BB-2-e
Margaret Ackman (dinner) 13/6/78
(Sharon A, Tim C [Carter], Sandy Jones, Tim J. [Jones], Anita K [Kelley], Ralph J [Jackson])
-she told us to invite Chancellor Haynes/ he said he was going to come but had a meeting he was to speak at and if he didn’t come by 9:00PM he probably couldn’t make it but he was friendly on the phone and did remember to call and tell us he might not be coming
-it was interesting she told us to invite him/ told us he was approachable and would be good to know someone like him (he’s head of the entire judiciary), now we have in intro to invite him again – said he was poor as a youth/she has a group she works with who were formerly in jail and she said often the police don’t give them a chance to rehabilitate themselves but pick on them/ they put on a mock trial at city hall and she invited Hayes/ he came and talked to them/ told them that he could easily have ended up in jail had it not been for luck (and God)- in that he was employed as a young man and used some of his employer’s money/ the employer asked for it and he was afraid to tell his parents/ he had an uncle who came to visit at that time and he convinced the uncle to give him the money or surely he would have ended up in jail – she said Hayes is that kind of man who will go to anyone’s home and is not one to put on airs
-she is traveling to Yugoslavia for a communist conference (of all the communist countries) – she leaves in a day or so (and with the referendum coming July 10 and this trip, it is quite amazing she came), said she had told us she’d come and hadn’t been able to come and she didn’t want us to think she didn’t want to come
-she may also go to SF California next/ wants to go, I told her if she tells us when we’ll have her meet our SF members and we can help in any way, housing, whatever. She was moved by this
-she’s traveled all over the Caribbean, to India, she has been to Cuba but isn’t very impressedby it/ not enough freedom she said/ as if they are afraid (mabye she said of an attack, she doesn’t know), but they have to use the ration card and have ration shoes, they don’t see fashion magazines – she said Castro when she saw him was very well dressed, in a shirt like you would get in London, and a woman spoke of him like he was god “he gave us everything we have”, she didn’t like that/ said you have to know when to give people freedom/ said the PM lets people make their choice
-she said that in Cuba, the officials have good Scotch but the people can’t get certain things
-she says she does all kinds of charity work/ there was a big fire where many people lost their home/ the PM asked her to do something about it and she went to the fire to help/ she eventually got called everytime there was a fire/ this developed into the National Relief Fund. Now it’s used for many people who are in need/ she raised thousands and thousands of dollars thru it
-some people recently lost their 3 children and she arranged for them to have funerals but the bill came to her office and now she has to get $250 dollars more to pay for it
-she picks up old people on the street to give them a ride even if she has to pick them up bodily herself and she has an arrangement with a man in a care home where he’ll take them in and give them a home/ she goes out there some Sundays she says to help comb their hair and clean them up, change their sheets
-she says she has trained her staff to be compassionate
-when I told her about 1200 people in Jonestown and the street signs and how the seniors decorate it and the baby nursery (she especially loves children) she said “I’ll have to see it”, she is very supportive
-she speaks favorably about the PM being a great man and Viola being a wonderful woman (of course she would do that), says when the PM gives her a project he’ll say “you take care of it” (leaving her to figure out how to deal with it
-she had 3 children, 2 are in the states, her eldest is here
-she’s worked in the party for many many years/ was a kindergarten school teacher at one time but was interested in politics also and so involvedherself and kept on working for the Party –