Humana People to People Belize

Support Development
in
Belize
Newsletter (2nd issue 2016)

“The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or
defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its success-
es and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned”
Dag Hammerskjold

Inside this issue:

Humana People to 2-3

People Belize -
Development
Instructors

News from Child 3

Aid Project Council

Quotes from 4
Beneficiaries

Re-registration of 5
families in Child Aid

Girls’ Clubs and 6

Mothers’ Clubs - a
pilot activity

Model Farm in Trio 6

News from the 7

Clothes
Project

Contact 8
information
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Humana People to People Belize Development Instructors

Development Instructors are international volunteers.

Humana People to People Belize is glad to have the as-
sistant of three Development Instructors; Manal Bei-
routy from Jordan, Baha Alzain from Jordan and Lillian
Harkmark Lie from Norway who are working with the
communities of Silver Creek and San Miguel for 6
months.
Development Instructors have many ideas and give a lot
of inspiration to the people they work with. While at
the project the Development Instructors work shoulder
to shoulder with the people; they live in the community,
where they work, for the entire 6 months. In that way
they get really close to the people and their conditions
and thereby also better prepared to fight the relevant,
important and necessary fights together with the chil-
dren and adults in those communities.

The Development Instructors experiences after three months:

“The Youth Group in Silver Creek is very active and interested in doing things in
the community. The group is made up of 11 young and talented people who are
interested in learning and doing things for their community. Their aim and objec-
tive is to create funds for their studies or to start up a small business. The youth
and Humana have together organized events such as movie nights and the
open day at the primary school in Silver Creek. At the Open Day the club sold
second hand clothes and some snacks while there were games and sports com-
petitions happening as entertainment. The Youth Club benefited from the Open
Day and created money for their group, and they interacted with children, wom-
en and men in the village. We saw a positive response and people are asking
when we are having an Open Day again. We had invited families from Silver
Creek and San Miguel communities to the Open Day.
“With the women‟s group we do workshops about family budgeting, health and
nutrition. In the family budget we talked about the importance about saving
money as an extra income, because even though people maybe have more mon-
ey it does not really matter if people cannot spend their money wisely. This activ-
ity benefits the ladies in both communities, because it gives them a tool to use
when dealing with the family finances. It can be a good way to save money for a
medical emergency or school supplies. Many women that we talked to, have ab-
solutely no idea or interest when it comes to dealing with money, so it was a
good way for them to see what they actually spend money on - on a monthly
basis”.
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“With our individual families we go to them and spend time with them to
figure out their needs and their wants, we want to help them with their
needs before their wants. Their needs are often to create an income generat-
ing project, backyard gardens and capacity building through workshops.
When working with the families we explain to them that we are there to
work with them and not for them. We together will make a garden; create a
product for them to sell and we together have interesting workshops. Some
of the workshops we have done are how to make pizza and coconut oil.

At the primary school we have talked about global warming, climate change
and the 3 R‟s. In the next two weeks some of the workshops we will do are
how to make hot sauce, peanut butter and jam, and we will talk to them
about how to save seeds from their own production, food security and the
importance of dental hygiene. We invited Hillside Medical Clinic for several
workshops to talk about family planning, physiotherapy, testing of high blood
sugar and high blood pressure. People in Silver Creek village were interested
in testing themselves for diabetes and learning about how they can decrease
their risk for health problems”.

News from Child Aid Project Council

“My name is Regina Hun and I‟m one of the Program Officer in Child Aid Toledo. I‟m from Blue Creek Village, Toledo. As we
continue to fight shoulder to shoulder with the families in the community, Humana staff takes a stand in listening to the peo-
ple in the community and give them the right tools according to their necessity. Families in the community have a lot of will-
ingness to work and together with Humana Belize promote empowerment. Families who seek for developing themselves and
their community work together as a team, because closely and together we reap and harvest.
I think we have reached far with the project and the participating families.
Let me mention a few of the activities and achievements from the last quarter:
Women group in Aguacate was trained in health, hygiene and gardening, Mother‟s group in Golden Stream was trained in
cooking and nutrition with focus on giving the babies the best start in life, Farmers group in San Miguel was trained on ac-
counting and business management, youth were helped to raise funds for high school, and pamphlets with HIV/Aids aware-
ness were distributed in communities”,
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Quotes from Beneficiaries

