And the kids weren't the only ones on the receiving end this Christmas season. The Caribbean Shores area rep received a donation from the Taiwanese Embassy towards hurricane relief in the constituency. And in return, he presented the Ambassador with a Belizean made cutting board crafted from the trunk of a mango tree by artist Gilvano Swasey.
The donation took place today at Minister Musa's office, and he told us more about what the money will be used for.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"Like the rest of Belize City, the Caribbean Shores residents suffered a lot of loss especially with the roofs in their homes in terms of plywood and zinc, and other materials like sheetrock and plycem. Those are the things we've been giving out over the last month and a half. Especially grocery bags at this particular time. That's something that we've been doing for them every single week for the past month and a half. So this comes at a very opportune time for us here at the constituency to be able to give back to the constituents that are in most need. Especially now that we have Christmas approaching so it definitely is going to help those residents who suffered loss as a result of Hurricane Lisa. The value of the donation from Taiwan is $20,000."
Reporter
"Have you had donations from others too? Was the need to severe in your division?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"Well we had donation as well from Atlantic Bank, they gave us 100 grocery bags so we want to take the opportunity to thank them as well for their contribution. Companies and agencies as well on a much smaller scale have made contributions as well."
And in the spirit of giving, the Ministry of New Growth Industries also made its own donation of two dozen boxes of brand new sneakers to the Belize Basketball Federation. Here's how that went:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries
"I met with the president of the Belize Basketball Federation a few months ago. If you would recall when Reggie Bullock the player from the Dallas Mavericks came and he did an exhibition and engaged with our young people. I mentioned then, the importance of investing in our youth. You can never go wrong with an investment in young people whether it is education or in sports. He requested back then, a donation from us for tennis shoes. Right away I immediately activated my different networks to try to see how we can get a donation. As I've said before, the Ministry of New Growth Industries doesn't necessarily have a budget to assist with those things but we do have a lot of partners and a lot of networking that we can tap into. So, he gave us the shoe sizes, which were 24 pairs of tennis shoes and we were able to get a donation from Mr. Alex Lavin the consultant for New Growth Industries and he was able to donate the tennis shoes."
Jacob Leslie, President, Belize Basketball Federation
"It is always a good thing when we can give our young people anything right? A part of our mandate is to yield the sport of Basketball to change the lives of our young people. Many times when they compete, they look like second class citizens and that impacts their play. So, what we're trying to do with these sneakers is to make them look good and feel good about themselves. It is a 15 man team and the game is for 12 but we keep 3 in the case of injuries."
Reporter
"They already know this is coming?"
Jacob Leslie, President, Belize Basketball Federation
"No they dont actually, they don't, I'm sure when they see it on TV my phone will be ringing a lot but yeah it's a surprise for them, It is something that I know the Minister has been working on in some time. I didn't want to say anything until it materialized and so now I'm sure they'll be excited."
Reporter
"With most sports, footwear is very important, so talk to us about what kind of tennis shoes these are."
Jacob Leslie, President, Belize Basketball Federation
"Yeah this is very important, they are very high level basketball shoes. Nothing that these guys might be able to afford themselves so when they are gifted to us we are very appreciative of it."
