On a good day, Belize City already looks like a storm hit it….so imagine after a hurricane really hit!
That's what it's been like for the past 6 days after Lisa "tow' up" this town. And the effort to restore the city has crossed political and geographical boundaries in an inspiring collective clean up.
Today, it was the cane farmers from the Orange Walk District - men known to labour with their machetes maids the tall stalks of cane across fields that extend for hundreds of acres. Today they traded all that to get down and dirty in the urban jungle.
Daniel Ortiz was there:
Today, a small contingent of cane farmers and sugar industry technicians from the Orange Walk District jumped into the Belize City clean-up campaign, hands and feet first.
Their compassion for the ongoing suffering of the storm-battered citizens of Belize City led them to postpone all cane farming pursuits and lend a helping hand.
Alfredo Ortega - Chairman, BSCFA Orange Walk Branch
"We see in the news that you guys have been presenting the amount of damage that is caused here in the City. And as Belizeans and as humans, with the little that we have, we said that we're supposed to come to the City and give a helping hand to clean up - to come into the clean-up campaign, and that is how we ended up here today, giving that helping hand to the City."
Jose Mai - Minister of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise
"The farmers of the country, I think, on a whole, are in solidarity with the people of Belize City, especially in these particular times. And I think that they realize that the assets we have in Orange Walk, the equipment, could be used very well in Belize City. They came out here today without any pay. All we did is provide them with fuel for the trucks and for the loaders. Nobody is getting paid out here today. It's strictly volunteer, but the farmers have a big heart."
Alfredo Ortega
"At this time, they would have been in their cane field, cleaning, spraying - or doing some husbandry at the cane field level. We have our field officers that would have been going around doing work that is for the Association, where we have to comply with Fairtrade standards. We have the guys from SIRDI also who would have been doing other work, but they are here giving a helping hand."
Jose Mai
"I think what is also in their mind is that today is the Belize City residents who are affected. Tomorrow, it might be the cane farmers."
The biggest beneficiary of this demonstration of kindness is the Belize City Council, whose staff have labored unceasingly for several days now to clean up Hurricane Lisa's many messes all over the country's biggest population center.
Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner and his team warmly received the farmers and instructed them where equipment and manpower would make the greatest impact.
Bernard Wagner - Belize City Mayor
"We are so thankful to the BSCFA for bringing that spirit, and that spirit has been on display throughout the last seven days. I've seen it across Belize City, people reaching out to the City Council, reaching out to residents, and residents helping each other. That's the spirit; together, we can. What has been happening for us is that all this has been pro-bono. Most of the heavy equipment you see out here is being used on a pro-bono basis, but we are still able to quantify it. And we know that up until last week Sunday, if they were charging us funds for the removal of the debris, it would have been in the neighborhood of 243 thousand [dollars]. So clearly, that's savings for the city and savings for the entire country of Belize."
The presence of the farmers isn't just a symbolic gesture of solidarity. Their heavy-duty equipment, which is used in sugar cane operations, is actually ideal for the efficient removal of all the downed trees and debris left behind by Hurricane Lisa.
Alfredo Ortega
"As you can see, with the loaders, it is much faster to load the debris that is around."
Bernard Wagner
"These loaders work very efficiently along those lines, pulling up the big blocks of lumber and fallen trees. And so, we wanted to deploy them in those areas where there are a lot of trees, shrubbery, and debris."
Jose Mai
"This is learning from the experience of the Mexicans. When a hurricane hit Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, and Tulum, the cane farmers in Quintana Roo responded immediately with 60 sugar cane loaders, and in 15 days, they'd cleaned up the entire three areas. So, the equipment is very good for this."
And the City Council could certainly use that high level of efficiency to remove the many tonnes of debris that's piled up on street sides all across the city.
Bernard Wagner
"[The] total loads taken out so far, I believe, is over 700; in terms of tonnage, over twenty thousand tonnes have been taken out already. But we still have a way to go, and that is why we are so glad to have the BSCFA here with us today, to really accelerate our efforts. Currently, we have employed about 44 trucks, and that number continues to grow each day. I was just told that Lopez Equipment will be pro-bono as well with their trucks. So, we expect to reach over the 50 trucks in the City to really change and get this debris out of the city."
Reporter
"How many more days of work do you expect remains?"
Bernard Wagner
"I still believe that - from Monday counting onwards, we have like twelve to fourteen days."
Reporter
"Originally you were saying two weeks, and now, that has gone up to three weeks."
Bernard Wagner
"No, not three weeks; remember I said that from this Monday that we started until twelve days forward - twelve to fourteen days. I am certain that we continue to assess as we go by and see how many workloads we're taking out per day. Our target per day is about two hundred truckloads that we want to take out. If we stick by that, we'll be able to achieve it within the 12 days."
The farmers say that they are willing to come back tomorrow if there is a need.
Alfredo Ortega
"We're here for one day, but we'll see at the end of the day how things are. And if there is a need that we have to be here tomorrow, we'll see what arrangements we can make."
One farmer did poke a bit of fun at their hosts, the City Council. He explained that caneros don't like to burn a single minute of daylight when work could be happening.
Cane Farmer
"We are happy to be here in Belize City to work. These are the cane farmers ready to work. We are just waiting for where to go and jam. [I'm] sorry to say, but it's sad. Farmers work early in the morning. Right now, we are late! We are thinking about lunchtime right now [cane farmers collectively laugh]."
Mayor Bernard Wagner told the press today that a team of CitCo employees worked very late last night to clean up the Fort Street Tourism area in time for the first arrival of cruise tourists since the hurricane.
