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When CARE Belize embarked on its community rehabilitation programme it had no idea that what CARE has been able to accomplish would have caught the attention of international interests. Well that is exactly what has happened. In early March a delegation from CARE Belize will be in Mexico attending international conference to present what they have been able to get done for disabled persons especially school children to have access to learning and getting the community and parents involved in the initiative as well.

Once such kind contribution was highlighted in our newscast of June ninth 2009 in which we got to know young primary school student Angel Santoyo of Chunox Village in the Corozal District. In fact it was that story that got CARE Belize recognized. The young Angel has spina bidfida and as such he is confined to a wheel chair. The problem was that his school did not have the facility available for him to access his classroom.

Today 7News spoke with CARE Belize Director Evan Cowo who explains what the international recognition now means for CARE Belize and the possibility now that the community based rehabilitation programme will be used as a model in other countries.

Evan Cowo, Director, CARE Belize
“We are very proud of this accomplishment. It was a good year for CARE, 2009, a lot of good things happened and this project at the second intercontinental community rehabilitation in Mexico from March 3rd to the 5th. The process was that bids were invited and 96 case studies were submitted throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and CARE Belize case study on mobilizing the community to support children in the schools was accepted and this is what we will be presenting there.

At the beginning it was the principal of the school that came to CARE and said we have children with disabilities in the community and they are not in school and we want to do something about it. It was unique because many teachers, many principals, don’t want to accept children that have disabilities in their schools. This was a typical example, this was an example where the community was involved, the teachers were involved, the parents of the children with disabilities were involved, and so it happened in a rural area and it was very amazing to see how the community, teachers got themselves involved.

After the ramp was built, we had another child who was in a wheel chair and she is in school now. We are putting all the mechanisms in place to ensure that we don’t want to just send them to school, we want them to be part of the class and through interviews with the teachers we have been where they are successful not only in the academics but they play and so the whole development, the whole inclusion is in place.

This is no longer we are begging for a space for them, they business there in school. It is their fundamental right.”

CARE Belize also has similar success stories in other areas of the country including Guinea Grass, San Roman in Stann Creek and San Roman in the Rio Hondo.