And in another donation, this one a structural one, the Rotary Club of Belize sunrise today signed an M.O.U. to maintain a new playground for St. Joseph Primary school.
It's a new feature of the schoolyard that the school believes will enhance the skills development of its youngest students while providing them with a clean and safe place to play.
7News stopped by the playground's inauguration and Cherisse Halsall has the report.
St. Joseph Primary School on Northside Belize City just got a brand new playground.
It's a collaboration between the school, the Rotary Club of Belize, Sunrise, and the Rotary Club of Edmonton in Canada who have built and pledged to maintain this all - important monument to play.
This morning we spoke to club president Iselma Martinez about the challenges and the triumphs of this particular playground.
Iselma Sosa Martinez, President, Rotary Club Of Belize Sunrise
"Saint Joesph has been on that waiting list for quite some time now and the Rotary Clubs of Edmonton and the builders are here in Belize today to open that playground but they have been here since last week actually and it took about four days or so to prepare and complete this project. We had some obstacles at first but we managed to overcome those and we did not disappoint, the kids were looking forward to this."
"We will have the signing of the M.O.U's today where my club, the Rotary club of Belize sunrise along with the school, the Saint Joesph primary school will sign that agreement to maintain and upkeep the playground."
And the man responsible for the construction of St. Joseph's playground is Marcus Muse, he traveled down from Edmonton Alberta and says he was eager to complete the project.
Marcus Muse, Member, Rotary Club of Edmonton
"I kind of was put in charge of this play ground build because I was very anxious to do a playground build after three years hiatus."
"Why Belize, well our district in Alberta Canada it's a district that spans probably an area the size of Central America um,we have always had a program of building playgrounds in Belize all over Belize. Our club downtown Edmonton has always had an initiative of downtown Belize, south Belize City mostly. This is the first school in North Belize City. We'll keep doing them until all schools have playgrounds."
And the playground is a schoolyard feature that's been very much welcomed by Principal Claudia Avilez, this morning during its inauguration she claimed to be dancing for joy knowing that her students will have a place for expression, friendship building, and hands-on learning to enhance their schoolyard experience.
Claudia Avilez, Principal
"We were glad and honoured to have heard that the Rotary would have been gifting us with this playground, this is a dream of ours for maybe over 5 years and finally in October, we received messages that yes, this dream will be a reality. We are ecstatic because our students have a big yard but the items that you have seen here today will only enhance the play of our students, we are looking forward to engaging our students in many meaningful interplays on the playground with varied activities that interact from inside the classroom and outside."
"When children are on the playground, they need to develop certain skills, they need to learn how to interact with each other, of sharing, waiting, of being patient of taking turns and this is also, and these are also activities and skills that the students need to have inside the classroom."
The Rotary plans to build many more playgrounds across the city.