“ I am very glad that Humana has “we are very glad that Humana provide us with
given me chickens because I can raise the seeds for our garden because I don‟t have
and sell them and get income for my money to buy seeds. Humana also show me how
family” Xol family (Golden Stream, to plant the seed they gave us - that is why we like
Toledo) to participate in many activities with Humana” by
Peck family (Ottoxa, Toledo)
“ I benefited by the „pass on loan‟ of
one pig and now the pig has 6 piglets, I
will sell the meat which will provide
income for my family” Coc family “The benefit I see is that I can
(Golden Stream, Toledo) get seeds for my garden, sell the
vegetables for income to my
family”, Tek family (Indian
Creek, Toledo)
“Indian Creek RC and Little Haven
Preschool is supported by Humana in “ my daughter is learning from
programs such as: summer classes for youth activities that Humana
early childhood and child stimulation. have. I do gardening with Hu-
We appreciate the support” (Indian mana”, Ack family (Indian
Creek) Creek)
“ I benefit by learning about
cacao and my future plan is to
extend my farm” Madrid
“The benefits I get is that when I
(Trio, Toledo)
sell the coconut oil I produce, I
can send my children to school”,
Mejangre family (Santa Anna, “I‟m getting more knowledge in agricul-
Toledo) ture through farmers club” Pop (Red
Bank, Toledo)
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Re-registration of families in Child Aid Toledo

Since its project start in 2007 the Child Aid project has worked with several thousand families all over Toledo and
Southern Stann Creek districts. The project is now in the process of re-registration of families currently active in
the Child Aid project. The result as of ending June 2016:

Red Bank (13)

Cow Pen (17)

San Pablo (20)

Bella Vista (95)

San Isidro (28)
Trio (29)
Bladden (14)
San Miguel (30) Medina Bank (12)
Golden Stream (22)
Silver Creek (24)
Indian Creek (33)
(6)
Pueblo Viejo (5)
(17) Mafredi (3)
Blue Creek (27)
Aguacate (49)
Jordan (15)
Santa Teresa (19) Santa Ana (18)
San Benito
Poite (35)
 Page 6
Girls Clubs and Mothers’ Clubs - a pilot activity

The idea of starting Girls’ Clubs and Mothers’

Clubs is to provide teenage girls and mothers, with
the knowledge on how they can change a situation
of having children being malnourished, into a situa-
tion of children growing up being healthy.
Through the program, the girls and mothers will
come to understand the reasons for malnutrition,
the consequences of malnutrition for women and
children, how malnutrition can be avoided, and how
knowledge can be used in actions for carrying out
the needed changes.

The Child Aid project council has decided to pilot

this program and it has been received very well by
the communities. So far girls and mothers in Agua-
cate, Santa Teresa, San Miguel and Jalacte have par-
ticipated. The participants get a lesson relevant to
pregnancy, children, health and nutrition; the les-
sons is discussed and thereafter the clubs decide
which action they will take.

Model Farm in Trio

The model farm in Trio is an initiative within the Child Aid project and
serves to show to farmers and interest families and community groups that
indeed it is possible for ordinary people to produce at least 80% of healthy
food to sustain the family with well balanced meals and to earn a living from.
The model farm in Trio are concentrated in the production of corn, cacao,
pineapple, and a range of vegetables like, tomato, sweet pepper, green
beans, jalapeños, cabbage, cilantro, cucumber and onions. They also chicken
rearing and do baking in a firewood saving oven.
The owners of the model farm, Mr. Oscar Zuniga and Ms. Consuelo Lara,
make use of sustainable farming methods, they produce and use organic fer-
tilizer, they learn how to produce more on less space, they fence and cover
parts of the production to protect it from heavy sun or rain, and treat the
soil. These two farmers are not afraid of experimenting and together with
Humana new things are always tried out.
The Agriculture Department, GOB, is also on board with technical assis-
tance, training and materials for the model farm.
In May 2016 Ms. Consuelo, was announced Belize’s woman farmer of the
year by Ministry of Agriculture. Humana is very proud of her and
acknowledge all the hard work she and her husband, put into their farm as
well as their willingness to let other farmers learn from their experiences.

