Morning found Roots & Shoots-Caribbean Coordinator, Dr. Rick Asselta at Gale¿s Point Manatee Village, Belize, waiting with two villagers and a scientist. They were waiting on the children of the village to join them for a clean up and tree planting around their village. This would be the first of an anticipated weekly ritual.

The kids arrived ready to work¿with little plants clutched in their hands that they had pulled up along the way, in order to replant them.

¿They had the idea,¿ Asselta said, ¿but the technique needed development.¿

Gales Point is located on the southern part of a seven mile long lagoon that is part of Sibun Forest Reserve, next to the Caribbean Sea. The village has only a few hundred inhabitants who mainly rely on fishing, hunting and farming to feed their families.

This lack of development and material resources is a constant frustration for a village that has seen several aid programs come and go, with no lasting change. Isolationism and the need for an all-weather road are the major problems identified by the community. Parents have concerns about crime and violence since the teenage population has little to occupy them, girls in school want to expand their educational possibilities and teachers want better facilities.

¿This is a community that is full of talented, intelligent and caring people,¿ Asselta said, ¿who are, at times, overwhelmed by the economic, poverty and isolation issues of living in rural Belize.¿

For the last 12 years, Dr. James Powell with the Sea to Shore Alliance and Robert Bonde with the United States¿ Geological Survey have been studying manatees in the waters around the village as part of the Manatee Research Project. They have witnessed the challenges that Gales Point has faced. This is why they, along with villagers, Save the Manatee Club¿s Artie Wong and Wildlife Trust¿s Nicole Auil, invited Asselta.

There is only so much that can be accomplished by outside groups. Both the villagers and scientists agree many of the issues in Gales Point need to be addressed by the people of the village.

To combat these limitations, Asselta was brought in as an active consultant to create a plan using Roots & Shoots and Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE) methods, to care for animals, the environment and the human community simultaneously. TACARE was established by the Jane Goodall Institute in Tanzania in 1994 to support sustainable livelihoods and address poverty.

He had three days in Gales Point to accomplish this and set up a Roots & Shoots program.

¿We did it,¿ he adds. ¿At least we had a good start.¿

Meetings were held with village elders, young adults, youth leaders, parents, school staff and children to find out what they really wanted. They emphasized the need for cooperation between all age groups and organizations. They also expressed a desire to bring the kinds of programs that TACARE has brought to Tanzania, to Belize, namely eco-tourism.

This has the potential to give the village economic viability as well as an incentive to further protect their natural environment. According to Asselta, this could allow for further development with farmer¿s markets, crafts and cultural events, better cash crop development, and a way to deal with garbage and recycling, while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.

Administrators of the Manatee Research Project would like to get young people involved with their research, which Asselta acknowledges as the most important development of these meetings. They discussed ways for students to achieve the level of education needed to participate in the project, and how they could encourage them to return to their community with the knowledge to work for their people and the manatees.

¿This would be similar to what was done at Gombe with the Chimpanzees,¿ Asselta said.

A Roots & Shoots group is being formed at the elementary school in Gales Point with the assistance of administrators and teachers. Previously there had been a group formed in 2001 and those former group members came forward to lead the new club.

The village clean up and planting that the children were so enthusiastic about, was started by Emmeth Young, a community youth leader and musician.

¿This talented, caring but frustrated community is willing to do what needs to be done,¿ Asselta said. ¿They may lack material resources, but they have good ideas and the dedication needed to get things done.¿