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The Belize TimeS
Sunday, November 8, 2009
VOICES Village
from the
XAIBE
community park as it will be used for beneficial purposes that will further unite residents. The long-term goal is to also create a pavilion in the centre of the park that will act as a performance stage and a place from which to deliver community speeches. Despite these hard times, residents of Xaibe are striving to improve their standard of living, and to encourage the younger generations to stay in the village as opposed to seeking employment and futures elsewhere. With limited support from the current national administration, and decreasing job opportunities on a national scale, it can only be hoped that the
government will begin to make amends by reversing the current economic crisis and empowering the community to further realise their ambitions for the village of Xaibe. Until then, it is understandable that numerous villagers feel neglected and have striven to promote the status and services of Xaibe without the financial support of the government or other outside organisations. Determination and dedication are common sentiments in Xaibe, which continues to give hope that, for this village at least, the future may have a happier ending than many other places in Belize.
FOR SALE
By Order of the Mortgagee Elizabeth Pridgeon Just over a month ago, the village of Xaibe in Corozal celebrated the 59th birthday of the PUP wholeheartedly, warmly embracing the visit by the Party Leader, Hon. John Briceño, and members of the Party Executive. The village has the appearance of a flourishing hamlet, bustling with activity, and always well maintained and carefully kept. However, despite the emphasis on appearance and community solidarity, there are many underlying issues that are cause for concern at present. The 2000 Census recorded 1254 residents of Xaibe village, but the village continues to grow and now takes up several square miles of land, neatly divided into relatively decent-sized residential lots. The village boasts a well-maintained school, numerous grocery shops, a hardware store, a cybernet cafe and a swimming pool-cum-bar with intentions of opening a golf course and tilapia farm on site (although sensible members of the electorate are well advised to steer clear of the latter, as the landlord holds a misplaced grudge against the PUP and is quite venomous in his rambling political soliloquies). The village as a whole has repeatedly voted the PUP village council, headed by the enigmatic Luciano Noh, for over 6 years and community affairs have – according to nearly all residents – worked well under the current council. However, as is the case throughout Belize, finances are getting tighter and employment opportunities scarcer, and villagers from Xaibe are not immune to ‘feeling the pinch’. Shop-keepers complain of heightened competition between vendors, a situation made worse by the overall decreasing demand for goods as more villagers are forced to rely on contraband Mexican goods solely to be able to provide for themselves and their families as inflation continues to afflict rural communities throughout our country. The majority of villagers made their wealth during the climax of the sugar cane industry, and villagers are grateful to the past economy for having provided houses and land which, in today’s tight times, would be impossible to acquire. However, the labour force of Xaibe today has forcibly become more fluid, adjusting to new industries and job vacancies that will at least provide a bare minimum salary, such as at the nearby Fruta Bomba papaya farm, and in the retail and service industry in the Free Zone and border Casinos. For those who have not been
able to secure employment locally, many have left the village to join more promising tourist industries in the Cayes and elsewhere in the country, although the current economic crisis is warranting many of these to suffer un- (or under-) employment too. Regardless of the financial hardships experienced by most of Xaibe’s residents, there is still an admirable level of community solidarity and cooperation within the village. The latest objective, adopted by an active volunteer group of 10 people, is the creation of a community park adjacent to the school. This movement has received unwavering support from nearly all community members, and villagers have contributed time and resources to assist in the first stages of this project. Already, land has been cleared and a trail prepared for the construction phase of the walkway, envisaged to follow the circumference of the park. The village has a remarkable (and well organised) record of fundraising for the community park; initiatives have included a fair, a 5-aside marathon, the sale of BBQ, a talent show, tombolas, the sale of donated food and drink, and a grand raffle of the latest SMART phone. There is no doubting that the park is something wanted – and needed – by community residents, and with local donations exceeding $1000 in profit, and the repeated volunteering of almost 30 village men to clear the land for the site, it could be presumed that the park is now well on the way to completion. However, the village was forced to make an unenviable decision, after the NGO Humana People to People promised financial support and were then not forthcoming in actually donating it. The village chairman, speaking on behalf of the village group, announced last month that the village would no longer depend on Humana People to People for support, and they had informed the NGO that they wanted no more communication with them. There is a little uncertainty as to what triggered this decision, although villagers continue to fundraise, and the group recently purchased a bulk load of second hand clothing in order to re-sell and generate further funds to be used once the creation of the park re-starts. It is rare that a grassroots village group is as proactive and successful as in Xaibe, partly because of divisions and discrepancies that invariably arise and divide the movement. In Xaibe, however, residents remain as unified and supporting as ever, which further advocates the fact that any such village deserves to have a
MYRNA HARRIS of c/o Belcove Hotel, No. 9 Regent Street W., Belize City, Belize, hereby gives notice of its intention to exercise its power of sale as Mortgagee under a Deed of Mortgage made the 15th day of May, 2009, between TREASURE ISLAND MANAGEMENT LIMITED of the one part and the said MYRNA HARRIS of the other part recorded in Deeds Book Volume 13 of 2009 at folios 763 – 812 over the property described in the Schedule hereto; and the said MYRNA HARRIS will at the expiration of two months from the date of the first publication of this notice sell the property described in the Schedule hereto. All offers to purchase the said property must be made in writing and full particulars and conditions of sale may be obtained from MUSA & BALDERAMOS of 91 North Front Street, Belize City, Belize District, Belize, for and on behalf of the said MYRNA HARRIS.
SCHEDULE ALL THAT piece or parcel of land being the Northern Portion of Grant No. 15 of 1902 containing 75 acres more or less, situate at Gallows Point on the Eastern Portion of Drowned Caye, approximately 7 miles East of Belize City, Belize District; bounded and described as follows on the North and South by a portion of the said Grant, on the East by the Caribbean Sea and on the West by lands now or formerly National Land. It is more particularly described as follows: Commencing at a point located 625 feet more or less from a concrete pillar labeled P2 on Entry Number 10712 Register Number 20 that said point being the North Western Corner of the said Block thence in an Easterly Direction on a Bearing of 90°19’46” for a distance of 993.0 feet thereabout to point located sixty six (66) feet more or less aback from the Sea Coast thence in a South Easterly Direction Meandering along the Sea Coast thence in a South Easterly Direction Meandering along the Sea Coast for an approximate distance of 5251.0 feet more or less to a point thence in a Westerly Direction on a Bearing of 227°13’54” for a distance of 5875.0 feet back to the point of Commencement TOGETHER with all buildings and erections standing and being thereon. DATED this 19th day of October, 2009. MUSA & BALDERAMOS 91 North Front Street Belize City Attorneys-at-Law for MYRNA HARRIS