A New & Meaningful Rotaract Project
In August 2022, Santiago Briceno first reached out to Autism Belize. He was joining the Rotaract Club of Orange Walk and was looking for a meaningful project to organize and execute. This project, of course, had to align with Rotary’s objectives, but he also wanted something personal. After visiting Autism Belize’s webpage, he knew he wanted to do something to work with children with disabilities.
After some discussion and a brainstorming session, Santiago thought that offering respite services to special needs families would be a great project.
What is Respite Services?
Respite services offer a safe place for children with disabilities to play and have fun while parents get a much-needed break from the stress of care-giving. It allows both caregivers and the people for whom they’re caring the opportunity to relax, recharge, and reconnect.
Making A Dream a Reality
Now, full confession here, when Santiago reached out to Autism Belize and we were throwing out ideas on possible projects, I pushed this idea real hard. It’s my dream that regular respite services could be offered around this country for our families with persons with disabilities. So I was super excited when this was also the project that Santiago liked too.
As great as the idea sounded, the process of organizing this wasn’t easy, though. Santiago and his Rotaract Club really wanted to ensure that the children with disabilities that they would engage with had a great experience.
Training First!
First, he wanted to make sure that all the Rotaractors in his club had sensitization training and that they learn about interacting with children with various disabilities. Only one of the 11 Rotaractors, besides Santiago, had any experience in this area. So understandably they were a bit nervous.
Autism Belize facilitated one training and then a Rotaractor helped with a follow-up session too.
Planning Second
Next, they needed to find a location and work with the community to get these special needs parents to trust that all will be well if they leave their kiddos with disabilities for a couple hours. This is when the Rotaract Club reached out to the Deputy Mayor Doreth Pascascio. Doreth and Rashida Matar are the resource teachers at Louisiana Government School (LGS). Both are highly trained and have lots of hands-on experience working with children with disabilities. These two teachers jumped at this idea and quickly made arrangements for Santiago and members of this Rotaract Club to meet with the Principal of LGS.
Santiago stated, “Ms. Doreth was super helpful especially since I work regular working hours and she and her principal were willing to work around that.”
Challenges
“ I think one of the challenges was that for most of our projects, we would have a clear outline and plan of how to execute it, who’s gonna do what, what’s gonna happen. For this project, we knew we would have to be completely adaptable. Many of us were nervous as we really weren’t sure what to expect.” said Santiago.
Doreth and Autism Belize both vetted all the ideas of activities and games that the club had planned. We all stressed that this was to be fun for the children – not school or therapy- but fun. But yes, as this was the very first time doing this, there were a lot of nerves.
Respite Day – Saturday, September 23, 2023.
So about a year after Santiago initially reached out to Autism Belize, the day finally came! Respite Services for Special Needs Families in Orange Walk. Nineteen (19) children were dropped off at Louisiana Government School for a morning filled with arts and crafts, outdoor activities, puzzles, reading and all kinds of fun.
At first, Santiago admitted there were a few nerves still, but Doreth and Rashida helped everything run smoothly and soon the Rotaractors were building friendships and having as much fun, if not more than the children. We have the pictures to prove it!
I only hope that families took this time to get some much needed rest and relaxation.
Future
So will this be a regular or semi-regular event? According to Doreth and Rashida, they are all on board to support this excellent initiative. As for the Rotaract Club, they plan to discuss it further and explore the possibility. I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed!
