The following is a letter to our congregation from Jane Martinez, Principal at St.Hilda’s Anglican School in Belize.

Greetings Friends:

I pray that all is well with Friends of St. Hilda’s. Greetings from beautiful Belize.

I know it has been some time since you heard from us here at St. Hilda’s. I must apologize for the delay in response. Our school year has started out with a bang! There are so many things that need attention that some days get very frustrating. Through all that, I must say that we are blessed. The first term is usually our busiest term as we have many activities and holidays that occur during the September to November months. 

This year our enrollment went down due to relocation of some students. We presently have 127 students enrolled. We have  a full staff of ten teachers including one intern.

I have many pictures that I would like to share to give you an idea of some of the activities that have been held at our school so far this year. We have had our September celebrations, Literacy Day,and most recently, our Harvest Thanksgiving Service. 

Please greet the church on our behalf and let them know that we love them and appreciate their continued support. Have a blessed day!

 

Best Regards,

Jane

Jocelyn is one of our Friends of St. Hilda’s Scholarship students in Belize. She is currently in her third year of studies at Eden S.D.A. High School in Santa Elena.

The following is the application letter from our newest Belize scholarship recipient, Gian Myvette:

Dear Friends of St. Hilda’s:

Greetings from my beautiful village of Georgeville.

On June 25, 2019, I completed my first milestone by successfully having passed the primary school examinations culminating with 8 years of primary school at St’ Hilda’s in Georgeville. The journey had many pot holes and curve balls but with my family support and my faith in God, I was able to walk on the straight and narrow path. My next step is completing high school and pursue higher education.

My passion is in information technology (I.T), I watch my brother fixing computers, assembling parts and installing programs from an early age, this was followed to my mom enrolling me in a two weeks programming class for primary school students at Galen University two years ago. Because of this passion, my mom investigated which of the high schools had a better I.T
curriculum; as a result, I was accepted and subsequently enrolled at Sacred High School in San Ignacio Town, Cayo.

Education is very expensive and my mom is trying to ensure that I am afforded the best education possible. To achieve this, she entered into a payment plan with the Sacred Heart High school and with that I was able to register. I discussed with my mom if I can get a scholarship so that the burden is lessen on her. My mom, as a single parent, will do her best to ensure I get an education, I wish that I too can assist by getting a scholarship.

In my community, most the youths do not enter high school and others drop out of high school due to varying reasons. The end result is that there are no alternative programs that exist in my village for at risk youths. Thus, our village have seen many of my peers doing drugs, getting in problems with the law, and vandalism. I do not want to be a statistic. I want to be a change for my village.

The decision by Friends of St Hilda’s to award a high school scholarship to a deserving student must be truly hard as many of us have needs and you wished you could help all of us. As you deliberate on your decision, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my letter. No matter the result of your decision, I still will work hard, study, pass and continue to be devout
Anglican. My vision is for my peers, my villagers and everyone to see that not because you come from a broken home means that you can’t make something of yourself. Not because my mom is unable to afford me new books or new school bag that it will deter me from completing my education. What is important is my dream and the passion I have for learning and by getting a
degree in information technology; a field which is much needed in Belize.

Thank you and God bless you and guide your decisions.

Sincerely,
Future I.T Engineer

We are very proud to announce that our scholarship student, Anique Hernandez, has graduated from high school in Belize. Congratulations Anique!

Graduation benediction prayer

May God’s blessing follow you as you find new journeys to travel. May you walk safely along the pathways of your dreams.
May his gentle hand guide the decisions you will make and the passions that you follow.
May your heart and life always reflect his love and truth,
And may hope be a light within you that you carry into each new day.

Amen.

My Dearest Friends in Canada:

I write with a full, joyful and grateful heart to inform you of Anique’s successful completion of high school.  I received her results on May 23 and finally got the opportunity to sit and share my happiness with you today.  I am sure you have been awaiting this very good news with much anticipation.  I do not have the letter of completion with me at the moment but I will scan and forward that to you in the morning.

I wish to express my deepest thanks to all of you who gave us so willingly.  You made the four years so much easier for me.  As a single mom life can become very difficult and I know that I would have struggled very much without your assistance.  My family and I are eternally indebted to all of you and we pray that God’s grace always smile on you for all that you have done for us.  Anique’s graduation is on June 8.  I will send pictures so that in a way you all can be a part of her day.  You have been a part of her life for the last four years financially and through prayers so I will definitely send pictures.  We are blessed to have you.

Mucho Amor from Belize,

 Indira Spain

A video presented to the Belize Missioner Alumni dinner on 25 May 2019. The students and staff of St. Hilda’s prepared personal thanks for the support given from Christ Church Cathedral.

Glad to hear all is well with you. I’m doing very well thank you for asking. I’m happy you wrote to me so I can tell you that yes, I am  enjoying my final year at Sacred Heart. It has been a wonderful  and adventurous experience. I’m sad to see it come to an end, but at the same time I am very pleased. This year has been a wild roller coaster ride for me. There were many ups and down in my school life this final year but I stuck it out and tried the best I could. Lately I’ve been a little off on
my work, I guess 4 th form work is not as easy as I anticipated. I am working very hard so I can have better grades. Aside from all the bad things that happened, I’m still a happy little soul who tries to spread good cheer to everyone. My school has recently created a youth group for people at school. I think it would be good for me to be a part of such a wonderful group.

It is also with great pleasure to say my regular classes will end in a month or two from now. I have many different finals to study for and complete in order to graduate. There are my Diploma exams, ATLIB exams as well as the CXC examinations. I am also still a member of the fabulous Cheer team only because this year it’s a bit different from the usual thing, this year our group only perform dances. We do many different types of dances for different occasions. We are currently planning to raise funds for one of our teachers who had Cancer. We see it as a great way to give back to the school. We also have great plans for graduation.

It would be so nice to meet your lovely church community. Hope you guys pray for me

We plan to do a special dance on Parents night for our parents. It has been very exciting to be able to work with such a superb group of young opened minded individuals.

It would be so nice to meet your lovely church community. Hope you guys pray for me, I need blessings and strength at this point in my life. I would gladly send you a biography of me along with a picture as soon as I have some free time. I will probably have this weekend free so I would be more than happy to send it for you.

I hope you guys keep doing well and have a year full of blessings and love

Your Friend
Anique

P.S I’m sorry that it’s not a lot, but I told you all the important stuff