All week people have been coming in from all the communities to see if their names are on a list to receive the fertilizer that the federal government is giving all the farmers.
They are receiving 100 pounds of fertilizer and 25 pounds of seed corn. This is another good gesture on the part of the government (like the school uniform give-away).
However – and here comes the frustrating part: As lovely a gesture as this is, the PROCESS and methods of dispensing leave a lot to be desired. The Pastoral Team and the people in the communities have been talking about this a lot.
First, the word came out that this was going to happen. Then each community’s Directiva (City Board) was to compile a list of all their people that work the land. These lists then went to City Hall in Berlin.
So far, so good – this seemed a good way to get the names of the farmers for the gov't agency to know how much fertilizer to deliver to Berlin.
City Hall now had the lists, but they started crossing off names. Why? No one is exactly sure. There is speculation.
And now people are coming to town to see if their name is on the list. And all too often, a name is NOT. And there is no good reason for that name to have been omitted.
Many, many people are wondering and complaining … they see that the people working the give-away, all the city hall workers and secretaries, the security people all have THEIR fertilizer … but excuse me… THEY are not farmers. So what’s up with that? (And some of them take their fertilizer home every day). Who is watching the watchers??
Then there are two gentlemen who are working the give-away (which is being held a block from us on the main street in front of the high school). They are saying – “Anyone who gets help from the Pastoral House will not be on the list”. That is the excuse they are giving some people who are not on the list. So even if someone just came here for help to pay for a medical exam (and especially those who have received fertilizer from their sister churches) they can be taken off the list. But they are not being consistent.
And we know that premise is bunk. Many people from Virginia, El Recreo, Corozal, etc, etc have remained on the list of recipients, and they all received fertilizer from their sister churches. We’re not sure what is up with these two gentlemen. Again we speculate … they don’t get help from us perhaps – and actually, we denied one of them once, because what he was asking for was huge (way beyond our means) and not in the spirit of service to the greater community.
Sigh. Sometimes it is like a soap opera here.
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