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Elida Castillo
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It is probably safe to say that what draws many to this wonderful island
of ours is the uniting of people from all walks of life who choose it for
their home. San Pedro has grown to become a very popular tourist
destination. Workers and business owners of various nationalities give
their best to assure that our town is the number one vacation spot in
Belize. This week we are happy to introduce a businesswoman who has come
to San Pedro and excelled in our growing business world - Mrs. Elida
Castillo.
Elida was born in the very small community of Isabela
Bank in the Belize District to humble, hardworking parents. She recalls
that although her father was a farmer, with fierce hard work and sheer
determination, he managed to provide his fifteen children with a good
education. Elida graduated from Pallotti High School in Belize City in
1978 and then completed a one year Senior Secretarial Course at Belize
Technical College.
Prepared to face the challenges of life, she joined
the work force in 1979 at Arnold's Construction Supplies in Belize City
as a bookkeeper and sales clerk, a job she held for three years. In 1980,
Elida married former Bank Manager, Alfonso Castillo. Their union produced
three lovely children and their children, following in their footsteps,
are determined to get a good education. Liliana, 18, is presently in her
last year of Junior College; Candice, 15, is in her third year at
Pallotti High School and Kristle, 13, is in her first year at San Pedro
High School.
Mrs. Castillo went to work for the US Peace Corps
(Belize) in 1982, as a receptionist. In time she advanced to Executive
Secretary and by the time she resigned, in 1991, she was the Program's
Assistant. Shortly after, she found herself moving to the southern part
of the country, namely Punta Gorda, where her husband had been
transferred. Once there, she sought employment as an Office Manager with
the International Reserve Committee, a non-profit organization that
worked closely with refugees. Mrs. Castillo was involved with this
project for two and a half years. In 1995, Mrs. Castillo found herself
relocating again, this time to San Pedro where her husband had been
transferred as the manager of Belize Bank. Mrs. Castillo commented, "It
took me some time to get adjusted to living in San Pedro. I thought it
was a small village but I came to find that it was a surprisingly
developed community and a totally different lifestyle than I had been
accustomed to in Punta Gorda."
Mrs. Castillo did not work for most of her first year
on the island, giving her time to slowly adapt to the town. In December
of 1996, she became employed as a bookkeeper/front desk agent at Paradise
Resort Hotel. Two years later, she was promoted to General Manager.
Today, Mrs. Castillo has the responsibility of overseeing the daily
operations and supervision of sixteen employees. "Even though we are a
small staff, we work as a team and use all our resources to ensure our
client's satisfaction," said Mrs. Castillo. Some very visible changes
that have occurred since her promotion have been the renovations of
rooms, impressive landscaping, assuming management of the resort's bar
and deli, and the computerization of office files and data in order to
compete with the daily requirements of this busy enterprise.
Although a businesswoman with many demands on her
time, Mrs. Castillo is very supportive of town functions and is willing
to be a part of anything that will benefit this community. She said, "I
think development is good as long as we do not lose our culture,
tradition and moral values. I personally find it very sad to see that the
youth have a limited amount of healthy activities to occupy themselves
with here. I pledge the support of myself and Paradise Resort to
making a difference in this aspect."
Five years after moving to San Pedro, Mrs. Elida
Castillo feels perfectly adjusted and now adds to the multi-faceted
business personalities that make "Our Community" - Paradise.
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