Special Envoy Addresses Assistance for Sarstoon Street Fire Victims

The media caught up with Special Envoy, Rossana Briceno, at the Sembrando Vida event, where she spoke on the assistance that will be given to the victims of the Sarstoon Street fire in Belize City.  In that fire, a 4-year-old girl who was unable to walk, perished in the house after her 13-year-old cousin was unable to save her.  Briceno told the media that the situation was tragic, and that there will need to be interventions for the children, especially the 13-year-old.

Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children: “I’m not here to blame anybody. I am not here to point fingers at anybody but I think our children with special needs do need that special attention and if there was some neglect on somebody’s part we won’t know but we definitely need to prioritize our children. That little girl was just four years old. I mean for just a family to lose a child it’s something that’s very devastating and for Belize every time we lose a child it’s devastating. So I can only say that I want to express my sincere condolences to the family and to the Belizean community because we’re all suffering along with the family. Suffering knowing that a young child has passed in a fire to make it worse you just think about it and you can’t even imagine the pain you know ? So we’re just hoping that this does not happen again. And yes maybe some more attention needs to be put in place, some investigations need to be put in place but then again she’s passed and our hearts can only feel for the family and just say you know what let’s make sure this doesn’t happen again. You know what we do many many times we reach out to these families and we do it quietly because it’s not a sensation that we want to put across to the media but yes we do that and I definitely my office will definitely reach out to the family and we can offer because it’s up to them to accept and if they offer then we do have people that we work with that are very good working with families, with children so once we reach out to them which is going to happen ASAP then we will definitely put something in place for them.”

Briceno went on to speak on the habit of adults leaving children to take care of children.  She noted that parents need to give the children more priority.

Rossana Briceno, Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children: “Well this is where children are taking care of children and it’s a vicious cycle that we have in Belize unfortunately. For that poor child, the thirteen year old, we will definitely reach out to her, the family because I’m sure that the trauma that she will hold and have it’s going to be very very difficult for her especially in her little mind trying to save this child, the child bit her it’s not because she wanted to bite her you know. We know she was scared, she was frightened and humans react. We cannot judge this little thirteen year old who was trying to save her and she was bit. Maybe if were an adult that was trying to save he or she would have understood that she was terrified.”

The fire occurred around four o’clock yesterday morning.