I will be sharing with my readers my journey as a single mom in becoming
a successful telecommuter from Belize and I hope that my experiences and investigative tips will
assist other Belizean women in successfully finding employment online from
home. I believe this may not be the complete solution for
the socio-economic problems in our society but could help to provide
some financial relief to the unemployment issues affecting us.
Like most Belizeans, I am
very concerned about the deteriorating societal conditions in my country and I
found the most recent employment statistics released by the Statistical
Institute of Belize to
be most disturbing. A survey which was conducted in September 2012 shows that Belize has a population of 342,636 people and that 16%
of Belizeans are unemployed. What I found to be extremely disturbing is that
75% of the workforce is without even a primary school level of education with
63.5% being women, who ARE the backbone of our country.
Low incomes and unemployment are known
key socio-economic factors which augment increases in violent gang
related crimes in communities. Similar viewpoint has been
expressed in an abstract titled “the
relationship between socio economic factors and gang violence in the
City of LosAngeles” by D N DN
Kyriacou, H R HR Hutson, D D Anglin, C C Peek-Asa, J F JF Kraus J Trauma 46(2):334-9 (1999), PMID
10029043 .
I feel that criticism of government policies or searching for
someone to blame for the current status of 40% of Belizeans living in abject
poverty, does little to alleviate the misery of those living in such
impoverished conditions. A quick fix of saturating our streets with policemen,
making stringent laws and incarcerating offenders, does not address the known
catalysts which have contributed to the current crime wave in our communities.
I feel it is my civic duty to try to do something to help in improving
the status of my Belizean sisters who are known to
be hard-working women and the pillar of our communities, despite the
majority being single moms with little or no formal education or job skills. We
must utilize whatever means available to facilitate a proactive atmosphere for
enterprises to flourish, thereby reducing the unemployment rate in our
society.
People want to work so they can have a better quality of life and
to be able to educate their children. This can be seen by the
employment niches filled by call centers like Ready CallCenter and Transparent
BPO who
are currently in operation in Belize. Hence, I decided to investigate
telecommuting opportunities as they relate to the Belize workforce, taking into
consideration that many do not own a computer, have computer skills or internet
access in their homes.
I would appreciate any tips and constructive criticism from my
readers and look forward to hearing from you.
