children in her care, one might wonder how Ms Idollyn plans to ‘reward’ herself.  Far from it, it seems: Ms Idollyn is a devoted Pentecostal Christian, and she believes that all the blessings the school has received during her term as Principal are a result of God’s blessings, rather than her own hard work and determination.  It can only be concluded that God has indeed blessed Ontario Christian School with a Principal such as Ms Idollyn for so many years, and by extension He has blessed Belize with someone who has so altruistically striven to build a firm basis for the future generations of Belize.  This week’s Belize Times’ Nation Builder is a most deserving Ms Idollyn Adolphus, for her ongoing contributions to the education sector of Belize, and more specifically, in her capacity as Teacher and Principal at Ontario Christian School.

Ms Susie Vega, current President of the Orange Walk branch of the Belize National Teachers’ Union, has been a phenomenal force in the education sector of northern Belize – not only in her varying roles with the BNTU, but also in her capacity as a long-standing member of staff at the town’s high schools, and as an active member of the Orange Walk community.

At an early age, Ms Vega moved to Orange Walk with her parents and siblings, and enrolled first at La Inmaculada Primary School, and then on to Muffles High School and St John’s College Sixth Form in Belize City.  Upon graduation from St. John’s, Ms. Susie accepted the post of teacher at Orange Walk Technical High School, where she trained in a range of subjects including accounting, office procedures, English literature and Spanish.  However, Ms Susie became increasingly aware that in order to better cater to the needs of her students, and to better prepare them for the future, she required further education herself, and in the late 1980s Ms Susie enrolled at the University of Belize in Business Administration.

During her student years, Ms Susie was elected President of the Student Government Association, which was the beginning of Ms Susie’s public representational roles.  Throughout her time as President, Ms Susie organised various fundraising activities, she raised various social issues to the debating arena, and she was instrumental in establishing regional communication between tertiary educational institutions across Central America and the Caribbean with the ambition of sharing ideas in order to improve the regional educational framework.

Upon graduation from the UB, Ms Susie returned to her teaching post at Orange Walk Technical High School, where she completed ten years of service before moving on to Muffles Junior College to tutor in finance and accounting.  Shortly afterwards, she once again relocated to the High School section of Muffles, where she took over a staggering amount of responsibility for teaching various subjects, including Accounting, Type-writing and World Processing, Literature, Social Studies, Spanish, Economics and Caribbean History.  Alongside her teaching role, Ms Susie volunteered to foster in her students a greater appreciation of their cultural heritage, and she initiated Dia de la Hispanidad (Culture Day), which has since become a popular annual event for residents across Orange Walk, not just students of Muffles High School.  Ms Susie never lost sight of the importance of cultural revival and self-identification, and she believes a lot of her self-confidence is a result of the immense pride she feels in her Mestizo/Maya/Aztec roots.  She is disturbed by the obvious signs of local youth being unable to connect to their ethnic heritage – signs such as inappropriate behaviour, dress, language and music – and her recommendation to Belizeans to overcome this hurdle is to turn to God in prayer – as a nation.

Ever since her initial involvement in the teaching community of Orange Walk in the 1980s, Ms Susie has been a member of the Belize National Teachers’ Union.  Since then, she has fulfilled numerous roles with the union, and has on numerous occasions been elected officer prior to her election last year as President of the Orange Walk branch.  She is now the key coordinator for over 300 members from 39 schools across the district, and she represents her members on a national and international level, whilst creating discourse with other members and groups within her own district.  Her role also requires her to stimulate communication between members through activities such as education week, teachers’ day and cultural conventions.  Her ultimate aim is to stand up for the rights of teachers, and whilst she has had to overcome fear, bias and criticism at times, she knows that the subsequent fair and peaceful decision making processes are a worthwhile result of her hard work and determination.

Despite her already hectic schedule, Ms Susie also enjoys membership to the La Inmaculada Choral Group, which not only performs in Church and elsewhere on a fortnightly basis, but is also currently hosting weekly practices in preparation for recording a CD of their church songs in mid-February.  As if this were not sufficient in the way of extra-curricular activity, Ms Susie is also an active member of the Belize Association for the Development of the Arts (BADA), with whom she is currently directing a cultural play entitled “Maya Stand Up” which should be performed in April of this year.

Through all Ms Susie’s roles, she has touched the lives of hundreds – probably thousands – of Orangewalkaños: not merely those whom she teaches, but her colleagues, fellow BNTU members, peers from choir, and actors and promoters with BADA.  She has truly had a changing effect on Orange Walk town and has been responsible for numerous positive and developmental changes to the district.  Her tireless work leaves her little room for improvement, other than fulfilling her ambition to spend more quality time with her four children and their respective families.

