And while that E-Wallet is coming online we doubt it'll stop the stuffing of those cash-filled red envelopes known to be passed around at this time of year.
That's right, it's Chinese New Year, but while Chinese-Belizeans mark the coming of the year of the OX, the New Year like every other pandemic social event has been substantially scaled-down.
And this year there were no dancing dragons or firecrackers in the streets but there's still a spirit of hope and unity. And on this Chinese New Year's Eve, association president Johnson Ou told me about the community's COVID-time efforts to assist the society at large. Here's that conversation.
Johnson Au, President, Belize of the Chinese Association
"Actually we didn't have any event this year, only a certain individual, they do their own thing and they have everything under the government's protocol."
"Well China seems like everything is back to normal they have great celebration just like years before and it seems like it's not much different."
Reporter
"What are you doing in your own home to celebrate the year of the OX?"
Johnson Au, President, Belize of the Chinese Association
"Well actually this pandemic is, how to put it, It's been good in a way that it keeps everybody home and we have a lot of family times and we spend the new year with family, very few friends, which is good."
"We, the Chinese community, are part of Belizean society and we will keep doing as much as we can to assist each other. It's not just the chinese community under this pandemic everybody across the board is experiencing hard times. We are experiencing something we haven't experienced before and for the past year I believe we learnt enough experience to fight in the future because it seems like the pandemic has just slowed down a bit but it's still around and it seems like it's going to be a long time."
Chinese New Year is celebrated for sixteen days (from Chinese New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival on Friday the 26th of February).
