And while that was Saturday in the city's downtown area, on Sunday in Lake Independence, community activists joined up with law enforcement to host the 9th Day of Healing, an effort to foster fraternity between at-risk youths living in the different turfs in the Belize City Gang Landscape.
It's a grassroots initiative which started on George Street, but picked up and carried on by Perry "Stix" Smith try to show the youths that there are alternative avenues to gang life.
It happened at the Complex Field yesterday, where boys from different hoods converged on neutral territory, to make peace from the ground up. Daniel Ortiz dropped by to see how it went. Here's what he found out:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
The 9th Day of Healing was as filled with activities as all the rest, where the youths who participated were encouraged to participate in all kinds of sporting activities.
They also got an opportunity to get a bite to eat, all paid for by the organizers and their sponsors. Perry Smith, the man behind the community effort, is trying to reach across the gang landscape to positively influence the lives of young people.
Perry "Stix" Smith - Organizer, Day of Healing
"Days of healing is a community initiative. We got started from Dean Street in 2013 after the quadruple murders. The community wanted to come together and show Belize and the world that they are not what they are labeled as, so they had a first say of healing. I went out there and was inspired by it with the community members from Dean Street and we push the events throughout different communities in last year. Today we have football, basketball; we had some running races; sack races. We will have tug and war and we will have marbles. We were to have volleyball but due to the net, we didn't get the net. We have communities from the Lake Independence area; we have PIV, Majestic out here, we have St. Martin's, we have third World - we have community members from ghost town. We have community members from George Street out here. It's a mixture of community members from the Southside."
"Right here now, we have over 300 youths out here and we have more youths that will come out here. We have artist that are schedule to come out."
And though sports is the method of engaging these young people, the real plan is to show them that it doesn't matter what gang territory you live in, you can co-exist outside of its footprint if you truly want to.
Leroy "Muti" Smith - Activist, Majestic Alley
"I and I come from a bad past to be real. I was once a member of a gang bang area and Mr. Stamp and I, my dear beloved brother from another mother comes from a different side from me. Him and I come together and say all the foolishness that are going on - we contribute to it and we want to give back to society, so we started this type of movement to not having the youth go through the same things that we went through, so that is the whole essence of this: try to get the youths into a positive movement instead of picking up the violence and the crime, we want to bring them together and show them where they can be productive."
The Law enforcement officers who deal with these children on the ground also see the merits the program.
Sgt. Brent Hamilton - OC, Mahogany Sub-Precinct
"I am a police office, I am a very physical and discipline police whether out of uniform or in uniform, but I strike a balance and I believe that all of us is short of the glory of God, so at some point I need to do what I have to do and at some 
point I have to be friendly and be courteous to the people, but people comes first."
Sgt. Elroy Carcamo - NCO, Community Police Belize District
"We understand what is going on and it's not just every time that we do enforcement, lock down people and so forth, but we need to work with them. You need to deal with it from the root cause."
And the idea is to engage these youngsters at an early age before the gang culture ensnares them.
Trenton Richards - Participant
"I am having fun."
Reporter
"What are some of the sport games that you are playing?"
Trenton Richards - Participant
"Football, basketball..."
Reporter
"Have you made any other friends?"
Trenton Richards - Participant
"Yes sir."
Reporter
"How are you enjoying your day today?"
Aesha Pantin - Participant
"Good with all my friends."
Reporter
"What sports are you playing?"
Aesha Pantin - Participant
"Volleyball, basketball, football and sack race."
Reporter
"What are some of the sports that you have been playing?"
Vince Young - Participant
"Volleyball, basketball, football, baseball and stuff."
Reporter
"Have you managed to score any hoops or any goals?"
Vince Young - Participant
"Yes sir."
Sunday's Healing day was the second for 2014.
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