Watch This Blow Over Too by Fayemarie A Carter


pointing-fingers

Da you! Da you!

A lot has been said, fingers have been pointed but does any of it make a difference? Will anything change? No. Why? Because we aren’t really interested in a solution. Many feel that what is happening in the South Side is irrelevant to their lives. The district people get on the bus and go home as soon as they are finished with whatever business dragged them into the city. The city folks jump into their air conditioned cars and drive to their burglar barred homes and wait for the chaos to blow over. An overriding sentiment seems to be ” I wish they would just hurry up and kill each other out.” Horrified yet? Maybe. Maybe not.

The self righteous religious people pray to God and assure themselves that the only reason these gang bangers are dying is because they need Jesus. They just need to pray and everything will be all safe and good again. The government treats them like a nuisance that needs to be put down by any means necessary, even murder. Screw trials and due process. What would be the point? We have a whopping 2% conviction rate. Let’s just open fire into a crowd of unarmed bystanders and see what happens. The Opposition is whining that they aren’t invited to the Press Conferences, which is PUBLIC by the way, so they sit on their hands and say “Da nuh we!” The GOB says “Stop the rumor mills!” and blames Facebook. That one is hysterical. Instead of blaming rumor mills and Facebook, embrace it. Use the social media to spread awareness and garner support for your efforts. Oh wait. Do you actually have any????? As far as anyone can tell, everything is hush hush thereby CREATING the speculation. And as for the media…well. What media? You call that journalism? Trampling all over the crime scene is just irresponsible and disrespectful to the process of justice…unless we aren’t planning on seeking any justice?????

The GOB’s response was inadequate in addressing the fear of the people. Nothing is ok about shots ringing out and children being frightened to go school. Instead of mocking the people’s concerns, how about some compassion? What are we waiting for…kids to get shot in their classroom because the BDF is opening fire randomly? And to the spectators…what the hell were you doing not moving out of the way? There were women actually confronting these armed soldiers. Then when one gets shot? We would cry “abuse of power”.

As for the men who were murdered. We know nothing. Who are they? Why were they targeted? Who would have wanted them murdered? Some are painting them as victims. Hmmmmmm. Let’s not do that just yet. Like I said, we know nothing. The only innocent victims in all of this are the children being terrorized on a daily basis. In the meantime, can we not use their deaths to vilify the GOB, poor people, the South Side? This problem is OUR problem. There is no one reason it is happening and no one solution to fix it. We are all complicit in the criminal lifestyle. Yes I said it… ALL. All of us have a brother, cousin, father, mother, sister, auntie, somebody involved in something that is illegal and we all look the other way. It is a lifestyle. You want this to stop? Start right in your own house.

“Belize ”Boosts” School Attendance and Access to Financial Services for the Poor” : The World Bank


The deal is simple: vaccinate your children, send them to school; and, if you are pregnant, visit your public health center, regularly starting with the first 12 weeks. In exchange, the BOOST Program will give you a monthly allowance between BZ$44 and BZ$82 (US$22 – US$41) per person, up to a maximum of six per household.

The BOOST program, which stands for Building Opportunities for Our Social Transformation, provides small cash assistance to poor households subject to specific conditions.

A little over a year in operation, it already reaches 3,177 households (12.5% of all Belize poor households) and over 8,600 people, which represents about 6% of the poor population.

Despite the recent launch of the BOOST Program (February 2011), some of its current features already match or surpass best practices in the world. Recorded school attendance for children included in the program is at 97.3% (3238 of 3328 students, May 2012).

Thanks to this program, Rosario Chub from Punta Gorda, Toledo, is able to provide for the basic needs of her children and keep them in school.  “The Program is good. It is helping people. I am doing a lot with this little money. Now the children have shoes, food and uniforms.”

The program has also been positively received among school principals. Rossana Briceño, principal of St Peter’s Anglican School in Orange Walk, said that “at the end of the day, the kids are doing better.  Absenteeism is a lot less, and I see these children now and they want to come to school.”

I am doing a lot with this little money. Now the children have shoes, food and uniforms.

Rosario  Chub BOOST beneficiary

The program features a differentiated payment structure by grade and gender, to address relatively high drop-out rates for boys. These are added incentives to complete standard grades and advance into secondary education.

Access to bank services

The BOOST Program is also supporting poor households in accessing financial services, such as savings and micro-loans as a first step towards their financial independence.

BOOST is expanding membership of credit unions, and strengthening the savings and productive investment potential of beneficiary households. At present, 81% of the program beneficiaries receive safe, secure transfers at zero cost through the credit unions.

“I am now a member of the credit union and I want to start saving money for the children”, says Rosario Chub, who, like other beneficiaries, has also increased her access to saving and other financial services.

“The BOOST Program has achieved a level of financial inclusion of program beneficiaries that far exceeds similar programs that have been in operation for 15 years”,  said Rogelio Gomez Hermosillo, the former Director of the Oportunidades Program in Mexico, which reaches 30 million households.

