Cherisse Halsall got the low-down on what the September calendar will look like this morning when she attended the unveiling of this year's logo and theme for Belize's 40th national celebration.

Belize at 40: Hopeful Hearts, Steady Hands, Together We Rise, that's the theme for Belize's 40th anniversary Celebrations, and while you may think that the stodgy theme and its bland visual leave do leave something to be desired.

Many others might say that encompasses the struggle to celebrate in such difficult circumstances. It's a reality that the celebrations representative of the celebrations top financial backer referenced specifically in this morning's opening remarks.

Ambassador of Taiwan to Belize
"Even during these challenging and difficult times of the covid19 pandemic, we are very grateful to be part of the celebration for the Independence of Belize, as a faithful and trustworthy ally of Belize the Embassy of Taiwan looks forward to continuing to work with the government of Belize, to further strengthen the bilateral partnership friendship and also for promoting the benefit and well-being of our two people's."

That sentiment was echoed by N.I.C.H's President Sapna Budhrani as she spoke about who Belizeans have been and continue to be as the country turns 40

Sapna Budhrani, President, N.I.C.H.
"Belize at 40 in the midst of a global pandemic that has affected us socially and globally in ways we could not have imagined. Life has changed for all of us without exception, nevertheless, Belize is 40 and as a people, we have enjoyed the natural beauty our country has to offer and have survived thanks to a resilient spirit and the determination that defines us."

But that resilience won't continue without the responsibility that commission member Merilyn Young called for today.

Merilyn Young, Member of the National Celebrations Commission "Let's be responsible for Belize, let's lower the infection rate so that we can all have a festive September celebration in 2021."

Reporter
"Sir, share with us a bit about the decision process given all the limitations around the celebrations."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
"It's very challenging. As you know last year was 100% virtual and so this year we started out hopeful, hopeful hearts, hoping that we could have a mix, a blend of virtual events, but also bring people together in small groups in a controlled environment. We are still going to try to have some controlled environment where we have for example the concerts and we might have a concert here - we might set up a few tables, and have maybe 10-15 people who can participate and have that interaction with the DJs and the musicians, but again, it's all in limbo in a sense and we have a backup plan. If everything has to be virtual again, that's the way it's going to be."

Indeed, the Government is hoping that Belizeans will rise up with hope toward a post-COVID future. And they've provided some inspiration in the form a of celebratory rock Ballad that breaks free from every September song that's come before it.

Stuart Leslie, Cabinet Secretary
"Minister Fonseca and I were collaborating on this work for months. He's been humble enough to say it's from the office of the Prime Minister, but we've been talking about this for months and strangely enough he never told me what the theme of the September Celebrations was at the time, because I don't he himself knew but I think this song fits in beautifully with today's theme."

Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
"As Ambassador Leslie said he and I have been talking about this for several months and we felt that the nation needed some upliftment. We need some hope and of course there is no better way of communicating hope through music, music is the food of life and so we talked about a song and we reached out to one of our board directors at NICH Mr. Carlo Habet who is no stranger to the world of music and video song production and he had some great ideas and the Ambassador and Carlo then took it and ran with it and you saw the product today, so I think it's a fantastic song and I think it will catch on and we play it more and more. I am glad we experimented with that and I am glad in my view a very successful experiment."

How successful was it? we'll let you be the judge.

We'll show you that music video in its entirety at the end of the news.