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On Sunday 20th July 2014 Hamanasi’s Green Team held the 2nd Annual Back To School Fest in Hopkins Village. This year we started off by having Ms. Charlotte Garnet very kindly lead all the kids in singing the Belize national anthem to formally open the Fest. Then we had educational talks by special guest speakers.
Ms. Celeshia Guy, Manager of Belize Bird Rescue and Ms. Lauren Whitfield, an intern gave a very informative talk about keeping birds and information about the 9 different parrots that are found in Belize. They made it fun for all and even got audience participation by getting the kids to read out the different types of parrots.
Then Mr. Jamal Galves, a Manatee Research Associate at Sea 2 Shore Alliance/Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute spoke about Manatees that are found in the waters in Belize especially around Hopkins and introduced the kids to a prize wheel where if they answered a question correctly about the information they had just been taught they had a chance to spin the wheel to win a whole host of different prizes.
There was then a safety talk by PC Claudious Cardinez regarding curfew times, reminding kids to not just jump in anyone’s car and also that double ride is actually against the law. After talks from our guest speakers we had 2 talks by our very own Green Team members!
First off we had a CPR demonstration by our newly qualified Emergency First Response Instructor Mr. Martin Carr who taught the kids what to do if they see an accident and how to do CPR until the emergency medical service arrives.
Then Mr. Juan Tun, Hamanasi’s very own green fingered organic gardener, explained to all the kids and parents that growing plants at home is neither hard nor expensive. You can create simple compost using left over food scraps, garden waste and old seaweed washed up on the beach. Also you don’t need to buy expensive plant pots, simply use the inside of a toilet roll to plant seeds and then when the seed has sprouted you can use the remains of a coconut for the plants to continue to grow.
Great information from all our special guest speakers!
After the speakers Hopkins School Principal Ms. Seferina Castillo handed out the backpacks stuffed to the brim with school supplies for the neediest children in Hopkins Village.
In the afternoon all the kids joined in with many games that were held on the beach to win school supply prizes including, three legged race, running race, marble and spoon race and sack race. For those that weren’t feeling so energetic we had a colouring in table for the kids to complete the activity sheet kindly given to all of them by Belize Bird Rescue. At the end of the day all the kids had a great time and every single attendee went home with lots of school supplies donated by Hamanasi’s very kind guests.