Benefactor Donates 18 Acres for San Ignacio Cemetery

For years, finding space to bury loved ones has been a growing concern for families in San Ignacio and Santa Elena. With the existing cemetery running out of room, residents have been waiting for a solution. This week, that solution moved a major step closer to reality. A generous land donation from Belizean-American philanthropist Thelma Jenkins will pave the way for a new municipal cemetery, saving the town council hundreds of thousands of dollars. For Mayor Earl Trapp, it marks the fulfillment of a goal he has pursued since first taking office more than a decade ago.

 

Earl Trapp, Mayor, San Ignacio/Santa Elena

“ We just inaugurated a cemetery, something that personally, under my leadership, I have been working on this for the past eleven years. And I thank- I’m thankful to God that today it came to fruition that we have a cemetery because this cemetery here in San Ignacio is full to capacity, and it hurts my heart to see when people come to me from San Ignacio that would like their loved ones buried in San Ignacio, and we cannot do it, so we have to take them to Santa Elena. So now today, the people of this municipality, San Ignacio and Santa Elena, will have the option to determine whether they bury their loved ones in Santa Elena or in San Ignacio. So honestly, I’m super excited, and it’s a satisfactory feeling to know that we have accomplished this. And honestly, it’s not costing the council anything as what we were looking forward the other day. It would have cost us 300,000 to purchase 10 acres of land. Today, our biggest benefactor, and local benefactor, donated 18 acres of land for a memorial park.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: