In the 70s, Reverend Sun Myung Moon received much negative publicity as leader of what was referred to as cult-like organizations. Its followers came to be known as moonies over the years. Undaunted, Moon has gone on to from numerous organizations. Among them is the International Federation for World Peace which in September of 2005 was renamed the Universal Peace Federation. What does this all have to do with Belize, you might say? Well today, the UPF's chapter in Belize made a significant donation to the Salvation Army School. It's 20 second-hand computers and while they are not new, secretary to the organization Mark Cuellar says it is a way for the UPF to reach out to those most in need. Principal of the school Barbara Lino says they are most appreciative.
Mark Cuellar, UPF
"The UPF is not a religion, neither is the UPF a political party. I say this because even though the founders have been some of the people that were with Unification Church, this has nothing to do with the Unification Church. We see that there was a great need for this organization and this specific school to have these computers in order to assist in the education building of our children, especially preparing them for the era of communications and the new technologies of research and getting better materials and sound information through the internet."
Barbara Lino, Principal
"These computers have long been in the making for us. The building was completed in 2003 and since then I have been asking, begging, pleading to get computers and nobody answered my pleas. But on Monday out of the blue I was told that I'd be getting twenty computers. You know how good I felt? I felt so good, I felt cold seed coming over me, honestly, because you know I have always wanted this for my kids. My children are very unfortunate, they are poor, and therefore for them this is a start. They will never in their homes get to use a computer but now here at school they'll get the opportunity to learn, not only use it, but to learn from it."
The UPF says they have 250 computers to donate to various institutions in the upcoming months with 250 more to be donated later this year.