Anyone who is willing to sacrifice quality family time for the betterment of their local society deserves a medal.  The best we can do – for now – is recognise her as this week’s Belize Times’ Nation Builder.

For those who don’t know Carolyn Carr by name, they certainly know at least one piece of her phenomenal artwork: the cover of the BTL phonebook 2009, which features an intricate picture of Belizean domestic life, with a mother cooking whilst her children, various animals and even neighbours are all clearly depicted in the background.

Carolyn Carr moved to Belize from Colorado with her husband and three children in 1977, and ever since has had the multiple roles as owner/hotel proprietor and manager at Banana Bank, between the villages of Roaring Creek and Valley of Peace in the Cayo district. Despite fulfilling numerous full-time roles many times over, Carolyn has also fostered her artistic talent over the course of several decades in Belize, and has now become one of the country’s most acclaimed oil painters.

Carolyn remembers that when she first moved to Belize there was a lacking concept of local art and a dearth of artists (with the obvious exception of George Gabb, Artist Laureate of Belize, and other artists at the time such as Mr. Belisle). It was this apparently under-developed opportunity which encouraged Carolyn to capture images that otherwise would be lost forever, and to artistically record the rapidly changing social aspects of Belizean life. At the time, Belize was suffering a huge brain-drain and outmigration of talented citizens, and there was a widespread perception that Belize offered ‘no hope’ or ‘no future’ to its maturing youth. And so Carolyn began the unenviable task of recording Belize as it was, and of inspiring Belizeans to see the beauty in their surroundings and the brighter prospects for the future. And rare photographic footage held by authorities in Belize City, that Carolyn managed to salvage from destruction, were just another ‘sign’ telling her that she must accept the challenge and recognise the almost unprecedented chance she had been given: to record Belizean history through art. And so famous paintings such as ‘The Market’ and beautiful native wildlife prints were born.

Carolyn’s paintings today are invaluable in the sense that they offer the viewer a real experience of Belizean life spanning several decades, and they show how far along the road of development we have already travelled. Used in conjunction with oral and written documentation of the country’s history, Carolyn’s contribution to recording Belizean change and development is unrivalled.

Carolyn’s artistic skill stems from experimenting with various techniques, all of which have been somewhat ‘fitted in’ around her already hectic lifestyle. To date, she estimates that she has produced somewhere in the region of 40 to 50 oil paintings, nearly all of which remain in Belize. Several of these pieces have been produced, auctioned or sold as a demonstration of Carolyn’s dedication to various local charities and organisations, including Marla’s House of Hope, the Humane Society, the International Women’s Club (Belmopan Branch) and the Jaguar Conservation Trust. Carolyn is particularly moved by the plight of so many Belizean children today who are forced – for various reasons – to grow up in foster care or in communal children’s homes, or in severely impoverished home settings. She realises the utmost importance of the Belizean authorities to control and curb crime, which is spiralling out of control, in order to provide a brighter future to children such as these.

However, Carolyn’s overall perception of Belizean development is widely positive and optimistic for the future. Above all, she is grateful to Belize and its people for having “provided her with endless subjects to paint” and she modestly declares that “I have gained so much more than I have given”. That she has received more than she has given to Belizean society seems an unlikely truth, given the extent of Carolyn’s donations to Belize as a developing nation, and for that she is recognised as this week’s Belize Times’ Nation Builder.

A problem cited by many as contributing to disintegrating social values within Belize today is a certain reluctance among younger generations to contribute to their communities and find gainful employment.  All of us know dozens of perfectly-abled teenagers who prefer to sit at home and watch ‘novelas’ rather than adventure, explore and experience the employment sector.  A generation or two ago, that kind of indolent behaviour was not accepted, least of all by recent migrant communities who sought to sustain themselves and their families in their new homeland of Belize.

One such family was that of Ms Grace Coleman, who today is known throughout southern Belizean as an entrepreneurial force to be reckoned with!  But the accumulated success of Ms. Grace is entirely a product of her determination and persistent hard work over the years, which resulted in one of the most popular restaurant and hotel establishments in all of Punta Gorda.

Ms. Grace’s family emigrated from Guatemala when she was just twelve years old.  By the age of 14, Ms. Grace’s parents expected her to contribute towards the family’s earnings, and she found a job within a dry goods store relatively quickly.  She worked her way progressively through various stores in Punta Gorda town, and ultimately was working evenings in associated restaurants too, which gave her excellent experience in the catering industry as well as the retail sector.

In October 1979, Ms. Grace was full of ambition but lacking financial resources, and she began dabbling in the lottery in the hope of winning just enough to establish her own retail business.  Four months later, Ms. Grace won one of the jackpots, and followed her ambition and invested the money wisely.  The first money-making initiative that Ms Grace implemented was developing the poultry industry in Punta Gorda, which until then had featured a remarkable shortage of chicken products on sale.  Ms. Grace travelled to Belmopan to apply for a licence to import chicken from Guatemala, and upon receipt of this permission, Ms. Grace imported her first batch of Guatemalan chickens to Punta Gorda: a grand total of 51 pounds!  Amazed by the popularity and feasibility of her idea (before long selling up to 800 pounds of chicken every day), it was not long before Ms. Grace’s parents’ property was not big enough to support her enterprise, and in October 1980, Ms. Grace rented her first independent property on Front Street.  She complimented her chicken sales with ideals (for she was still one of the minority of Punta Gorda citizens who had a freezer) and gradually began stocking other dry goods, especially clothes.

Travelling up to Belize City was exhausting for Ms. Grace, who would be away for over 24 hours merely to replenish her stocks of shoes, clothing and fashion accessories.  However, her outstanding record of payment encouraged several big wholesale shops in the City to establish a credit account for Ms. Grace, which meant that she could order products to be delivered, and pay for them upon receipt.  She found great business support from Guatemalan traders, who docked in Punta Gorda in order to stock their boats with modern items that were largely unavailable at the time in nearby Guatemalan towns.

By this time, Ms. Grace had divided her retail businesses, separating food produce from dry goods, and employing certain assistants to help run the business.  However, the economic downturn in the early 1990s forced Ms. Grace to discontinue the sale of chicken and instead focus on improving the sales of dry goods.  Unfazed by the hazards and hard work involved, Ms. Grace acquired a small van in order to transport her goods throughout the district, travelling as far away as Placencia, Hopkins, Georgetown and Bella Vista in order to continue earning sufficient to support her growing family.

Once Ms Grace’s trade had picked up again, she was expedient to invest her money into another enterprise to ensure continued financial turn-over.  In 1992, Ms Grace sought a loan in order to purchase a property to create her own hotel. This she did, and marvels at how it attracted customers within its early years, but she recognised a fault in Punta Gorda which would not encourage visitors to stay: a shortage of restaurants, and the complete closure of all restaurants on Sundays and Public Holidays.  Always eager to provide quality service, Ms. Grace pondered this predicament for several years, and by 1997 she opened her own restaurant adjacent to her hotel.  Although the eatery began by selling traditional Belizean dishes and seafood, demand quickly extended the menu to include a wide selection of international cuisine.

And so, despite having worked for the best part of half a century in Punta Gorda retail and hospitality sectors, Ms. Grace is as eager to please her customers today as ever, and she is continually on the look out for new enterprising initiatives that may prove financially beneficial for her and her family in the future.  Ms. Grace should be held high as an inspiration for the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of youth today who lack the ambition and drive to seek employment and independently sustain themselves.  Without hard-working characters like Ms. Grace Coleman, there is no doubt that Belize wouldn’t boast the productive industries that have become synonymous with the country today.  For this contribution to the development of various service industries in Punta Gorda, therefore, Ms. Grace may be appreciated as a Nation Builder of Belize.

Philanthropy, coined in Ancient Greece, is a term derived from two Greek words: ‘philos’ meaning to love, benefit or nourish, and ‘anthropos’ meaning human kind, thus a philanthropist is a person who is devoted in their love for fellow humans. Ms Flo Johnson is doubtless the epitome of a philanthropist, and it is the social love of her fellow Punta Gorda citizens that qualifies Ms Flo as a quintessential nation builder of Belize.
Miss Flo was born into the Pennell family in Punta Gorda, although after the premature death of her mother she was raised by her maternal grandmother. She attended St Peter Claver Primary School in the town, and later Claver College. In 1967, her educational ambition saw her strive to attend St John’s Sixth Form College, sponsored by her maternal aunts, and her grandmother and younger brother moved with her to Belize City.

Upon graduation in 1969, Ms Flo was invited to return to her home town of PG to accept a teaching post at Claver College, which she remained in for eight years. Despite her passion for teaching, once she began to create a family of her own and she acquired the added responsibilities of wife and mother, Ms Flo resigned from her teaching post and established a shop in order to be able to care for her daughters whilst working. The idea of her children being raised by a domestic help was unthinkable for Ms Flo, and this shop-keeping solution enabled her to continue financially supporting her family whilst also providing the domestic stability and nourishment needed by her husband and daughters.

