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Belize Programs

Building for Change

Hand in Hand Ministries will soon build its 100th home for the poor in Belize City. The program began slowly in 2002, building only a handful a year, but has grown substantially, completing over 92 in the last five years.

One of the program’s beneficiaries is Maggie Parham. Maggie could have ended up as just another statistic in the poverty and hopelessness so widespread in Belize City. She lives in an area where violence and drugs are rampant, and most families live day-to-day surviving on very little.

Maggie and her four children lived in a small, dilapidated shack with rotting floors and a leaking roof. The children slept on top of one another, with no plumbing and only one light for the entire house.
Hand in Hand Ministries built Maggie’s house in 2006 with local Belize volunteers along with our construction team. This was the 50th house constructed by Hand in Hand Ministries, and all of us watched as amazing changes soon followed.

The entire family has blossomed since being touched by Hand in Hand Ministries. Maggie now works at the Starfish Center, as our head cook and takes care of all our immersion groups that come down to work with us. All the groups that come down can tell you what an inspiration she is and how she is going on to help others.

Her 14 year old daughter, Wendy, is now attending high school because of the scholarship provided by Hand in Hand Ministries. If this opportunity would not have been available then Wendy would be like so many other girls becoming at risk for teenage pregnancy or involved in drug use.

Hand in Hand Ministries not only builds a home for a family but provides them with life-skills classes on topics such as hygiene, personal finances and parenting. It is our hope that a long-term commitment will yield a lifetime of hope and a better future.

Hand In Hand Ministries Outreach Center

The Outreach Center is a combination day treatment center and outreach program for children who either have HIV/AIDS or are greatly affected by it – which usually means that one or both parents are infected with the disease or may have already died from its effects.

The HHM Outreach Center is the first and only facility of its type in a country of nearly 300,000 people that has the highest per capita incidence of the disease in Central America and the third highest in the Caribbean.

Currently, 18 children attend the day treatment center and our staff cares for 47 families in our outreach program. HHM provides two strains of medicine for the children who need treatment, two nutritious meals a day, a structured day in a clean environment and, sadly, more love and attention than most will receive in their homes.

While our program extends the life of many of the children who enter our center, we cannot save all of them. Six-year-old Steven (not his real name) lost his mother to the ravages of AIDS shortly after she gave birth to Steven’s younger sister. By then, both children were HIV-positive themselves, the disease passed on at birth. (Drugs to stop the transmitting of the disease in child birth will soon become available in the country.)

As his disease advanced, Steven could no longer attend regular school in Belize City. That’s when his father turned to Hand in Hand Ministries’ Outreach Center for help. Unfortunately, it was not soon enough.

Steven was charming, had smiling brown eyes, an eagerness to learn, and inspirational inner-strength. His resilience continually surprised the staff, especially the day he arrived at the center, eager to go on a field trip to the zoo after a difficult two-week stay in the hospital.

One day, it became apparent that the disease was too far advanced, Steven’s frail body too weak. During the end stage of his life, the HHM staff cared for Steven, bringing him comfort and dignity. He eventually died at home in his father’s arms.

Too many families in Belize face the same life-altering cruelty of AIDS. Hand in Hand Ministries’ Outreach Center is the first and only facility there to offer comfort, treatment and support for a child with HIV/AIDS.


Scholarship Program

Education is one of the keys to helping raise a person and a nation out of poverty and into self-sufficiency. To that end, Hand in Hand Ministries currently offers 30 scholarships for at-risk students, 15 to high school students and 15 to college students.

We are beginning to take a more holistic approach to the scholarship program

Planting the Seeds

Many of you remember Lenissa from Belize City who spoke to those attending the Legacy Breakfast in 2006. Through your support of the Hand in Hand Ministries' scholarship program, Lenissa has finished high school! She recently graduated from E.P. Yorke in June and will be continuing her education at the university level. This program has helped Lenissa achieve her dreams while living in a neighborhood in Belize City where poverty and violence are daily threats.

Your support of this program not only provides the financial assistance needed for the students, but also creates tutoring sessions at the Outreach Center. Students in the scholarship program help with other Hand in Hand Ministries community service projects every Saturday.

Cafeteria and Feeding Program

Street vendors wait outside the gates of most schools in Belize City. Unable to provide lunch, schools must let the children fend for themselves at lunchtime. Many spend the little money they have on junk food while others go hungry. The Feeding and Cafeteria Program offers assistance with purchasing food and drinks to schools that have cafeterias or renovates existing rooms into a cafeteria by tearing down walls or renovating space. HHM has also provided appliances for food storage and cooking when needed. Eight schools in and around Belize City, including the Lucky Strike School, have benefited from this program.