About three weeks ago secondary schools reopened but not all high schoolers
have returned to class. The reality is that some families simply cannot afford
to send their children to classes because they just don't have the money
to cover the expenses. Some who've been left in the cold at St. Michael's
College stand to benefit thanks to an international relationship between the
Belize City Council and the missionary group serving Saints International from
Houston, Texas. On Tuesday the parties will officially sign the memorandum of
understanding. Today we caught up with Belize City Councillor Roger Espejo and
the Mission Group's Jackie Collins and board member Jewel London to find out how it will work and whom it will help.
Roger Espejo, City Councillor
"We had done somewhat of a research on the south side to find out
which schools are more needy and we decided that St. Michael's College
had shown satisfactorily, had demonstrated that they are in need of many supplies,
resources, and materials for the school. The school was very weak in certain
departments and that is why we decided on St. Michael's College as a recipient
of adoption by the Serving Saint's Missionary based out of Houston Texas."
Jacqueline Godwin,
"Is this a Ministry that the Council has been working with for some time?
How were they chosen to take on this project?"
Roger Espejo,
"Actually it is the other way around; they chose us. Jackie Collins,
founder of the Ministry, visited Belize roughly a year ago and she on s visit
to Belize saw the dire need for assistance to the southside of Belize."
Jacqueline Godwin,
"Is this adoption for a period of time or for the life of the school?"
Roger Espejo,
"At the moment they have a five year plan and we are basing it on
that. It is not written in stone, it is a very new and fresh working relationship,
we hope to have a very fruitful and a very mutually respectable relationship
with them but I think they are basing their plans on a five year scope."
Jewel London, Board Member
"One of the things we're very very progressive about is making
sure that we are not over committing ourselves initially. So that is the purpose
of having these meetings to understand exactly what the needs of the school
is in addition to make sure we are committing at a level that we are comfortable
with. Maybe going forward we will increase our level of commitment understanding
what the needs are, understanding what conditions we are coming from.
Our primary goal is of course tuition and books and fees and supplies for
those students. In addition to that the school has expressed great need. They've
given us a wish list of what they want and we are going to handle it from a
project basis; take one project at a time. We know the overall scope and by
handling it from a project basis we are able to say this is what we are going
to commit to, this is what we can do, and if we're not even able to commit
to the entire project, doing what we can from that level and that way we can
try to ensure a long lasting relationship as opposed to over committing ourselves
from the beginning and then ultimately failing. So that is definitely not our
desire."
Jackie Collins, Founder
"We have a five year program right now but it is probably going to
extend passed that time because what we want to do ultimately is to start with
a ninth grader and follow that child throughout his entire education. The reason
we're here is we want to afford a child an opportunity that parents can't
pay for the child. So ultimately what we want to do is be able to do is offer
a child an opportunity to go to school."
St. Michael's College has in excess of two hundred students.
Once the MOU is signed tomorrow the adoption officially takes effect.
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