Dear Editor,

Good morning.  I’m not sure if I am the one that should be contacting you to ask for help in Sarteneja but the village is in desperate need of getting the village officials to help with the clean-up action with the garbage. The road to the new dump has been closed for almost a month and there is nowhere to throw the garbage.

Some people are throwing the trash into ditches and the woods. Others are just burning the plastic and the smell is overwhelming. I posted a few pictures on our Friends of Sarteneja FB page and the village people are outraged that the elected village officials are not doing anything about it. So a few people asked me to contact you and see what our options are.

The reason the road to the dump was closed is that the owner who owns the land was tired of cleaning up the mess that some people chose to just dump on his driveway, leading into the dump. He gave the Village Council 2, maybe 3 months to come up with an action plan. Now the road has been closed and no action plan. I believe he closed the road on or before 6/20, which is sad.

Like I said, I am not sure if someone can do a story calling out the problem and/or solution, but it would be appreciated. Even someone from Progresso commented that they also have a dumping problem.

I have only lived here for a year and I am from the USA, so I do not want my name published in any way, but if you choose to help, I will give you names of Belizeans who don’t mind their names being used.

I am not ashamed in anyway, but I do understand that some Belizeans hate when the Gringos come and try to change things. This is not my intention to get anyone in trouble, just to make the village and Belize more beautiful.

Please let me know, and thank you.

(Signed, but name withheld by request)