Author: news5assistant

We continue our search for inspiring stories of people who have faced life-saving medical procedures. This week, we had an opportunity to meet a remarkable young girl who, despite her challenges, embraces life with a positive outlook every day. July is National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Month, and while the following story contains graphic content, it is crucial to share. Sabreena Daly brings us more in this week’s Look on the Bright Side.

 

Sabreena Daly, Reporting

It’s been six months since Carolina Martinez has been to school.  She is drawing and coloring, a regular activity she engages in to pass the time, and today I was her helper. At only eight years old, Carolina is healing from her seventh surgery. The most recent operation back in January was an attempt at mending an abnormality she was born with. But her journey is far from over.

 

Briseidy Montecinos, Mother

“The truth is that when I was pregnant, I did two ultrasounds, which didn’t show anything of any consequence. And then, to our surprise, when she was born, we realized the deformity.”

 

 

 

 

Briseidy Montecinos is the mother of Carolina, her only child. She vividly recounts the moment she met her daughter after delivery and the heartbreaking realization that her baby was not okay.

 

 

 

 

Briseidy Montecinos

“When they showed me my daughter, it was something very surprising, because

I never imagined having a girl in that state. But God has given me the strength and the moment that I saw her. I said that if God was giving it to me, He was giving it to me for a purpose.”

 

 

 

Milagro Garel, Country Director, World Pediatrics

“Coincidentally, we were at Karl Heusner when Carolina was born. And you could hear a pin drop because right away her deformity was extremely different, intense, and very complex.”

 

 

 

 

Carolina was born with a cleft and craniofacial abnormality. Her entire face looked as though it was split in two with a prominent hole in between the equal split of her nose. The causes of craniofacial abnormalities may range from genetics to environment and even a nutritional deficiency from the mother in pregnancy. Milagro Garel is the Country Director of World Pediatrics. She shares the immediate challenges Carolina faced at birth.

 

 

 

Milagro Garel

“As early as four months, after she was being fed through a syringe, the mom explained that the nurses and the staff at Karl Heusner were very supportive and everyone really came together for her. But as early as four months we had a team in Belize and we were able to do the closure of her lip. So that allowed her to be able to eat well because she wasn’t gaining weight and we were very concerned as well because she had breathing problems because of the nose being opened up in two.”

 

 

Briseidy Montecinos

“Well, thank God in the same hospital where she was born, I found out about the foundation and believe me, it was something.  I can call it a miracle because I was saying how am I going to deal with her. How are you going to feed yourself? How do I know if she is hungry? Then at the hospital they found a solution.”

 

 

For the past two decades, World Pediatrics has been providing urgent care services to children in Belize with surgical needs. They are recognized for the twenty-four-hour access provided to these families.

 

Milagro Garel

“Our organization works a bit differently than others because we are able to take care of an urgent need in Belize, in the country. So even after our team leaves, we have a database which has the information for all the patients that we have taken care of and those that are on a waiting list. And I believe that that is what makes us different and stand out.”

 

Carolina is one of approximately ten thousand kids who have benefited from the non-profit. This is a service that most families would not be able to afford on their own.

 

Briseidy Montecinos

“I didn’t imagine that I would receive so much help and the flights, food and lodging is something that the foundation has received; So many blessings for so many children who they are helping. Because the truth is that we as parents don’t have that amount of money to pay for an operation because they are expensive. There are millions that are spent on kids that need it because of the foundation here in Belize. Because they work hard and raise funds not just for one child, for thousands. I thank God that He gave the strength, intelligence and kindness for the people who are behind all this help.”

 

July is recognized as National Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Abnormality Awareness month, an opportunity to spread awareness about the effects of this disorder, the help available and the importance of empathy to persons fighting this battle. For Carolina, the hardest part was learning that her daughter was being bullied at school for her appearance.

 

Briseidy Montecinos

“The first year, it was a little difficult because there were kids who locked her in the bathroom at school.  And one day she came and she told me she doesn’t want to go to school anymore. And I asked her why? And she told me, there is a girl who locks me in the bathroom and says that I am a girl who has two noses. She became discouraged. It’s important for people to realize that when children are born with different severities or shortcomings or challenges, I feel that people should even be friendlier and more outgoing to them and treat them as normal because that is what you know, her doctor said, I want people to know that Carolina is a super intelligent child. And she’s very normal on the outside and she deserves every opportunity.”

 

If you happen to meet this little girl, the first thing you would feel is her immediate warmth. At the tender age of eight, Carolina has had to endure many challenges, both physically and emotionally. Yet, she chose to introduce herself to me, a total stranger, with an embrace. Carolina may look different on the outside, but she is a regular eight-year-old within. She prays, plays music and sings, and she hopes to have a future like any other child.  Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.

Minister of Education Francis Fonseca, in his contribution to the debate on the two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar grant, highlighted several challenges in Belize’s education sector. He explained that significant investments will be made to improve the sector for young men, women and teachers across the country. Minister Fonseca also noted that he does not believe the opposition needs to have a seat on the board.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“One of the challenges we have is with males staying in schools and when they are there keeping them. There will be targeted programs for males, young men to make sure they go into secondary school, complete secondary school at a minimum to make sure they are kept there and while they are there that they will be equipped with the skills to participate in the national development of Belize and labor market in an effective way. One of the challenges we have with young women, as you know it is a very positive development, in that we have a lot more females attending school going to school, going to tertiary education, so we have a lot more educated women in our society, absolutely important. This is a reversal of wat use to take place fifty years ago. But what we find is that even though the young women are being better trained and educated, they are not getting jobs in the job market that meets their trainings, education skills. So how do we make sure we are improving work force participation by women in our society? One of the components is of course developing a quality assurance system, capacity building of education leadership and teachers. We have to keep improving and enhancing the capacity of our education leaders and teachers, providing teaching and learning resources.”

