As part of New Horizons 2007, American soldiers have been fixing teeth in Orange Walk and building schools in Trial Farm, Carmelita, Crooked Tree and Hattieville. We've already taken you to Orange Walk for Denrette and for the construction in Carmelita and today it was in Hattieville. That's where we met Brigadier General Ken Keen, the Commander of the United States Army South, on a tour of the project site for a new school building. It's a small building but it will make a big difference and we found out how.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The government school here in Hattieville was originally built to accommodate 250 students and today the school has an enrollment of 360 students. The school is in a space crisis. Today was a sports day at the school so the students were in the yard but they told me that normally they have to sit in cramped classrooms, barely able to move. 12-year-old James Williams is in standard four and he says it's almost impossible for him to concentrate in class.
James Williams, Student
"We are happy to get another building...we are jammed up in the class and we need more space."
Onesimo Pech is a teacher at the school and he says they ran out of space.
Onesimo Pech, Teacher
"We have a lot of children applying, parents applying for their children to come to school and we have ran out of space. In other words, all the classrooms are filled. We have a limit to what we can take."
And that is where the United States Army comes in. As part of the New Horizons Project - American and Belizean soldiers are working on a new school building
for the Hattieville Government School. This afternoon the commander of the United States Amy South, General Ken Keen, arrived in Hattieville on this black hawk helicopter for a tour of the project site with Ambassador Robert Deiter.
Brig. Gen. Ken Keen, U.S. Army South
"Well it is not only U.S. Army soldiers but it is also Belize Defense Force soldiers as well as Navy Sailors that are here working. They are doing extremely well, in fact as the Lieutenant just briefed us here, they are ahead of schedule in terms of completing the project. So working here alongside each other, they are making excellent progress."
Ambassador Robert Deiter, United States
"One of the important aspects of this is that the Belize Defense Force Soldiers are working alongside U.S. Military personnel. We have a long standing close relationship with the BDF. We are proud of that and the U.S. Mission here in Belize is proud of the opportunity to work with the BDF and have them in Belize to do this project."
And though this project at Hattieville Government School is a small part of a much larger project, this teacher says it'll make a big difference at his growing school.
Onesimo Pech,
"Naturally with the building going up we will have more space. Perhaps we will be able to increase our intake in September, definitely."
New Horizons 2007 should wrap up by the middle of May. The U.S. Embassy estimates that about $7 million would have been spent.
