When Trinidad Sanchez was killed in a grisly stabbing in his home village of August Pine Ridge 16 days ago at first the murder stunned us and then for all but the family it seems to have slipped away into that dreary oblivion - that place of permanent forgetting where we file all memories that would make it just too hard and too scary to carry on. But the university culture in which Trinidad Sanchez shone as bright as a beacon of hope is determined not to forget and more than that students and administrators hope to make a lesson of his death.
They did that yesterday in the Trinidad Sanchez forum on crime and 7NEWS was there.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Under a banner bearing the name Trinidad Sanchez, the University of Belize student who was murdered in his home village of August Pine Ridge in Orange Walk his family, students and faculty of UB, the police and the Minister of Education gathered to speak on crime and it's impact on society.
Dr. Martin Cuellar, Dean of Student Affairs
"We at the University after experiencing the loss of two students to violent murders this semester decided that it was important and appropriate for the national university to become a catalyst for the positive changes that we need in Belize today; to create an atmosphere in which students can study, they can learn, and can develop without having to worry if they go home this weekend will they actually live to come back and continue their studies on Monday.
Cuellar says that preoccupation has become very real for the students at the university but still today was just another day for talk.
Dr. Martin Cuellar,
"It is very easy for many of us to become cynical in an activity like this but we believe that you will never get to real social change in Belize without this kind of foundation. And as I said earlier this evening new legislation, new policy, new activity, even new social values could come out; they may not come out this week or this month, they may never come out this year but we can all rest assured that they will never come out if we don't start with activities like this."
"Not until the majority of the Belizean people are involved in this conversation will we see change; so what we can do is to increase the conversation and then we will be taking a step in the right direction. And one of the things we learn is that the more we have this type of conversation, we need to educate ourselves to find out more ways that we can get our young students involved."
Today that involvement began and while the representation was less than desired in terms of numbers, those who did show did so with the genuine intent to be a part of the solution to the problem of crime.
Rodolfo Shal, UB Student
"Being a part of the student body I think it is important that we show some representation especially in a situation like this. It is very sad to know that we lost one of our brothers and a member of our family from the UB community. We have a lot of representation here from the leaders, from the authorities and I really look forward to whatever is being said here to be put into action and I see everything that is being discussed here today as important."
Julio Reyes, UB Student
"It was necessary not only for me but for other students willing to take part in the university and to make a change and start a chain reaction. By attending forums like this we could start here and as the Dean of Students said we have to start somewhere and from this other institutions will hopefully start to have events like this to address crimes and other issues in our community."
Melissa Jenkins, UB Student
"The people who are in there are there to learn and what they learn and what they develop from this assembly they should educate and outsiders. And crime is like drugs, we cannot stop it but we can prevent it and treat it and diagnose it."
And the diagnosis started on this day and hopefully it will not be a one off event as a knee jerk reaction, but the impetus of this dialogue will gain true momentum eventually becoming a force that demands solutions.
In observance of the murder and its effect on the August Pine Ridge community, yesterday it was announced that a scholarship will be awarded to one student from the village every year, sponsored by the Ministry of Education.