It's been a week of women's month celebrations for the Belize Coast Guard, and today as a part of those activities, four officers made a special visit to the Kolbe Foundation.
They were there to inspire, motivate and strengthen women that they call victims of circumstance, currently incarcerated at the prison.
They did so via an inspirational talk, one that Cherisse Halsall got to hear first-hand. Here's that story.
The Kolbe Foundation played host to four Coast Guard officers this afternoon. They were there to give an inspirational talk as part of women's month in an activity they spearheaded for the encouragement and upliftment of Belize's few female inmates.
Ens. Melissa Jones -Belize Coast Guard "We're trying to impart to them to let them know that there are people out there that are looking out for them and that they don't need to give up, it might be temporary confinement but still have hope and believe that they could be someone as to what they perceive themselves to be in the future and don't demoralize themselves try to build unity among themselves. It's just us females empowering each other as much as we can empower each other, uplifting each other as much as we can to strive for the best."
It's an activity that in a mid-pandemic women's month replaced the Coast Guard's
Wonder Woman Competition, a test of strength and agility designed to show male officers that their female counterparts are certainly their equals.
And while that couldn't go ahead today the officers took the opportunity to empower another group of Wonder Women
Lieutenant Jr. Grade Shady Reyes - Agitant, Belize Coast Guard "This is just a process that they have to go through because perhaps they didn't do the right thing and they can always go back to doing the right thing in society."
Cherisse Halsall "There's a lot that separates a professional woman like yourself from a woman who ends up in prison but what if anything have you learned that you have in common?"
Lieutenant Jr. Grade Shady Reyes "That we're all women and that we are equal to women and equal to each other, and equal to men regardless of what some men in society may think. We as females, as women can do many things that they can do and we're not limited to opportunities, we're not limited to what society thinks that we can do. We can achieve far way more stuff than is expected of us."
And to bolster these women on their journey to redemption the Coast Guard gifted a few tokens in the form of basic toiletries.
Ingrid Campos - PO3, Belize Coast Guard "We thought that we needed to bring essential things for them. It's not because we don't think that they don't get it here but we just wanted to provide something that they can use to help themselves. I strongly believe that they are strong women, I mean I heard some of them say that's it's hard to be in here far from their loved ones, I really think that these women go through a lot here and they must want their family to talk you know, emotional things female we really emotional and for me they are strong really strong."
And while you saw the Coast Guard address a small group of women, you may be interested to know that most female inmates at Kolbe foundation are foreigners, with the most common crime among female inmates being illegal entry into Belize.
