BB-32-l
[Editor’ s notes: The numerous typographical errors in these meeting notes have been corrected.]
May 1, 1978
Deborah Touchette
Man from England
Pegasus Poolside/ Deborah Touchette
– Jack Beam asked me to come and talk to some man that was cornering Loretta Cordell
– (I wanted someone else to come with me, but they were speaking with others)
– This man said he was from England and had come to Guyana in search of a job and to see his children.
– He said his wife was Guyanese and they had separated nine months ago, he was on speaking terms with her parents, but not with her. He said he came to see his kids because he thought she might go off somewhere with them and he wouldn’t ever see them again.
– He said he was interested in our project and wanted to know how long we have been in Guyana? What area we are located in? And our purpose for coming?
– I told him of the humanitarian service work and Jim Jones’ concern that two out of three babies go to bed hungry every day, and scientists say South America could be the food belt for the whole world. I also pointed out that Guyana is English speaking with fertile lands and we had hoped to be an example that by production in agriculture in Guyana, the people to be fed.
– He said he was glad to hear of a group of people doing something like this, said he had been in Guyana for nine months and was just tonight hearing of us.
– He said he used to live in Guyana many years ago, he worked for ten years in the bauxite mines in Linden, he said he married a Guyanese woman and have been married for ten years.
– Presently he was staying in Georgetown and working as a teacher in one of the schools
– said his office was electronics and that his office was filthy, also his home was a mess because he was now a bachelor, said implied he didn’t know how to clean (I felt he was laying a heavy hint that he wanted me to come and clean his home for him) said he didn’t have anyone to fix his meals or anything
– I told him he was going to have to clean up sometime because he couldn’t always live in a mess.
– He said he was glad we were being an example because there was a lot of bureaucracy in Guyana, people were lazy.
– Wanted to know if we had any trouble with Customs.
– I said not really, we go through the same procedures that everyone else does, but there is a law that states agricultural equipment comes in duty-free, and being that we are an agricultural project, this is helpful.
– He said yes it was for us, but he had a lot of trouble with customs, said he was trying to bring in some equipment to use, camera equipment. He said he might like to get together with us and do a film of our place, it wouldn’t be anything professional, but something that others could see of our project.
– he mentioned that he was now trying to bring in a jeep and the government was giving him so much hell, asking him to pay a lot of duty, and he wasn’t going to pay, he thought he deserved to have his car and that wasn’t much to ask.
– I said there is a lot of bureaucracy in customs, but it’s that way everywhere, I said I was told that it was just as difficult in the United States, although I don’t know because I’ve not dealt with customs much.
– He said it was in no way the same as Guyana.
[Crossed out line] – He asked me where he could contact me because he would like to talk more
– I asked him where I could contact him because more people would be able to give him a better perspective, people from different areas of the project.
He gave me his name and address and asked for our phone and address, I told him it would be better if I contacted him because I wasn’t in very often, he said the same applied to him, so he would like our address so he could contact us if I can’t get in contact with him by phone. He said sometimes he doesn’t get phone calls because the people who answer are too lazy to call him to the phone.
– I told him I would call on Tuesday and let him know when we would be able to have an appointment. (I had hoped to have radio contact by them)