We don’t have any heroes for our young people to emulate. Not quite true. We have George Price and Philip Goldson in politics. Dr. Karl Heusner in medicine. Nurse Vivian Seay and Cleopatra White in social services. George Gabb and Gladys Stuart in drama. Gabb, Belisle, Barrow, Cain and others in literature and the arts and, a few nameless leaders of slave rebellions against their colonial masters. Oh, I almost forgot the Father of Trade Unionism, Tony Soberanis. Where are the epic stories and poems about these great Belizean men and women to fire the imaginations of the young and make them feel proud to be a Belizean? Instead, what do we have?
If the title of this piece reminds you of other questions that needed answering in other places and other times, that is intentional. There are a whole lot of questions swirling around last Friday’s demonstration that are unanswered, and I don’t know whether those who could provide at least some of the answers are that eager to do so. The March 21st Amandala carries an article entitled: “Teachers take a stand in Belmopan - but say colleagues left them out in the cold.” Indeed, there are issues with exactly what happened. Who knew what and when did they know it?
There is a game going down in Belize and no, I’m not using the word “game” in the way that I sometimes do. The politicians seem to move in such transparent ways that it often provokes laughter, a sort of gallows humor if you will; the “I’m laughing to keep from crying” syndrome. This is a high stakes game, a game whose outcome will determine the course of thousands of lives, a game that will either allow thousands of Belizeans to profit from the abundance that Belize can offer to its people or, that will force the majority of Belizeans into abject poverty - the modern equivalent of slavery.
Septuagenarians, Mr. Karl Menzies and his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Menzies, have a fascinating story to tell. Their paths crossed while they worked in the 1960’s at the British Honduras Distributors in the old capital, Belize City. Both had been married previously to other people, but Karl said that he always gets what he wants, and when he told Dorothy that he was going to have her—he was dead serious.
The philanthropic couple, Karl and Dorothy Menzies, have extended a generous helping hand to the children of three women - Ana Marie Magdaleno Basto, Karel Ogaldez Gabourel and Keisha Sutherland - whose lives were senselessly stolen by their violent abusers.
Last week I got into the current state of mind of our young people. It’s not a pretty picture, but then, our current society doesn’t present a pretty picture, and our so-called “leaders” bear a significant share of the responsibility for where Belize is today.
Tony Wright and his co-host, J.C. Arzu will tonight mark the 12th anniversary of Belize Musicians Past and Present, a show that airs regularly on Thursday evenings on KREM FM - the Mighty Mandingo.
The cold fronts had begun and it was through sheer discipline that students and teachers got up for breakfast at 5:30 a.m. and reported for field training at 6:30 a.m. This was a daily routine, including weekends for some students, and in the case of those students assigned to the dairy unit, they had to be at their work site by 5:30 a.m. to bring in the milking cows and do the ritual.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
First thing is that I want to take this opportunity to apologize to Zenaida Moya. I felt that she shouldn’t have run for Mayor. Why? It was and still is my opinion that the temptations available to elected officials are attractive enough so that sooner or later, they forget the people that they pledged to serve and start looking out for number one. The confrontation between the Belize City Council and GOB has demonstrated that up to now, January 20th, Ms. Moya is demonstrating the “cojones” and resolve that defines her as a people’s Mayor, so far.
I became aware of The Belize Development Trust quite recently. This organization maintains a website at: [email protected]/Bz.Lib/html. The website has 648 articles, position papers and excerpts from debates etc. pertaining to all kinds of Belizean issues. It is a treasure trove of information for those who want to research or for those who just want to read up on what people think about our problems and about possible solutions to those problems. Many thanks to Ray Auxillou, Sylvia Pinzon and Marty Casado for doing the work necessary to maintain and update a site like this.
On Friday, January 12, the Awards Committee of ACC coordinated a wonderfully uplifting ceremony to recognize and award students for outstanding academic work and for good conduct. It was an honor to present these awards along with Mrs. Dotsie Arnold from the Ministry of Education; Ms. Susan Ferguson from Grace Kennedy; Mr. Joseph Stamp from The Reporter; Ms. Mapye Smith, parent, alumna and member of the ACC Board of Governors; Mrs. Carol Babb, General Manager of Anglican Schools; Reverend Wayne Kirton; and Mr. Ismael Requeña, Principal ACC.
Reggae artist to reggae artist, Allison Hemsley, a.k.a. Dan Man, is sending a loud message to Louie Ganzie, birth name Louie Gentle, telling him exactly how he feels about the brutal murder of his Rastafarian sister, Ganzie’s ex-common-law wife, Keisha Sutherland.
Wayne “Red Boy” Uter, who became popular as a disc jockey at Radio Belize in the 1980’s, arrived in Belize from New York City last Thursday for a two- week vacation.
