Since 2005, when Christ Church Cathedral sent the first of four mission teams to Belize, we have tried to help make the every-day education experience better for the students who attend St. Hilda’s. In the years following our visits, because we had raised enough money, we have been able to give St. Hilda’s approximately $2000 annually to pay for books, equipment, facility improvements, classroom supplies, school field trips and more.  The exact amount has depended on the funds available and on what the principal, Jane Martinez, identifies as needed but can’t be paid for with her meager budget.

The plan is to continue this support for those in Grades 1-8 at St. Hilda’s in the coming years. We also want to continue our support of St. Hilda’s scholarship students at the high school and university levels and this is where we have been blessed and encouraged by the generosity of committed donors.

Watch this video message from Jamal.

For information about how you can be involved in making a meaningful difference in the lives of students at St. Hilda’s, contact Beverly Morell or Cindy Pope. The Cathedral Office will gladly provide contact information.

Greetings Mrs. Bev,

It has truly been a while since we communicated. I must apologize for lack of communication. There have been so many challenges this year that for some time it became overwhelming. By God’s grace we finished our first term and are looking forward to the rest of the school year. We begin classes on January 3rd. Our vacation was cut short in order to make up time that was lost during the strike in October.

I pray that all is well with you and yours. Season greetings to you and the church family. I pray God’s continued provisions and guidance to your ministry for the new year.

I just wanted to greet you and say thanks once again for your support of St. Hilda’s Anglican School. Have a blessed and enjoyable New Year!!

Best Regards,
Jane Martinez
(Principal of St. Hilda’s School)

Greetings Ms. Bev,

Happy new year to you and your family, I wish you a prosperous new year. Thank you for the wishes and prayers as well, I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

I’m happy to learn that my fees are paid, and I’m excited to venture off to the final courses of my program. However, classes begins January 16th and I won’t be able to meet with Ms. Stuart until then to discuss the circumstances of my final outstanding course. I’m hoping and praying all goes well.

I will utilize any financial assistance with traveling for this semester. I would appreciate it very much.

I’m sure you’re enjoying the winter season in Canada, it must be very beautiful and cold. On the contrary, the weather in Belize is very hot during the day and chilly at night. God is truly an amazing God, we are experiencing different weather under the same sun.

My mom sends her warmest greetings and thanks to you and your church for being such a blessing in my life. Thank you.

Amieka Myers (Belize College Sponsored Student)
God Bless

Dear Ms. Bev,

I want you to know I am very happy in school. I am working very hard at doing the best I can in all subject areas. I am having a wonderful semester completely loving my friends and my teachers. I really love math because it gives me the opportunity to expand my mind and see my world differently. It is my favorite subject . I am thinking of taking accounting in third form therefore I will need to have a strong foundation in Mathematics. The subject that poses more of a challenge to me is Spanish because I don’t speak a word of Spanish at all and the subject is taught in the Spanish Language. It is the area that scares me the most but I’m proud to say that for mid-semester I got an A in it.

This year a couple teachers came together to start a cheer leading squad at school . I tried out and was chosen to join. I really love it because I get to cheer for my team and to travel to different schools and districts. My mom has made me promise to keep my grades up or she will take me off the squad so now I’m working extra hard because I love being a part of a group of girls that are positive like me.

I really enjoy school because I learn new things every day that will help me in life. I am very grateful to you because you gave me the opportunity to go to school. I am sure that my mom would have found a way to send me to school but this scholarship that you gave me makes me feel like I’m helping my mom through hard work. This scholarship is proof that if I work really hard nothing is impossible. My life has never been happier and for that I say thank you very very much.

I am very curious about how you look and would like to see a picture of you(if you would like). I would like to wish you and your church a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. May the lord bless you guys in many ways,for you are doing his work. You are helping students with your kind heart. You all are very caring and loving. I am very happy that people like you all are in this world.
I have attached a few pictures of myself, My first form Honor Roll certificate and my mid-term report card

P.S It doesn’t snow here but it gets really cold in October through to February or March each year.

With love,
Anique Hernandez (Belize High School Sponsored Student)

Visit the Cathedral Missions site

Belize occupies not only a chunk of land in Central America, but also a special spot in the hearts of dozens of people from the cathedral who took part in mission trips there in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2013.

