And Now You Know

A favorite newscaster of mine always says after an interview she conducts “Thanks for making us smarter!” I use some of her words today to say to my daughter, Christy, thank you for making Belize smarter! She did not do this alone, but she was the driving force, the whirlwind that started the movement to teach autism to Belize. Her passion for her mission moves her.

Fairness & Perseverance

Christy has always been driven by her astrological sign, her “Libraness” as Dian often refers to it. I recall fondly her insistence at maybe 12 years old that she could and would be a part of the Swim For The Reef Fundraiser, a relay swim from St. George’s Caye to our city’s shoreline. And I recall sitting with pride in the audience at her graduation from Cortland University, New York, and watching her go to the stage repeatedly to receive 8 of the 10 awards given to senior graduates yearly. Yeah, passion and perseverance have never been a problem for Christy!

Teach Autism

Because of Autism Belize, our jewel has learned so much about autism and, more importantly, has begun to realize that we have much to do to ensure that people and families with special abilities receive the care and the services that they need, that are their rights. Her drive to let the entire month of April be Autism Awareness month, to make as much of Belize as possible “Light It Up Blue” like so many countries in our world do, has been a tremendous success. The “A” word permeated the airwaves, the print world, and social media as more and more Belizeans learned about autism and reached out to the newly formed NGO to help in ways, big and small, so that they could achieve their mission.

Belizeans All Pitched In

Donating oranges, making blue donuts and ice cream, sharing the proceeds from food sales, conducting a special mass for autism awareness, donating prizes, sponsoring air time, reducing the prices of blue bulbs, recording and sharing the Tik Tok challenge, lighting up blue your homes and businesses, giving words of support and encouragement, wearing blue on Fridays, inviting Autism Belize in to work places to sensitize employees, sharing expertise in numerous, free online trainings, and walking with over 250 others are only a few examples of the generosity shown to Autism Belize as they promoted awareness in April.

Cellular World’s gift of a tablet and the special app to provide communication to a pair of non- verbal brothers who attend Stella Maris School was the culmination of a week chock full of actions that highlighted the fact that truly there are angels among us. And Christy told me yesterday that the coverage of that story has spurred more of these angels to come forward with the promises of more tablets and hopefully more communication apps that will benefit some of the 50 plus non-verbal students that Autism Belize knows about.

Government Supported Too

Perhaps not as obvious but definitely even more important are the commitments made by Mrs. Rossana Briceno, the Special Envoy for Families and Children, Honorable Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, and his CEO Dian Maheia, and Mr. Marshall Nunez who hails out of the Ministry of Human Development, Families, and Indigenous People Affairs from his new position as the formal representative for the Association of People with Diverse Abilities, that focus will be placed on legislation and policies to ensure that all stakeholders will be required to know, to understand, and to put into practice. The political will is present in full force! Hopefully, the mindset and the hearts will follow.

Congratulations

I have walked with Christy on her journey through and with autism with my youngest grandson Mateo. I have seen her devotion not only to him and his well-being, but also to every one of the autistic children and families that reach out to her, and I have witnessed the burden she carries and the emotional pain and stress that are now an integral part of who she is. So often I wish that I could do more!
For now, though, I congratulate her and Jos and Steph, her faithful colleagues, on a job stupendously done and I say, thank you, thank you, thank you on behalf of a very grateful nation who hopefully, through their example, is becoming a kinder nation.