Johnson’s Store established itself selling clothes, shoes and cosmetics, and later branched out to stock various stationery requirements (principally serving the town’s students and teachers). However, Ms Flo’s teaching career was far from over. In the late 1990s, a Claver College reunion inspired a group of alumni to realise that their successes in life were down to a solid educational foundation, received at the College during their teenage years. With the guidance of Father Webber, the group strove to establish an extension college, as exemplified by the St John’s Extension in Belize City. The dream of providing the same opportunities in Punta Gorda seemed too ambitious in the early stages of planning, but through the hard work and determined perseverance of this small group of volunteers, in August 1999 the Claver Extension opened its doors to students wishing to partake in evening classes in order to acquire their High School Diplomas.

Ms Flo, instrumental in the establishment of the College, continued her contributions through filling the post of English teacher (and occasionally assistant Spanish teacher too). The first year of the Claver Extension, nineteen students (from teenagers to forty-somethings) enrolled to develop their educational foundations, and hopefully realise greater employment opportunities for themselves in the long-term. So, despite running her own business and supporting her three daughters in their early lives and education, Ms Flo still found the time and inspiration to teach evening classes – entirely voluntarily. The Extension progressed by charging its students $600/year, but this fee covered only essential utilities and equipment, and only after several semesters were the teachers awarded a stipend (which, Ms Flo admits, was channelled directly back into the Extension through purchasing stationery and necessities for the classes).

The Claver Extension College has graduated over 100 students, many of whom have gone on to be very successful members of the Belizean business community. Yet Ms Flo is disappointed that even a decade later, the College is still not recognised in the national education budget, despite promises from the UDP administration during the pre-election campaign that if they were voted into government, they would provide an annual stipend to ensure the sustainability of the initiative.

Two years ago, Ms Flo resigned from her teaching post because she felt she had neglected her personal business for the sake of the College, which by then was sufficiently established to continue without her professional contribution; she does, however, maintain an avid interest in the College’s affairs, and willingly offers advice and guidance to the current acting personnel. This academic year, almost 100 students are attending classes towards their High School Diploma, and the catchment area of enrolment now extends throughout the villages of Toledo, as far north as Mango Creek.
Two years ago, Ms Flo downscaled her stationery store in order to create more time to reorganise her father-in-law’s hardware enterprise, and she has since employed a University of Belize student to assist with Johnson’s Store (simultaneously assisting him with meeting the financial costs of his degree). Thus she remains as busy as always, despite her daughters now being scattered across the Americas, and her maternal duties having been relieved of some of their former responsibilities. For the immediate future, she will continue participating in every aspect of the Punta Gorda business and social scene (and, from the number of people wishing to pass the time of day with her, it seems she is one of the town’s most revered social butterflies!).

In fact, only a couple of months ago, Ms Flo established a youth program in association with the Methodist Church (where she also acts as a Lay Minister) to encourage parental support and community mentoring for troubled youths, recognising the increasing breakdown of society and the lacking essential values within many families. Ms Flo is a firm believer that social disintegration is a direct result of inadequate discipline being enforced whilst children are growing up, and her successful daughters are proof that loving (yet not overly lenient) parental leadership is essential in instilling a sense of personal responsibility amid younger generations.

Ms Flo continues to contribute to various aspects of society, and undoubtedly she will continue to do so (except when she eventually fulfils her lifelong ambition and tours Europe!). Ms Flo has served the business community of Punta Gorda, she has served the educational sector of the entire Toledo district, yet above all, her worthiness is in her essential philanthropic nature: building a brighter and better Belize has always been the top of priorities for Ms Flo, and for this reason she is recognised as a Belize Times’ Nation Builder.

As Belize desperately struggles to sustain its tourist industry in the current economic downturn, conscientious members of the nation are increasingly seeking new and novel attractions to promote to international visitors.  Whilst the unique Garifuna culture is far from new, it is certainly an attraction worth promoting, as the Garifuna population is seen by many as one of the greatest natural treasures of Belize, and one of the most influential in the development of the nation.

Yet be it due to a limited education system, ethnic tensions or mere indifference, there are still vast pockets of Belizean society made up of people who are entirely ignorant of the value of the Garifuna culture; in various indigenous communities (particularly those geographically removed from Stann Creek and Toledo), people can still be quoted as saying discriminating comments about Dangriga’s population, and other Garifuna communities.  If this week is not a topical opportunity to address this misinformed perception, as the nation enjoys a public holiday to commemorate Garifuna Settlement Day, then it is difficult to say when would be a better time to deal with the issue of cultural pride and ethnic integration of Belize’s Garifuna communities.