“Our work as a church is to reach out and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ,” says Beverly Morell who led the four mission teams. “Belize is a wonderful example of one important way we do just that!”

Although a cathedral team has not gone south recently —  largely due to the falling Canadian dollar which made the trip much too expensive — connections between the cathedral and a tiny Anglican parish in Belize continue.

Education is so important for these young people as is a well-equipped school …

For example, approximately $2,000 is sent annually to help St. Hilda’s Anglican School. It’s an elementary school (pop. 200) in a poor area in western Belize where three of the teams volunteered. The funds pay for school supplies as well as badly needed repairs such as fixing broken toilets and gaping holes in classroom ceilings.

Earth Day posters in Belize

The money for school supplies, including books, printer ink cartridges, paper and coloured pencils, is appreciated by the teachers. For example, it meant that the children had plentiful materials to work with when creating the Earth Day posters pictured here.

Another aspect of the relationship is assistance for higher education. In Belize free education stops at Grade 8. Many families live below the poverty line and cannot afford to send their children to high school. Former missioners and other donors have helped put several St. Hilda’s graduates through high school: Ashley Jones, Amieka Myers, Anfernee Vasquez, Jamal Whitty and Tianney Lamb.

Also thanks to donors from the cathedral family, three students from St. Hilda’s are currently attending high school: Aaliyah Augustine, Paul Jones and Anique Hernandez.  Paul explains why the financial support and encouragement mean so much to him: “I come from a poor family, but I want to show other children like me that it doesn’t matter where you came from, you can still achieve the goal you set your mind on.”

Earth Day 2016 at St. Hilda’s

Originally, it cost $700 CDN per year per student, but the decline of our dollar means that it now costs $1,000 CDN annually per student. Although the existing students will be supported until graduation, unfortunately a high school scholarship cannot be offered to a St. Hilda’s graduate in 2016.

A couple years ago other donors at the cathedral kindly pooled resources to send two of the high school graduates to college. Although Anfernee Vasquez dropped out after a year, Amieka Myers intends to graduate with an associate in education certificate in 2017.

“Education is so important for these young people as is a well-equipped school,” says Brad McKnight, treasurer of the cathedral’s Missions Committee. “Our committee is considering a fund-raiser in late fall or early winter to make sure the financial support remains solid well into the future. Stay tuned for news about specific plans and for opportunities to volunteer.”

By Ann Deveau

Read the June 2016 letter from Principal Jane Martinez

On the bulletin board in Christ Church Cathedral, photos of children from Belize are a reminder of a link between our congregation and St. Hilda’s Anglican School. On the school playground in Belize, picnic tables affixed with a handmade wooden maple leaf and cross are a reminder of the Canadian missioners who care for the school.

Mission groups from Christ Church Cathedral have travelled to Belize four times: in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2013, and through these trips, bonds have been formed with the staff and students of St. Hilda’s, an elementary school in the rural village of Georgeville. Two hundred children attend the school, ranging between kindergarten and grade 8. Over 50 Cathedral members ranging in age from 15 to 79 have gone on a mission trip to Belize, and hundreds of people in Fredericton have supported the work through organizational support, donations and prayers.

On each of the Cathedral’s mission trips, the activities of the teams have been different, based on the current needs of the school and skills of the missioners. Our relationship with the Belizean people began in 2005 when the Cathedral Puppeteers responded to an invitation from the Anglican Diocese of Belize. They visited many schools during their trip, and during subsequent trips the Cathedral began to strengthen its relationship with St. Hilda’s School. Missioners from Fredericton have helped to: build a foundation for bathrooms at the school; paint classrooms; build much needed bookshelves; provide literacy materials and support; provide first aid training; wire the school for internet; and build the aforementioned picnic tables.

The former St. Hilda’s principal, Mrs. Ida Bennett, appreciates the ongoing support from Christ Church Cathedral, and the continuing relationship has been a blessing for both Belizeans and Frederictonians. Several missioners have returned to Belize multiple times, and it is always a joy to reconnect with students and teachers they formed a bond with on previous trips.

