The Taiwan Technical Mission Women's Empowerment Project that began in 2021 launched a new training program for the Tumul Uj Mopan Women's Group in Toledo. It's the furthest the technical mission has gone to increase its work among women in Belize recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are the highlights from the launch speeches, including two of the members of the women's group.
H.E Lily Wen Hsu, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize
"To implement the project we need to collaborate with local partners and in this program I am pleased to have such a like minded partner the Tumul Uj Women's group. I learned that this group was established by 16 dedicated women committed to empowering underprivileged women in the community who struggled during COVID and this is the exact reason why the Twain government initiated this women's empowerment project we want to help those women those under privileged to support themselves because they were the ones who were hit the most hard the hardest during the pandemic and we want to help women recover because women are agents of change."
Dalia Sho, Tumul Uj Women's Group member
"This sewing project came about with our enthusiastic 16 females of Tumul Uj our dynamic group due to the pandemic this is how we came about with our group and we see the needs and effort of putting the ladies together to come together and work together due to financial constraints and there was nothing to do during COVID and that's how we came as a group and one of our visions as a group came about is to do our basic training and make sure that the ladies have the entrepreneurial skills number one. And two financially be able to support themselves especially some of them are single mothers some of them are widowed they can support themselves after this sowing programme takes it's face."
Virginia Cal, Tumul Uj Women's Group member
"This is a great initiative for us women here in Pueblo Viejo some of us the women aren't able to meet what we need in our basic lives we need to do sustainment living in such a way that we can come up with an idea of this project the sowing project I think it is a good initiative for us the ladies to enhance and empower our ladies here in Pueblo Viejo."