In fact, a new report by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) finds a much higher rate of beneficiaries with access to bank services in BOOST than in the two largest conditional cash transfer programs in the region, at 43% in Brazil and 25% in Mexico.

The first step of a larger movement

For the past two years, the World Bank has provided technical assistance to support the design of the BOOST Program, including knowledge exchanges with conditional cash transfer experts from Jamaica and Mexico.

The new phase of technical assistance aims to provide flexible support to address the central operational challenges of the Program and make recommendations on different approaches to strengthen program operations.

“The BOOST Program represents a significant step forward to develop a smart social safety net that promotes human capital growth, savings, and productive investments by poor households, but it is only the first step of a larger movement that is needed to strengthen the quality and accountability of social spending in Belize,” says Sarah Berger Gonzalez, World Bank Social Protection Specialist.

Despite the advances, operational challenges remain, resulting from the rapid ramp-up, limited financing and small number of program personnel. Limited financial envelopes have resulted in the number of qualified, eligible households exceeding enrolment by 30%.

Other challenges include the need to strengthen communication of program objectives and responsibilities, coordination of actions across ministries, and monitoring of information to assess program impacts.

Source: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/06/28/belize-boosts-schoool-attendance-and-acces-to-financial-services-for-the-poor

Here is a discussion of the program when the PM was interviewed by Twocanview. https://twocanview.com/2012/03/26/an-interview-with-the-prime-minister-of-belize-by-aria-lightfoot-and-fayemarie-anderson-carter/

Kimberly Christine Longsworth Black: Featured Artist 05-10-12


Kimberly modeling an adult hat.

I have known Kimberly or Kimmy, KC (as I used to call her) since she was born. That’s ’cause she is the daughter of one of my favourite boy cousins Charles 🙂 Yes…I crushed haaaaard on him. Her parents, Charles Longsworth and Lisa Williams Longsworth Macias got married in Belize City, late one Friday evening and somewhere in some dusty old file cabinet is my signature as a witness on their marriage certificate. It is no wonder that Kimberly would become artistic when she grew up. Her “home” was Mom’s Triangle Inn on Handyside St., Belize City. Her pets were kitties and snakes (yes, snakes) with names like Whiskey and Brandy. Funny enough, both her grandmothers made their living by owning eateries. Elma’s has been in Belmopan since I could remember traveling on the bus. I couldn’t wait to jump off and grab a meat pie and ice cream from Auntie Elm’s. As a matter of fact, when I went to Belmopan this past March, I went and got my meatpies and the last conch fritter left. (Thanks Melito Zabaneh for letting me have it :))

I used to race home from SJC Sixth Form for lunch at Mom’s. Kimmy loved ice and fries so by the end of lunch, that high chair was a delish sloppy mess of dripping ketchup. Then I would put her in the sink and wash her off and get her ready for her noon nap…everyday like clock work. One of her favourite things to do was put her mouth right over the faucet and drink the water out of the tap 🙂 Well now Kimmy is a wife and mother of two adorable boys. She lives in California and has launched a charming business called KCB Custom Crochet.

Kimberly credits her grandma Elma Onofre for teaching her a basic chain when she was 7. I received a similar lesson from my grandmother Dorothy Longsworth too. But unlike me, Kimmy was very excited by this particular form of making clothes so she persisted and got her grandma to teach her much more than  basic techniques. At just 20, she has created her own business making the most adorable hats for babies and adults. I bought quite a few as Christmas gifts last year and everyone loved them. I asked her what inspires her everyday ans she said “My sons.” And I believe it! You should see the cute dragon hats she made for them!

One day I was brainstorming ways of spreading breast cancer awareness in support of our First Lady, Kim Simplis Barrow as well as my friend Raquel Battle, President and Founder of  The BlissfulSage Foundation http://www.blissfulsage.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1 when a little ding sounded. Why not ask Kimmy to make some pink hats that people could absolutely love wearing or giving as gifts AND still be promoting awareness at the same time????

SOoooooo, one month later, Twocanview and KCB Custom Crochet are launching an effort to raise funds and turn the spotlight on the fight against the devastation that breast cancer visits upon its victims and their families. https://twocanview.com/2012/05/09/buy-a-beanie-and-support-breast-cancer-awareness-kim-for-kim/  For every hat she sells, she will donate $5 in Kim Simplis Barrow’s name to the Belize Cancer Center Dangriga. We encourage everyone to please join us in this effort and if you just want to donate $$$ without making a purchase, please do! One one okra full up basket!!!!! Here’s an idea: those involved in fundraisers, buy a bunch of these to give away to your supporters!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.355307514529895.79321.162552987138683&type=3

Please check out her other hats for sale too! They are soooooo kiuuuute! And if you have something specific you want her to design for you, she loves to collaborate with her clients on those kinds of projects. Just a thought: give out some beanies as favours at your toddler’s next birthday party. Can you imagine a bunch of lil dragons running around? or kitty cats? awwwwwwww…..She also makes purses and hair accessories. https://www.facebook.com/pages/KCB-Custom-Crochet/162552987138683

Dragon hats Kim made for her sons.