“Nobody had any idea it would grow into what it is now… the building of bonds between two distant Anglican congregations,” said Beverly Morell, who has been part of all four mission teams. “The reason we go is bounded in scripture. We are called to help those less fortunate. I feel that we are God’s hands and feet in the world; that we’re helping in some small way to further His kingdom.”

The support from our entire Cathedral family has been overwhelming. Thousands of dollars have been donated to the school over the past decade, and a portion of the funds are sent to St. Hilda’s each year to help with costs such as school supplies, crucial renovations, and continuing education for teachers.

In addition to providing infrastructure and academic support for the school, spiritual aspects of each mission have benefitted both the Belizeans and the Cathedral missioners. On the most recent trip, missioners made a special gift to the sanctuary guild at St. Hilda’s chapel — a beautiful set of altar linens in the liturgical colours of purple, red, green and white, expertly stitched by Lucy’s Sewing Group at the Cathedral. The sanctuary guild at St. Hilda’s chapel was very touched that people so far away were praying for them and wanted to help beautify their humble chapel. Each teacher at St. Hilda’s School was also given a cross necklace made by the Cathedral Pewtersmiths – crosses matching the ones worn by each missioner.

“I really think we received the greatest gifts,” Anne Thornton, a busy mother of two small boys, said about the 2013 trip. “We held daily devotionals to give our time to God. We stayed at a quiet mission centre surrounded by the beauty of nature. This was precious.”

Before traveling to Belize, each member of each mission team made a nearly year-long time commitment, as well as a financial commitment. Each team met more than a dozen times over several months, to get to know each other, share their skills, fundraise, learn about working in other cultures, and develop spiritually. The emphasis for each trip was on teamwork, building loving relationships with each other and with the Belizeans, and serving God in a beautiful corner of His kingdom.

“We enjoyed laughter and fellowship,” says student Lionel Hayter, who has travelled to Belize on 2 Cathedral mission trips. “We learned from each other and from the wonderful children and their hard-working teachers. We saw deep-rooted challenges due to socio-economic conditions, but also noticed compassion and dedication.”

“The physical work was hard, and there was a deep sense of satisfaction when we finished tiling and painting,” Diane Stevenson said of the 2007 trip. “But it was talking with the kids that touched my heart.”

Indeed, the smiling faces of St. Hilda’s students will forever inspire and motivate the Cathedral members who have travelled to Belize. “We felt blessed to be able to give something back to help others,” Doug Milander says. “They worked with us, and we learned so much from them. I’ve thought of the people I met in Belize every day since I got home.”

Elinor Joyce, who travelled to Belize in 2007, returned to Fredericton with “a renewed appreciation for all the things that we take for granted – comfortable homes, clean water, knowing that our children have hopes for the future. So many of the children won’t be able to afford to go past grade 8, and their futures are so uncertain,” she remarked. “In the midst of that, I keep seeing their beautiful smiles, and their joy in all the simple things that they do have.”

In Belize, the average age at which a child leaves school is 13 years old, because high school costs $700 USD a year. Most families don’t have that kind of money. The average annual income is $8,400, and 43% of Belizeans live below the poverty line. Unemployment is high. People tend to have large families, and 75% of the children at St. Hilda’s School come from single-parent families.

The socio-economic realities are harsh, and education is so important. In 2010, Cathedral mission team members established a high school scholarship program which has allowed selected St. Hilda’s students to continue their education past grade 8. The rationale is that if we can give bright children a chance to graduate from high school, they will have a leg up on life. Some of the graduates supported by the Cathedral have gone on to post-secondary education. Our congregation continues to support and pray for St. Hilda’s school, and hopes to send another mission team to Belize in the coming years.

Many people have asked our missioners if they decided to go to Belize from a sense of adventure, to help other people, to seek a challenge, to grow in their relationship with God, or to serve Him by showing love and compassion. Each missioner might answer that question differently, as their experiences have been deeply personal.

One person remarked, “It was an unforgettable experience to express my faith openly and to offer myself as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.”

Student Natalie Barrie summed up the mission experience by saying, “We returned as different people with a new understanding of mission and a better outlook on life. We’re enthusiastic about what God is doing in the world, and we’re excited by what the future might hold for us and for St. Hilda’s.”