(l-r) Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner, Vilma Logan and
Nando’s representative
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Fri. May 19, 2023
With the generous help of businessman Nando Nandwani and the Belize City Council, 73-year-old Vilma Logan, a resident of Berkeley Street in downtown Belize City, received a brand-new home after Hurricane Lisa destroyed her previous house late last year.
Logan is a well-known member of the community and is particularly known for the work she did at the Mercy Kitchen, where she spent over a decade of her life working after a near death experience.
Before Logan was given her brand-new home, for approximately 5 months she sought shelter at her neighbor’s home, and at the small handing-over ceremony on Friday, May 19, Logan expressed her sentiments to Amandala about her brand-new home and remarked that she is “blessed”.
Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner noted that efforts such as this are community-based.
“[Miss Vilma] lost her home during Hurricane Lisa and by the grace of God, we got a donor, Nando’s, and he decided to build the home for her from scratch. What we did was clear out the debris, and assisted with the plan for the building, but it’s a community type of effort to help one of the elders in our society,” he said.
“Nando’s has been in the Southside since inception, you know. My dad moved into Southside. I was born in Southside; my family has always been in Southside; so, we have a special connection. When we saw the news report, we felt it, at the same time; and then, when we realized just how bad the situation was, we realized we just couldn’t be just an audience standing by watching this thing play out. We had to be a part of it; so, when we came and we saw how bad the situation was, we said, you know what, it doesn’t make sense to salvage what is there. Let’s just remove it and build a brand new house,” said Dhiraj Nandwani, representative for Nando’s.
Miss Logan will also be receiving groceries along with household appliances and other items. Also, members of the Belize Defence Force assisted Logan in removing the debris.