Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, George Alleyne
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, June 28–July 4, 2019 BQ
By Wellington C. Ramos
Adjunct Professor History
and Political Science
When I was growing up
in Belize the people that
had mental problems were
not treated with any respect
and that is still happening
today. Our government
need to educate our people
about mental illness to
reduce this disrespect. If
the government does not
educate our people about
this disease, then many of
our citizens will continue to
disrespect and mistreat our
citizens with mental illness.
I believe that mental health
education will be beneficial
to all of us to change this
attitude. Most of us have
at least one person in our
family who suffers from
a mental illness and we
are aware of the pain and
suffering that it brings to
our families.
A sad experience that I
had with mental patients
was when I use to go and play
football at MCC Grounds. I
walked from Freetown Road
through Kelly Street to get
to the field. To my left was
the mental hospital that
everybody in the city called;
“Crazy House.” The patients
with mental problems could
be seen through the mesh
wire fence walking around
in the compound. Some
children would curse the
mental patients, throw
stones and other items
at them and laugh. This
was done constantly and
willfully for no reason. I
told the children to stop but
they kept on doing it. One
of them said to me, “Deh da
crazy people.” I witnessed
this more than once when
I walked to the football
stadium.
At that time in Belize’s
history, this hospital was
the only mental institution
in the entire country of
Belize, where most mental
patients were hospitalized. I
knew of some families who
had relatives with mental
problems staying in their
homes. These families did
not want the stigma of having
a mental patient associated
with them. Some of these
families were considered to
be in the upper class among
Belize families. When people
would talk about a person
with mental problems in
Belize they would say, “He
or she comes from a crazy
family.” To them not only
was the person suffering
from a mental illness but
other members of his or her
family as well. There was no
confidentiality kept on these
mental patients and Belize
have a small population
to find out how people are
related to each other.
Once a person in Belize
know a person’s last name,
they could easily tell who
was that person’s immediate
family members. Belize’s
population has grown to
about 400,000 people but
people can still tell who
most people are related to.
After I left Belize I was told
that the Mental Hospital
in Belize City was moved
from the city to Rockville.
Then as time went by it was
moved again to Belmopan
city. This facility is not
large enough to house all
the people in the country
of Belize with mental
illnesses. Due to this
when people with mental
illness start to act up, the
family members call the
police and they would
come and use excessive
force to restrain, arrest
and imprison them. People
with mental illnesses are
not criminals and should
not be imprisoned because
this is a gross human rights
violation.
The time has now
come for Belize to have
a Psychiatry Department
in all its hospitals with a
full staff to accommodate
our mental patients.
These facilities should also
have doctors, nurses and
technicians to serve their
needs. There should also be
new proposed legislations
passed to punish people
who abuse our citizens
with mental illness.
A person with a mental
problem walking around
without treatment, poses a
great risk to his or herself
and other citizens in our
society. Almost every week
there is an article in the
Belize news, about a mental
patient being harmed or
harming somebody. There
are more incidents where
they are being harmed and
abused that were never
reported, as opposed to
them harming somebody.
Solving this problem is to
the overall benefit of our
people and nation.
By Corey Johnson
We’ve all been there: Stuck
in a crowded subway car due to
“signal problems,” or sitting on
a bus moving so slowly that you
might as well have walked.
Frustration with our
mass transit system is a New
York state of mind we’re all
unfortunately accustomed to,
but I truly believe it doesn’t
have to be this way.
The vast majority of the
problems with our system can
be summed up in one word:
accountability.
There isn’t any.
The MTA is a state authority
controlled by the governor with
its own budget that’s approved
by a bunch of board members
most New Yorkers have never
even heard of.
It’s confusing, which is the
point.
How else could the people
in charge avoid blame and
responsibility when things go
wrong?
The buck has to stop with
someone, and it has to be
someone who knows if they
don’t get it right their job is on
the line.
This is why I support
municipal control of the
subways, which would mean
accountability will fall squarely
on one person - the Mayor of
New York City.
It means we run our subways,
we run Staten Island rail, we
plan our bus routes – right
now the City doesn’t even do
that – and we control the toll
money from the seven bridges
and tunnels currently run by
the MTA.
I know what you’re thinking.
That’s all well and good, but how
does that help my commute?
Those signal problems
making you late for work all
the time?
That is what happens when
no one is responsible.
It’s the result of decades of
misplaced priorities.
Our subways signals date
back to the 1930s.
They’ve never been upgraded
because the MTA’s governance
structure incentivized short
term glamour projects over
the long term investments we
really need. It’s painting the
outside of a house that’s falling
apart inside.
And the result? We allow a
21st century system to operate
with infrastructure that was
built in the 1930s like it is
now.
What about our slow buses?
OP-EDS
The time has now
come for Belize to
have a Psychiatry
Department in
all its hospitals
with a full staff to
accommodate our
mental patients.
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Continued on Page 18
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Time for Belize to put in
place a Mental Health plan
Municipal control
of the MTA needed
Corey Johnson.
/schnepsmedia.com