And while crime continues to plague the city, the Ministry of Home Affairs is still trying their long term solution of providing gang members with land to farm - giving them a way to grow their own food and sell their own products. And today, Dr Alvaro Rosado donated 120 acres of farmland in the Grace Bank area for them to get started. At the lease signing ceremony today, Dr Rosado explained that the reason he's donating the land is because he too was once on the wrong path until he received an opportunity that changed his life.
Alvaro Rosado, Donor
"My high school experience was very short lived and I became a high school dropout at the age of 11. I work the streets of Belize City selling and delivering newspapers and anything else that I could get my hands on, some legal and some not so legal. One day while doing my hustle on the streets I
tried to sell a newspaper to one of my former teachers, a pallotine nun by the name of sister Albertine. The next day sister Albertine visited my mother and suggested that I be sent back to standard 6 where she would take me in as a pupil teacher. I joined the pupil teacher ranks at the age of 13 and at the age of 18 I passed the first-class teacher certificate examination and at that age I was appointed of Rancho Dolores primary school. I got off that road when sister Albertine believed in me and provided me with an opportunity and a second chance. I applaud the minister and the LIU for their vision and foresight to provide our Belizean youths with opportunities and second chances."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"They say if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, you teach the man to fish, you would have fed him for a lifetime and that is exactly what we are trying to do. We don't want to be giving hands out to these young men, giving them hand-out is not going to make them better, giving them hands out is not going to feed them and their families, not even for the day. But, if it is that we can teach them to grow agricultural products. The important thing is for us to ensure that whatever products that they may produce on this farm, that we help them to find sale for it with the business sector within our communities."
But - we've seen this movie before. Back in 2008, the CYDP project at Rhaburn Ridge project attempted to get gang members to start farming, but didn't work out as the government had planned. But Minister Musa said that project never got off the ground, and that they're committed to this one.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"As far as I am aware, it was conceptual only and it never materialize. I could be wrong, but that was the information that I have gotten and so like I told you in October of last year this actually formed the basis of a cabinet paper that was extremely comprehensive and included all facets of improving the lives of these young man and women whether it be in education which we already see materializing on the form of the classes from Dr. Mckay as well as free education on the Southside of Belize City which will be implemented in August of this year. I addition to that the employment opportunities. As you know the last administration notoriously spent 7 million dollars in a span of months in terms of an employment program. But this has in fact and I can say this, there is only a 2-million-dollar budget that we have for an entire year, but our young men still have jobs to this day since last October and even they were sceptical when we started the program and they say it's only going to be for Christmas, but we managed to stretch the dollar. Again, it's not even close to what the previous administration had, but we managed to stretch our resources to ensure that they are able to keep their jobs, but at the same time offer other avenues and I can tell you that in relation to this farming project we already have commitment from the private sector for the
donation of generators, because there is already a building on the property that we will be outfitting, we will be getting greenhouses underway shortly, hopefully a piggery. That is in the plans as well and so we are going to give this our full genuine effort to ensure that this does materialize and I can tell you that this group that is here with us today, they have been clamouring for this for quite some time and so we want to make sure that we give it a really good shot and I am confident that this will not be simply a concept as it was in 2008."
Musa also said he hopes to take the media on a tour of the grounds later this year.