News from the Clothes Project
The primary idea of the second hand clothes project
is to earn a surplus from the sale of secondhand
clothes and shoes. This surplus in turn creates devel-
opment through financial support to the Child Aid
development project in Belize.
The beneficiaries of the project are both the many
people in Belize who cannot afford to buy new
clothes and those that simply like good quality and
affordable clothes to dress with dignity and still save
money for other expenses.
The beneficiaries are also the wholesale customers
who with their sale of second hand clothes have cre-
ated a small business earning a good surplus for their
family to live from.
The beneficiaries are also the participating families in
the Child Aid project.
Page 7
Great value for the environment
The reuse of second hand clothing that Humana Peo-
ple to People Belize is engaged in has big environmen-
tal impact.
Global Warming is associated with increasing
amounts of CO2 and other greenhouses gases re-
leased into the atmosphere. Solid waste such as tex-
tiles release greenhouse gases as they compose. At
the same time the production of textile fibers and the
manufacture of clothes burn considerable quantities
of fuel and release more CO2 into the atmosphere.
So the longer we can stretch the lifespan of the
clothes, the more CO2 release can be spared.
During the 1st half year of 2016 the HUMANA shops
recycled 21.2 ton of clothes. Approximately 3.5
pounds of CO2 are saved for every pound of clothing
that is spared from disposal. This means the HU-
MANA shops and customers effectively saved around
160,000 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmos-
phere in that period.
Planting trees remains one of the cheapest and most
effective means of drawing excess CO2 from the at-
mosphere. Trees vary greatly in their absorption of
CO2 depending of the type of tree, the amount of
light, life expectancy, geographical location and many
other factors. When using an average absorption of
40 ponds of CO2 per tree per year, the re-use of
clothes through the Humana Shops in Belize from
Jan—June 2016 corresponds to planting 4.000 trees.
In addition to the positive effects of climate, reuse
has a number of other positive effects as the used
clothing partially replaces production of raw materials
and processing of new textiles like cotton. Interna-
tional analysis emphasizes the following positive ef-
fects:
Reduced energy consumption, reduced water con-
sumption, reduced fertilizer use and reduced emis-
sions of hazardous chemicals.
 Page 8

Humana People to People Belize is a member of a network of 32

organizations engaged in international solidarity, cooperation and de-
HUMANA PEOPLE
velopment in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
TO PEOPLE The development work of the Humana People to People Movement is
BELIZE rooted in a commitment to fight alongside The Poor in a collective
process that supports people to make changes, solve problems and im-
prove their lives.

Monkey River Road,

Toledo District,
Belize Central America.
PO BOX 1728, Belize City

Phone: (+501) 678 99 43

Email: Info@humana-belize.org
www.humana-belize.org
www.humana.org

Country Director: Susanne Jensen

Email: susanne.j@humana-belize.org

Project Manager: Jaime Barrientos

Email: Jaime.b@humana-belize.org

Project leader Child Aid Toledo: Pantaleon Escobar

Email: Pantaleon@humana-belize.org

Partnership & Promotion:

Cindy Rodezno Email: cindy@humana-belize.org
Ishelly Williams Email: irtayp@gmail.com

SHOPS ADDRESSES:

Dangriga Town, Commerce Street, Stann Creek District

Santa Cruz, (beside the football field), Stann Creek District
Independence, (Mango Creek), Toucan Street, Stann Creek District.
Bella Vista, (in front of A&A Supermarket) Toledo District