Dear Editor,
I am Eric Castellanos, Executive Director of C-NET+, and I am writing to you informing you of the serious situation we presently face:
C-NET+ is a small NGO legally incorporated in 2011. We work primarily with persons living with HIV in secondary and tertiary prevention strategies and have also included primary and secondary prevention amongst MSM. Through the short period of time we have had the opportunity to implement various small grants where we have progressively acquired assets.
Our main programs include the home visits strategy and nutritional support programs in which we provide peer support and counselling in adherence, nutrition, and adoption of healthy lifestyles.
Unfortunately this email is about sad news. Over the weekend, August 2 and 3, 2014, our offices have been vandalized. At 7:45 a.m. of Monday, the 4th of August, I received a call from our programs coordinator that the doors to our offices were open and seemed forced. I immediately recommended that the police be called and hurried over to the office.
The police arrived and confirmed that indeed the doors had been forced. In fact the steel burglar bars at the back of the building had been cut to enter the building. The police took photos and prints and then asked us to make an assessment of the missing items.
The following is list of what was stolen along with value in US dollars: 1. One Dell laptop with docking station, $1,500.00; 2. one Astrium microwave, $175.00; 3. one Dell laptop, $375.00; 4. one HP laptop, $1,250.00; 5. one Gateway Galaxy desktop, $699.50; 6. one brown suitcase, $100.00; 7. one backup battery, $75.00; 8. one big B&D coffee maker, $110.00; 9 one small coffee maker, $40.00; and 10. one iPad 16 g, $649.50.
We are practically left with only tables and chairs at the office. Not happy with taking the above mentioned articles, the thieves threw coffee all over the floor and on some documents. Our files were scattered all over the floor and it will take us several days to put them back in order and weeks, maybe months, to get back running the same way as before due to the fact that we do not have the equipment to continue operating.
Our programs depend on external funding and without producing the proper reports we might expect a delay or decrease in funding.
If any of you have knowledge of an organization or entity that might be able to help us to obtain some equipment for us to start working again, or if your organization or you can help us with a donation we would greatly appreciate it.
Regards,
Eric Jovanni Castellanos
Executive Director, C-NET+
Focal Point, REDCA+
2 Calle Al Mar,
Belize City, Belize
cel: 501 630 1900
DUNS No. 81-542-7280
email: [email protected] / [email protected]
