By Andy Harjula
For the past 14 years, Maureen and I have led the Belize Project, a grassroots effort that has grown far beyond anything we imagined when we first began. Before the pandemic interrupted our work, we man-aged to raise roughly $60,000 for communities in Belize through spaghetti suppers, auctions, volunteer service such as preparing income tax returns, and the incredible generosity of neighbours and friends. Several local organizations offered remark-able support as well, including the Anglican Church, the United Church, the Millbrook Legion, and the Millbrook and Omemee Lions Clubs.
With these funds, we purchased fruit trees for Belizean farmers, churches, and schools, and most importantly helped students pay their tuition. We also organized a team of 10 Canadian volunteers who joined us in painting two church buildings.
Education in Belize is structured very differently than in Canada. While the government funds school construction and pays teachers’ salaries, families are responsible for operation costs and tuition—even in primary school. One school we visited charged $20 a year, which included basic supplies like toilet paper. I vividly remember watching a young girl, maybe ten years old, pick grass along the path on her way to the school’s outdoor privy—an image that has stayed with me ever since.
Despite the challenges, the project achieved results I am deeply proud of. We helped 12 students complete high school, supported nine through college, and assisted four in starting university before COVID-19 put all fundraising and travel on hold for more than two years. Many of these students have gone on to meaningful careers: one became the head of Amnesty International Belize and now works as an Immigration Officer; another joined the police department; her sister became a high school Spanish teacher; two others are now primary teachers; and one student trained as an electrician. A high school education allowed them to avoid the backbreaking labour common in the orange, coconut, and banana plantations.
Today, our work continues on a smaller but equally important scale. We are currently supporting one high-school student, Francis, whose tuition is covered by a group of generous sponsors.
Moving forward, our main focus is also helping Analia Zuniga, a young woman we have supported since her early school years and who has recently begun nursing studies at the University of Belize. Analia was born in Dangriga and raised by her mother after her father left at her birth. She comes from aGarifuna family, descendants of survivors of a British slave ship that wrecked in the Caribbean and whose people were brought to Belize generations ago to work in forestry and agriculture.
Analia has always excelled academically. In college, her classmates elected her Student President. She has volunteered at Christ the King Anglican Church, served as a firefighter in Dangriga, founded a small church band for local youth, and worked as a waitress and babysitter to support herself. Asa youth ambassador for Reef Keepers, she took part in beach cleanups, school presentations, field trips, and summer camps.
Now in nursing school, she works part-time at a call centre in Belmopan to pay for her room and board, much like many Canadian students juggling school and work. Her mother, a cultural dancer whose troupe has performed internationally, lost several toes due to diabetes and can only work part-time, making financial support essential for Analia’s continued education.
Any new funds we raise today go directly toward helping Analia continue her nursing studies. If you or your friends are able to contribute even a few dollars pooled together, it would make a real difference in her life.
Over the years, the Belize Project has also delivered 46 used laptops to students, thanks in large part to the late Wayne Blaby of Cavan. We’ve brought suitcases filled with soccer boots, clothing, school supplies, and small jars of Ontario maple syrup. With help from Andrena Jackson, we were able to partner with another church group to send six 45-gallon drums of donated clothing to Belize at no shipping cost.
One of the most memorable individuals we have supported is Eduardo, an electrician who suffered devastating injuries after accidentally touching alive 240-volt wire while holding a steel pipe. The shock blew away flesh on his arms and legs. With no Belizean doctor able to perform the needed surgery, his family endured a 21-hour drive to Honduras, where a surgeon amputated what remained. The operation cost the family their entire savings, about $1,000 Canadian. Today, Eduardo sells popcorn on the streets of Dangriga, moving with two simple homemade stumps and hooks for hands. We continue to help his family in small ways, Tim Hortons coffee for him, and, occasionally, a tube of lipstick for his three daughters.
Throughout the life of this project, every cent donated has gone directly to Belizeans. Maureen and I have always covered our own travel and accommodation.
If I have one regret, it is that we didn’t establish a charitable foundation from the beginning, which would have allowed us to offer tax receipts to the many kind people who supported our work. Still, looking back on these14 years, I can’t help but feel grateful. Life is good.