Also contributing to the debate was former Minister of Education and Collet Area Representative Patrick Faber. He says that he is not anti-American but questions what the U.S. wants from Belize in exchange for the two hundred and fifty million dollars. Faber cautioned Belizeans to stay woke and remain cautious. He also chastised the Briceno administration over the composition of the M.C.C. Belize board of directors. Faber contended that four handpicked government C.E.O.s will be appointed to the board.

 

Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collett

“The way how some of my colleagues get up and sing you would think America is doing this out of some great love for Belize. In fact, no they are doing it out of great love for the P.U.P., the wonderful Plan Belize that they put into effect. The Wonderful leadership of John Briceno, wonderful practices. This is why the U.S woke up and said let us develop this Millenium Challenge and let’s have Belize be a part of it. Please nobody misquote me or say anything contrary. In fact, the U.S have their ears to the ground for sure. I am not anti-U.S.A, but what I am saying is whenever you see the U.S doing something it is part of a larger plan. This is historical. I watched as President Biden laid out his plan to NATO and they are celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary as NATO. They are clear of what the agenda is, to keep the U.S as a superpower and so everything the U.S does is geared towards and agenda for the U.S. We have long been struggling with poverty and the U.S has not changed its geographical location; in fact, I skip to Mexico and cross the border and we are in the U.S.  And I don’t blame America, America has its agenda. We should have ours too. When they give us this gift, it is not a loan. Two hundred and fifty million dollars gift, you best believe there is some agenda. I am not saying it is a bad agenda, but I am hoping the prime minister can tell us what the U.S will get from this.”

Today, Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow called for an amendment to the standing orders of the House of Representatives to say that no regular sitting can occur without five business days’ notice. As we have reported, the opposition boycotted the last sitting on grounds that they were not given adequate prior notice. This morning, Barrow contended that this lack of proper notice infringed on his privileges as a parliamentarian to present questions to the ministers. Speaker of the House, Valerie Woods recused herself for the privilege motion to be heard. Here is what Barrow had to say.

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“Mister Speaker, I would like to draw the House’s attention to standing order nineteen three which is a privilege that is afforded members of the opposition in particular questions to ministers. At the last sitting of the house, June twenty-eight the opposition [parliamentary caucus wrote to the honorable speaker to bring to her attention that the notice given was not consistent with the established protocol under her tenure which was five business days’ notice before any house sitting. Why is this important? This is important because if the members of the opposition are not given the five days’ notice that immediately strips us of our privilege to raise questions to the minister. For a member of the opposition to present a question to the minister they have to give five clear business days’ notice to the ministers. In this honorable house the ministers are afforded statements by ministers where they get to report to the honorable house and citizens of this great nation what they are doing in this great nation. We as opposition travel all over this country. I as the leader of the opposition represent all constituencies. I travel across the nation and get many questions that the citizens have of the honorable minister. Mr. Speaker rather than coming to the house and cast aspersions and impute importer motive, rather than go to the media and say anything defamatory about my colleagues, since the beginning of this term of parliament myself and others have been using standard order nineteen three to ask questions to the ministers.”

In response to the motion, the deputy speaker of the House noted that the standing orders do not include a timeframe within which notice must be given. He further clarified that questions to ministers can be submitted at any time. Considering these facts, it was determined that the matter presented by the opposition leader does not affect the privileges of the House of Representatives. Prime Minister John Briceño also weighed in.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“This is a special sitting so the reason why is because we need to pass legislation. As you are aware by the end of this month all of this is going to be removed, demolished because we are going be refurbished. But the George Price Center where we will be having the meetings will not be ready by September. So we have to have a meeting now. So that is the only reason. It is not a matter that we are abusing. The only other time this happened was the last house meeting. I want to make it clear that our good friend the Cabinet Secretary reached out to you to explain what happened. It was human error. There was no ill intent or trying to pull something on you. It was a human error why you was not given enough notice.”

Kareem Musa, the Minister of Home Affairs, responded to the Leader of the Opposition’s criticisms. Musa addressed Barrow’s call for him and the Commissioner of Police to resign. He also spoke to the opposition leader’s position that crime is the most rampant it has ever been in the nation. Here is a portion of what he had to say.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“He spoke about leadership, but the cute thing about leadership and being a leader is that you have to have somebody that follows you, somebody that sees your vision, somebody that, anybody at all in the U.D.P. to believe in what you stand for. The current leader of the opposition is properly despised within his own party. Who would have thought that Yellowman would turn on the leader of the opposition? Who would have thought that the mob, Juliet Thimbriel would have turned on the leader of the opposition? All the Fat Joe parties, Diddy parties, DJ Khalid parties, none of that ever amounted to anything because he is a whotless leader. My brother Phillip Willoughby is sitting right up there. The leader of the opposition turned the lord of the ring, he wants back the ring. I cant believe that he has the nerve of leadership when absolutely no one, not even the member for collet. I am surprised you are here and not a part of the boycott, because the only boycott happening is that you are cutting that boy. Nobody is supporting him. So it is very strange that he wants to venture down a discussion of leadership when he has no followers at all. He also spoke about crime being out of control like never before. I don’t invent statistics. They are in black and white you cant cook those book. So, the black and white does not lie. When the U.D.P. was in government, we was ranked by Insight Crime, we were ranked under the U.D.P. by the third most deadly country in this region, in Latin America.”