Today, the Garifuna communities of Belize are like so many other ethnic groups, forced to discard their native towns and villages in search of employment opportunities elsewhere.  Garifuna villages are being comprised of increasingly ageing populations as younger members leave the area in search of work; Barranco, Seine Bight and Hopkins have all lost some of their brightest youth to the lure of the USA and other international destinations (take Andy Palacio’s long-term residency in the States before his untimely death, for example); elderly residents are increasingly concerned that perhaps their long-standing villages will only survive the duration of another couple of generations.  Even worse is the subsequent loss of Garifuna identity because of the dispersal of its people, and it is a tragic irony that Garifuna cultural pride and heritage is often considered stronger in non-native countries (such as the USA) than it is in Belize.

This week’s Garifuna anniversary offers a supreme opportunity to remind ourselves of how blessed Belize is to be home to so many Gafiuna who have strived to make Belize a stronger, better nation in which we all may live.  The Garifuna have had one of the most tumultuous journeys of any Belizean ethnic group, and whilst public awareness of the plight of the Maya, or the hardships endured by recent Central American immigrants, is elevated to a comprehensive understanding, the ignorance towards the Garifuna story is something educators should be ashamed about.

The Garifuna are not exclusive to the Stann Creek district, nor to Belize as a country, but they form a significant portion of a unique global ethnic group that every Belizean should be proud to have as compatriots.  Their story begins almost 400 years ago, when South American Caribs relocated to the Caribbean island of St Vincent in order to subdue and discipline the native Arawak Indian islanders.  In 1635, when two Spanish ships shipwrecked in the area, carrying hundreds of indentured Nigerians, several of the slaves were able to seek refuge on the island among the Carib-Arawak population, further adding to the genetic mergence of St Vincent’s ethnic population.  Anthropologists recognise the Garifuna as a product of ‘voluntary assimilation’, which indicates the peaceful creation of this new ethnic group, but the ensuing years of searching for a homeland saw very little peace for the Garifuna.

In 1660, a British peace treaty guaranteed the “perpetual possession” of the island to the Garifuna, but less than a decade later, the British broke the treaty and re-claimed the island as a colonial possession.  However, by the mid 1700s (following several generations of prolific reproducing by the Garifuna!), it became increasingly aware that the Garifuna were such a demographic force on St Vincent, that they threatened to jeopardise the inherent success of a colonial mission, and the British sent more and more representatives to the island to subdue the native Garifuna through brute force and persecution.  In 1796 as the Garifuna desperately sought a solution to their imminent enslavement, an intended raid became a fatal defeat for the Garifuna, and the minority of survivors were deported to the Honduran island of Roatán (with the ignorant colonial assumption that the abandoned refugees would quickly die of starvation and disease).  Not so, for the Garifuna flourished and multiplied, meaning that when they were again forced to flee following republican revolt in Honduras, they continued on their epic exodus in even greater numbers.  In 1832, led by the charismatic and ambitious Alejo Benji, a sizeable group of Garifuna arrived on the southern Belizean coastline.  It is this miraculous marine arrival that is celebrated this week in various Garifuna areas, including Dangriga, Hopkins and Punta Gorda.  And what should be remembered of this era is that, for centuries previously, the Garifuna people had faced persecution, injustice and demoralisation, and yet they still arrived in Belize with an optimistic ambition to serve their ‘new’ homeland and to develop their ‘new’ nation.  This they did, with a commendable determination and an impressively successful approach to national development, all the while trying to maintain their cultural heritage and unique ethnicity in order to protect their Garifuna culture from extinction.

In 2001, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) declared the Garifuna culture a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” – in much the same way as various local marine areas (including several ranges of Cayes) were latterly classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  It is only due to the government’s mismanagement and financial greed that the Belizean UNESCO World Heritage Sites are under threat of losing the great privilege of this classification.  Who has the similar fault for not appreciating (nor promoting, nor protecting) the Garifuna culture for the marvel that it is?  Unfortunately, the blame for this cannot rest entirely on the current incumbent government’s shoulders for it is a result of generations of ignorance and misplaced assumptions on the part of all Belizeans, not just those in authority.

This Garifuna Settlement Day, let it be remembered that the Garifuna have been one of the most long-standing ethnic groups of Belizean society, and have been one of the most dedicated working groups, serving the country and assisting with the development of our nation.  This week, the Garifuna people as a group are recognised as the Belize Times’ Nation Builder of Belize.