Esther Ayuso, (born November 1958) was the first female Belizean architect. She is known for her designs to improve hospitals in Belize including Belize Medical Associates, the Cleopatra White Polyclinic, Matron Robert polyclinic, the Hoy Eye Clinic and the PICU/

NICU A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), also known as an intensive care nursery (ICN), is an intensive care unit (ICU) specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants. Neonatal refers to the first 28 days of life. Neonatal care, as kn ...

wing of Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital due to be completed in 2015. She has served as a Senator and as the Chair of the National Women's Commission, as well as the Belizean delegate to the

Inter-American Commission of Women The Inter-American Commission of Women ( es, Comisión Interamericana de Mujeres, pt, Comissão Interamericana de Mulheres, french: Commission interaméricaine des femmes), abbreviated CIM, is an organization that falls within the Organization of ...

. In 2015 she was awarded the

Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for contributions to the community.

Early life and education

Esther Josefina Ayuso was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, to Josefina (née Medero), a banking clerk, and Oscar Ayuso, a Belizean banking official with the Royal Bank of Canada. Shortly after her birth, the family returned to Belize City in

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

. There she would later attend St. Catherine’s Academy High School, graduating in 1975. That same year she travelled to

with the aim of becoming an architect, but due to differing matriculation requirements for Venezuelan colleges, she was told she had to resit several high-school level courses to successfully secure admission and study at

Universidad Central de Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...

. She diligently pursued all necessary entry requirements, completing all necessary coursework in just two years and securing entry into the architectural program at UCV. In 1983 she graduated with a technological architectural degree. Returning to Belize, she was unable to find immediate work and returned to Venezuela in 1983. There she met and married a fellow architect, with whom she welcomed two sons in 1990 and 1991, respectively. The family remained in Caracas until the

1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

. Returning to her home country of Belize, Ayuso initially secured employment at Professional Engineering Services as an architectural associate, where she remained until 1995 when she and her husband opened their private architectural practice, Arcade Ltd. Besides residences, Ayuso is known for her public works projects which include the expansion of Belize Medical Associates from a small private clinic into a hospital; remodeling of the Cleopatra White and Matron Robert polyclinics; and work on the Hoy Eye Clinic and several branches of Atlantic Bank Ltd. In 1996, the couple welcomed their third son. During

Hurricane Keith Hurricane Keith was an Atlantic hurricane in October 2000 that caused extensive damage in Central America, especially in Mexico and Belize. It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone, eleventh named storm, and seventh hurricane of the 2000 Atlantic h ...

in 2000, Arcade Ltd. suffered severe damages and the couple shifted their attention and expertise to the field of architectural and construction consultation. In 2006, Ayuso was appointed by Prime Minister

Dean Barrow Dean Oliver Barrow, SC PC (born March 2, 1951) is a politician from Belize who served as prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party. An attorney by profession, Barrow served as Belize's ...

to serve as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. In 2008, after serving two years on the Senate, Ayuso was appointed chair of the newly organized National Women's Commission (NWC). That same year she was also appointed to serve as Belize's delegate to the

, a post she still maintains. Under her leadership of the NWC, the commission undertook a study to update the National Gender Policy, held several symposia on developing a Gender Studies program in Belize, and conducted a Women in Politics Project to educate women about politics and holding elected office. Ayuso was one of the founding members of the Belize City Local Building Authority that was organized in 2009. The Authority was created to stabilize building code enforcement and help the city council draft zoning and safety regulations. In 2011, ground was broken for a

Pediatric intensive care unit A pediatric intensive care unit (also paediatric), usually abbreviated to PICU (), is an area within a hospital specializing in the care of critically ill infants, children, teenagers, and young adults aged 0-21. A PICU is typically directed by o ...

at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, which was designed by Ayuso. It is projected that the construction will be completed and the PICU and

wings will be fully operational by December 2015. In 2015 Ayuso was appointed an Officer of The Order of the British Empire for contributions to the Belizean community and her dedication to women's rights.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayuso, Esther 1958 births Living people Venezuelan women architects Belizean women architects People from Caracas 20th-century Belizean architects 21st-century architects Belizean women's rights activists 21st-century Belizean women 21st-century Belizean people 20th-century Belizean women 20th-century Belizean people