12/08/2014
November 22, 2014, Venue: Samuel Haynes Institute of Excellence (SHIE)
Mrs. Barbara Elrington, Executive Director and Rev. Linda Moguil, WFWP Belize, Chairwoman,and local Belize WFWP, Mrs. Junko Yanai
The Samuel Haynes Institute of Excellence (SHIE) opened its doors in February of 2009. It was founded on the ideas and needs of the community resulting from a demand for assistance in education, health and income generation. While attending the 20th anniversary of WFWP held in Las Vegas in 2012, Mrs. Elrington learned about WFWP’s abstinence education program through one of the panelists. She then expressed to Mrs. Ando the need for this kind of education in Belize, which has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in Central America and third in the Carribean. She also expressed a strong concern because many of the teenage girls attending the SHIE were getting pregnant.
On November 22nd 2014, about 50 students and a few parents joined the program at SHIE. Topics covered were the right way of growing up, learning the difference between mature and immature love expression, goal setting, and why abstinence is the best way to avoid AIDS and other diseases.
The children also learned through role-playing how to resist pressure to have premature s*xual activity.