International Contacts

International Contact

My first international contact is Mariana Chebat.  Mariana is a member of the same yahoo group called Makinglearningfun@yahoo.com.  I sent out a request for assistance for these assignments and she answered the request.  She lives in Belize and is an owner of a preschool called Teach Me Early Childhood Education Center.  Her preschool offers care to parents of children ages 2 to 4 years of age.  Mariana has been an educator for in Belize for 8 years but has a total of 20 years of experience teaching young children.  She has a Bachelor degree in Psychology and a Masters in Special Educator.  Her center educates a total of 27 children that are not in a family experiencing poverty.  Mariana opened her preschool because she saw a need for children to receive early childhood education, she has a love for kids, and she wanted to work in the Early Childhood Education field.  Parents cover the full cost of education offered at her center.  Education is optional for young children in Belize until they reach age for; therefore parents that cannot afford care do not enroll their children unless they receive assistance.

In relation to poverty in Belize; most of the population is considered in poverty levels.  Many families do not have safe housing, medical care, or healthy food to feed their families.  There are some international and private programs that help a certain amount of the population but their services are based on the family’s income.  Parents still have to cover the costs of uniforms, books, school supplies, and food expenses.  There is a high percentage of children that go to school hungry and do not perform well academically as a result. 

She states that she does not see the poverty because her preschool is private and then the children attend a choice of two private elementary schools.  However she knows that UNICEF, OAS, and an international ministry called Hand in Hand Ministries assist children and families that are in the poverty level by offering scholarships, food, medical, and housing assistance. 

Upon my request; she provided this information on the Hand in Hand Ministries:

Hand in Hand Ministries is an international organization that helps those in poverty based in many ways.

They operate a program called “Building for Change” in Belize that assists families to gain better security, and health.  They also help families by building homes and teaching empowerment classes.  They have an outreach center that provides daycare, medical and education classes.  For children that make to high school and college, they offer financial assistance, tutoring services, and educational supplies.  They also help children and adults affected with HIV and AIDS.