_{Marilyn Ordonez, Chairperson of HelpAge Belize City}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Tues. May 27, 2025

HelpAge Belize City hosted an arts and crafts exhibition at its Wilson Street branch on Tuesday, May 27. The exhibition was organized by elderly community members who regularly visit the institution every Tuesday.

“We have a little exhibition of what our members are, and where members are all senior ladies, and we have a few males. They come here and do arts and crafts, so this display is from arts and crafts sessions we have on Tuesdays,” said Marilyn Ordonez, Chairperson of HelpAge Belize City.

“It keeps their brains functioning, and it helps them to age without just sitting there, being stationary. They’re thinking, their hands are moving, so the motor skills are still active. So, the focus is to keep them active and to get them engaged in something enjoyable and beneficial for them … we get them off the internet, Pinterest, YouTube, [and] Facebook. So, we look at them and see the difficulties that might occur with them, and so we’ve made little things that we’ve used, some of them, that we believe they can handle,” she added.

HelpAge is known as one of the longest-running organizations that provide service to older citizens throughout the country through various activities such as home-care visits to sick and infirm older persons to provide limited medical care, with some branches also providing meal service, distribution of food packages, social companionship, and assistance in craft production, which is also done in Belize City.

_{Arts by the elderly}

When Amandala visited the institution, several children from nearby primary schools were on a visit to the facility to observe the activity.

“I think it’s good for the students to be aware of the benefits of arts and crafts, because these things can be taught in school, and it helps the children to be actively involved in something where they can grow, and they begin to think of making things that can be sold. I never thought that anyone would want to buy these little rings; and butterflies are made by these ladies; and they said it’s difficult, but at the end of the day, look, they made a cute little item, and the children love them,” Ordonez said.

HelpAge Belize City has an estimated 100 senior citizens as part of their membership, some of whom participated in the activity.

HelpAge has been in operation in Belize since the 1980s.