In May, the The Princess Royal Youth Hostel in the Belize District was re-branded and renamed the "New Beginnings Youth Development Center".
Yesterday - they wrapped up their summer program - Anne Palacio told us more:
Anne Palacio, New Beginnings Youth Development Center
"Many of these kids have gone through lots of trauma that have left them hopeless, have left them frustrated, and they feel as if everyone is against them. At the New Beginnings Youth Development Center, we are telling them 'no, this is one of life's obstacles and you're going to get through it'. The management and staff that we have here are so lovely, they're passionate about their work. We try to show our children that we will get through this together and with the counseling sessions that they have along with these summer programs and therapeutic ways of helping them, they see the light and they are more hopeful. This helps us to understand what skills they have because some of our kids really know that they can actually act, or they can actually sing, and this brings it out. Which helps, because lots of them are shy and some of them are not used to trusting and being in front of people. So, this really helps them to bring out their skills and we are so grateful for that."
Anne Palacio is the program coordinator at New Beginnings.
