One is a career educator who has dedicated her entire life to teaching while the other is a cultural activist Today Gloria Edwards and Sebastian Cayetano were honored as unsung heroes by First Caribbean Bank. Gloria Edwards who is the former principal of Grace Primary School was nominated for her contribution to education while at Grace Primary for 40 years. More recently Edwards has been using money from her pension to teach expressive arts to children in rural areas of the Belize District. Sebastian Cayetano was noted for his cultural activism but most notably his establishment of the Garifuna Museum in Belize City which he set up with money out of his own pocket. Both Edwards and Cayetano they didn't do it for the recognition.
Gloria Edwards,
"I'm not really a hero, I'm just doing what needs to be done. But it is good that there are people who are interested in what we are doing. Now more people know about the schools in the rural areas and I have been handicap for a couple months because of a lack of transportation and now I'll be able to get out again as soon as possible."
Keith Swift,
What do you get from it?
Gloria Edwards,
"Working with the teachers and the children, that is the praise. That is the recognition, that is the record."
Sebastian Cayetano,
"I feel great, its an honor. I feel humbled but I also feel a challenge to do more. I love my culture my brother and if you don't do anything about it, they will just disappear and this is a rich beautiful culture that we have to preserve for as long as possible."
Stephen Duncan, Country Manager - FCIB
"We really hope that the good news can travel fast in these situations to help to influence some of the things, some of the behaviors, that e see in our country today where for some reason it seems that selfishness and greed is the order of the day. We are hoping to try to promote through the Unsung Heroes where it's really the opposite where people win because they are selfless and they do for others rather than just themselves."
Edwards and Cayetano are Belize's finalists for the regional unsung hero award which will be selected in November. As finalists, they both received US$5,000 towards their cause. Belize's nurse Nancy Juan was last year's regional unsung hero.
