Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Late Report - Charity Relief problems, San Carlos
Charity, giving, in Mexico, even after natural disasters, is often problematic.
I don’t really know if any substantial relief goods made their way from La Ribera to the Mulege area after Jimena but I can report that a local good
Samaritan, Smokey Stover, here, rounded up a big truck/trailer load of things which he ran up to the needy folks at San Carlos (the one in Mag Bay)
just after the storm.
I was a little short in the bolsa at that particular time so my contribution was some big bags of clothes. San Carlos was hit hard and they have been
busy swamping things out, rebuilding, cleaning, sprucing things up so they could once again be attractive to occasional tourists. I just heard back
from up there that the poor folks wearing my hand-me-downs were asked to leave town – the local townspeople scratched up enough bus fare money for
them to get as far as maybe Ensenada.
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dtbushpilot
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3294
Registered: 1-11-2007
Location: Buena Vista BCS
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Mood: Tranquilo
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That's a shame Jorge.
Sometimes it's hard for those who wish to help by donating large sums of clothes, school supplies etc. to put themselves in the local vendors shoes.
Imagine for a minute that you own a tienda in a small town. You have put everything on the line to provide a better life for your family and to
provide for the needs of your community. You've done all that you can to protect your inventory from an approaching hurricane but lose over half of
your stuff in the storm as well as having your house and store heavily damaged. After the storm the town is flooded with donations of the very thing
you have left to sell and nobody is buying the few things you have left. To add insult to injury there are people who have "commandeered" large
amounts of donated items and are selling them on the street for pennies on the dollar.
The store owner is soon out of business and perhaps moves away to find a way to feed his family. The town has 1 less hard working entrepreneur to
provide for their needs and everyone loses.
I was fortunate to be involved in the hurricane relief and I did what I could to support the local shops that were trying to reopen. Some will survive
and unfortunately some won't.
Being a business owner I usually see things from a different perspective than most. You can agree or disagree, this is just my observation......dt
"Life is tough".....It's even tougher if you're stupid.....
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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DT,
I believe you hit it right on the nose. I feel the same way about our Sunday market here in Loreto. They DO provide decent produce, compared to some
of the bad stuff most local markets offer, but, in total, all those stands, manned by mainly Constitution folks, cut heavily into the local economy
and make the survival of the local merchants all the more difficult.
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Phil S
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 10-28-2003
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Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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Pam of I fly fish. In response to Eds comment. Perhaps the city should start charging a "vendors" fee on all those vendors. That might cause them
concern about coming to Mulege to "suck some of the $$$$$$'s out of town." Great thought Ed
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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Phil,
They probably do pay a stand fee. Good for the city coffers, but doesn't help the local merchants any.
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BajaNuts
Super Nomad
Posts: 1085
Registered: 5-11-2008
Location: eastern WA, the DRY side
Member Is Offline
Mood: no worry, no hurry....it's all good!
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Osprey, did all your clothes go to one person/family? Is this for real?
And about the constitution vendors taking money out of the local market...
Why aren't the local market clueing in to the fact that people want quality fresh produce? Recent storm issues aside, it sounds like this has been an
issue for a while.
IMhumbleO, if the local markets are not providing what the customers want, why badmouth the customers for buying a better product at the Sunday
market?
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