body,td,th { font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; }
The YMCA movement in Belize is celebrating 20 years of partnership with Gateway Region YMCA and 37 years with Latin America and Caribbean YMCA.
We stopped by the Y today and learned more about their work from a visiting team. Jomarie Lanza reports.
Actively working in over 120 different countries, 25 of them across the Caribbean and Latin American region, the YMCA is celebrating 20 years of partnership in Belize - working together as a global community, changing lives and creating safe spaces for youths.
Today we spoke with one of the partners who's visiting from St Louis Missouri. She's been working in Belize for the past 12 years.
Caroline Mitchell, Executive Director, Gateway Region YMCA
"So really it's about the youth and that's the same in Saint Louis and here in Belize and so we get to share best practices A lot of it is about education and literacy and technology skills and then a lot of it is about that heart of service and how we work with each other and that professional interaction so how do we put those academic skills into play in our real lives both professionally and personally."
"I was fortunate to get to come here in 2013 to see what the Y was doing and it's been amazing to see some of the same youth grow in the program and now be in leadership roles so I'm really excited to just see the growth in the program and all the graduates from youth program."
Building partnerships with other international YMCA members has enabled them to forge connections with volunteers who deliver a wealth of knowledge in important fields like technology, and how this can be used to improve sister branches like the one in Belize.
Eric Stafford, Volunteer, YMCA
"I think for me, especially being newly appointed as the chairperson of the international committee, I would like to be able to take back what I've experienced so that we can strengthen our partnership, our ties and understand. Also as a volunteer, volunteers are able to bring their professional background and experience to the organization and specifically to the Belize YMCA and so to some of the buildings they are doing they want to improve their technology footprint here. My background is cyber security with a large firm in St Louis called worldwide technology and in kind of interacting and engaging with Herman who's on staff here and whoever else helps with the technology so that we can identify where the gaps are right now and see if we can improve that in some way or another."
The visiting team has spent a significant amount of time learning and interacting with the YMCA group here in Belize, so much so that it's easy for them to identify the areas that have potential
Antonio Merino, Executive Director, Latin American Caribbean Alliance YMCA
"Well this is exciting. I see lots of potential. I think this YMCA has a lot of potential to build stronger foundations and also to empower more young people to build just equitable sustainable communities so I'm actually very excited and hopeful about what I've seen here."
"What I am hoping that we leave here after this visit is that the YMCA in Belize knows that they are not alone and we can actually partner together to strengthen their community impact and to make sure that we can reach more young people here in Belize and that they can contribute to a stronger Belize."
