Island Mapping and Belize Red Cross Summer Camp

What a crazy ride, I started this blog 3 days ago then all hell broke loose with our internet Saturday and neither of us could stay on longer than 2 seconds.

Paul called BTL for service and they said they would send someone out in the next 24h. When I did a follow up call later, that 24 h had turned into Monday morning or afternoon that they would get to us, after all it was the weekend and rain had put the kibosh on the servicemen doing their work.

I had planned to finish this on Sunday when our net was back but everything I had written had disappeared and my laptop had started to act like it was dying a slow death – warbled sound and taking 2 h to virus scan. I decided the best course of action was to clean and back up so I took all Sunday doing just that. Any tech people out there have any advice or opinions before I take it to the shop to get cleaned?

Today I decided to make myself redo what I had been blogging when magically it was where it was supposed to be – in the draft I had started …..

Instead of getting pissed off at the internet this morning I decided to play pinball instead. My high score was 1,366,000 no bad considering I have not played in years. That is one of the things I miss from our old life going to the arcade on Young St for date night, not enough to trade in the beach and golf cart date night.

After 7 or so games my ADD kicked in and I had enough.

tacoboy called BTL 24 h customer service and they suggested that we leave the router unplugged for 10 minutes and try again. If it does not go back on they said they would send someone out on a service call. They also said they would call back on Monday regarding our download speed and get a technician down to check it out.

Why is it waiting 10 minutes suddenly feels like 20? It is not like I am anxious to get back to work lol After all it is Saturday and I should be done by now but I have barely got started.

Last nights meeting at NEMO went pretty well, we had about 15 eager teenagers who are ready to help start mapping out the island. Fred came from the mainland and gave us a copy of the questionnaire that we will be using to go door to door and collect information. Fred even brought some big maps from the Lands dept with all the lot numbers marked off. The main trouble is that we now need to find smaller ones so anyone who is out there mapping can have a copy of the section they are working on.

Thanks to Amanda Syme at Sunrise Realty we now have a spare set of Lands Dept maps which can be folded or marked on if need be, she also provided us with a list of street names and smaller sections of maps with plot numbers on them. I walked over to the Nemo office Yesterday and was please to find Timrose had managed to get smaller maps as well from the Town Council. Between everything we both scored we should be able to manage.

Now all that is left is to hook up with the Neighborhood Watch presidents and try to get people in each area to help us go door to door and collect the data we need.

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Belize Red Cross Summer Camp

The Belize Red Cross is hosting a six- day summer camp for children ages 9 to 12 from the Jane Usher Blvd. area at St. John’s Vianney Primary School from Monday July 9, 2012 to Thursday 12, 2012 and Thursday July 19 & 20, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The theme of the summer camp is “OUR CHILDREN—AGENTS OF BEHAVIOUR CHANGE”.

As the Belize Red Cross continues to work for the most vulnerable people in Belize, and commits to promote a culture of peace, dignity and non-violence, this summer camp will promote fun and participatory educational activities for children to learn about school and home safety as they relate to emergencies and disasters within an environment of peace.

In June, 2012, the Belize Red Cross, with financial support from the Norwegian Red Cross, commenced the implementation of the project, “Strengthening Resilience in Urban Youth through Education”. The main objective of the project is to enhance the resilience and capacity of Belizean Society to respond to, and mitigate the adverse effects of disasters through young people, in this case, our children. The summer camp marks the project’s initial phase, which targets children ages 9 to 12 from the Jane Usher Blvd. Area in Belize City. During the 6-day program, children will be exposed to the Belize Red Cross 7 Fundamental Principles, First Aid techniques, Disaster Risk Reduction activities and to promoting a culture of peace and dignity. They will also be creating their concept of an ideal community.

From September to December, 2012, the project will also see the implementation of The Protected Schools program in a Second group of primary schools in Belize City: Central Christian School, Button wood Bay Nazarene Primary School, Unity Presbyterian Primary School and St. Ignatius R.C. School. In 2011 the National Society worked with St. John’s Vianney, James Garbutt, Queens Square Anglican and Salvation Army Primary Schools also in Belize City.

For further information please contact Miss. Nancy Lo, Project Manager, Mrs. Angelita Magana, Project Field Officer or Lily Bowman, Director General at any of the numbers below.

Contact Lily Bowman
Belize Red Cross, 1 Gabourel Lane, Belize City, Belize
Tel: (501) 227-3319/227-3617, Fax: (501) 223-0998
Email: bzercshq@btl.net