Hon. Valerie Woods
21st Convocation Exercises
Keynote Address – July 14, 2024
Here is what I have learnt through my experiences. The truth is for some of you, you may never see each other again. Life is real. We drift away. We keep our circles small. There is nothing wrong with that. I come from a fairly large family, a family of 8. About half of us have migrated outside of Belize. My mother has 12 grandchildren. Only 3 (that’s 25%) remain in Belize. The cold reality is that in the 21st century, opportunities outside of Belize abound and are endless and quite tempting. Brain drain is a real issue and it is incumbent on the leadership in country (political, business, educational leadership) to address this if we want to contribute and sustain national development locally. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for maximizing your potential first and ensuring that you fulfill that potential. It is up to those of us in leadership to ensure we tap into that and find ways to collaborate to make it mutually beneficial and have those who have excelled outside of Belize to return to Belize or to contribute meaningfully to national development.