Mother receiving gift

It was an exciting and tear-dropping moment for the hard workers, who were enrolled in four different courses - child care, cosmetology, sewing and house keeping; that were offered by the department.

The graduation ceremony kicked off at 6:00 tonight at the Belize Elementary School’s gym. The elegantly dressed ladies had many family members and friends there to witness and be a part of this special moment. Felicia Gladden, a cosmetology student, who was later awarded for being one of the most improved students in her course, was the person who gave the leading invocation. Welcome remarks were then given by the job placement officer and project manager, Elisa Castellanos.

Icilda Humes, Director of the Women’s Department, gave an overview of the project, which is at the cycle 1 phase. She said that they realized a few things that they can do differently, which will ensure even better successes for the other single mothers who will be fortunate to undergo the next courses. All in all for the first implementation of the project, she can say that the job was well done and was a successful one.

Eighty women started the courses, but at the end, there were 57 who finished and got their certificate. Shanda Caniquie, a case worker at the Women’s Department, who had the opportunity to work with these mothers, said that some of the women stopped the courses for different reasons. Some of them found jobs and found it difficult to make it to classes, while others had personal problems and decided to quit. She said that there were some of the remaining mothers who also had problems, but they stuck with it.

The opportunity to work with the ladies was a great and learning experience, commented Caniquie. She truly looks forward to meeting and working with the other group of single mothers.

What she is even more pleased abut is the fact that this program does not stop here. As it says, this is the first phase. The second phase is to get the mothers employed at a job suitable for the courses they undertook.

Judith Alpuche, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in the Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation, told the mothers in her speech that they need to be reminded, when they are out their in their respective job markets, of the other mothers coming behind them. They therefore need to be successful and good workers.

They should feel empowered and know that they are strong capable women, who can achieve anything they want to in life.

She also thanked the business community for the positive feedback they received when they requested jobs for these mothers.

Castellanos, who gave us a small background on the project, said that it actually started in October of 2008. They began accepting application forms and then went on a door-to-door campaign, also issuing out flyers and getting in touch with partner agencies to get the word out.

They at first had 115 applicants and later sieved out and remained with 80 candidates. She is happy that more than half of the mothers stuck it through and finished the course. She knew that it was a doubly difficult job for these mothers to be successful, knowing that they also have to manage their homes.

The age range of the single mothers who undertook the course ranged from 17-57 and the ages of their children were from in the womb through 17. The average number of kids between the mothers was 4.

The Cosmetology course instructor was Alvree Vernon, while Beverly Brown was the lecturer for the housekeeping course. Doreen Jones taught the child care course and the instructor for the sewing course was Rita Sedassey.

The courses which were offered for 4 months at the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) will be reoffered to single mothers in mid-May.

Women in sewing were given a sewing machine, along with thread and other sewing items, while the cosmetologists were given an entire nail package with nail polishes.

What was very unique is that the women who took the sewing course wore dresses they sewed themselves.