Everyone's Leaving

I have never heard so many people say they are finally ready to leave Belize. And leaving they are. In droves. Legally and via the swim of the Rio Grande. The big question is what is the straw that has finally broken the camel's back. Is it crime? The economy? The lack of hope? Or like me, do they just feel that the country they love doesn't love them back anymore?

No one wanted to make Belize work more than me. I gave up lucrative offers coming out of school in the US to come home, because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to change Belize. And come hell or high water I was going to make a difference. 11 Years later, I am forced to admit that I might be wrong.

And while, I would not have met my wife or had my lovely kids had I not come home, it goes without saying that I believe there is no hope left for any of us here. 

We feel we can't go anywhere without fear of being robbed. We are penned in our homes behind 8 foot barbed wire fences, motion detectors, camera, dogs, deadlocks galore and police who don't care. We work hard to earn an honest living (how do the poor do it?), but find that our money goes nowhere. We drive on dirty potholed streets with beggars all around. We sit and endure blackouts because the power company has run out of excuses. Our businesses don't get any patronizing if we are blue or red or unless we can offer a kickback of some kind. But most of all we live in country where everything seems to be a hustle, where honest citizens are being outflanked and outplayed by criminals of every kind. Criminals from Albert Street to the ones calling the National Assembly home.

Unfortunately more and more of the true Belizean Patriots are cutting their losses and throwing in the towel. I for one am now deciding what towel that should be.

As we sit and watch our home get robbed on a Sunday afternoon while the police take 6 hours to respond, we are left to wonder...is it all worth it? Is the safety of our children worth the pride you may have had in sticking it out?

Some may say, stand up, run for office and do something about it. This is an unrealistic ideal. You cannot make a rotten apple good again. You cannot change a system that does not want to be changed by the politicians, the hustling high society and the commoners who enjoy their "free education" and turkeys at Christmas time. A bukut stinks now and will stink in 10 years.

Belize does not want to be changed. EVERYONE knows that, and those who pretend that it does are fooling themselves. Voters will never vote for someone who stands up and says "I pledge no more handouts". They will never vote for politicians whose line of thinking is "lets pay our leaders well enough to a) attract qualified people and b) as way of discouraging dishonestly" (that is another blog entirely!). Business people will never back politicians who truly want to clean up the hustling, because the these businesses depend on hustling to get goods through customs! The foxes are watching the chicken coup and the hens aren't coming in OR out.

Belize is in an ever tightening circle of Mutually Assured Destruction. The only questions that remain are when do you abandon ship and  where do you go....the USA is not for me!

Making Use of Ross Kemp

Considering the argument that I am about to pursue, I find it necessary to begin with a minor disclaimer: all the uproar and widespread displeasure over Ross Kemp's overblown assessment of gang warfare in Belize was completely justified and within proper context.  Belize is not a little Baghdad, where grenades are hurled on a daily basis, nor is it a place where gangs reside on every street.  Of course, if one were to journey along select areas of the south side of Belize City, which is what Ross Kemp did, it would certainly appear to be the case.  But what Mr. Kemp did was to travel to the most afflicted areas and make a generalization about the entire country.  If one didn't know any better, one would think that the gang problem in Belize extends to Corozal, Orange Walk, Dangriga, and Punta Gorda.  From my 'layman's perspective,' I don't believe this is the case, nor does it come close to an accurate portrayal of crime in Belize.    

On the other hand, above the cloud of animosity, I believe there exists immense value in Ross Kemp's affinity for sensationalism.  First, while gang warfare does not afflict every neighborhood in the country, we cannot deny that it is a major issue in some areas of the country, primarily the south side of Belize City.  But we knew this right?  We surely didn't need some outsider who probably spent less than a month in the country to tell us this.  So how does his documentary benefit us? It shows us what will happen if we don't implement effective measures to mitigate the crime problem.  I could easily envision that if we continue to take baby steps in efforts to combat crime, Belize could indeed end up exactly how it was portrayed by Kemp. However, we are not at that point just yet.  There is still time to make progress before the situation spins out of control.  I believe that our police force is making some progress, and I can only hope that they continue to do so.  While I can offer no legitimate solutions, I believe that continued dialogue amongst all sectors of our society can, and will, produce tangible progress.  

So, Mr. Kemp, while we Belizeans don't appreciate your unfair assessment, we will work to prove you wrong.    Happy Independence Day :)