Post
by ninety9 » Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:46 pm
I said I would not respond and I didn’t. But now that you gentlemen have run out of air I will tell the story of any connection between me and Mr. Fletcher.
When I made by July 2013 post I did not even remember the man’s name. I did recall the memorable name of the bar – Bogey and Bacall. My post and question were a causal inquiry, along the lines of wondering what ever happened to the guy who played the skipper on Gilligan’s Island.
Years ago I drank occasionally at Bogey and Bacall. Probably found it by going in for a happy hour drink. I’m nothing if not parsimonious. It seemed an OK place, a little to the new and modern side. The staff were friendly. The two barangs who owned it were pleasant and seemed to know a bit about roots rock and blues. All told, I don’t think I was in the place more than a dozen times and never really learned the names of the owners.
The owners ran this charitable program where they would rent a big truck about 3 times a month, stop to buy food at a local produce market and go to the garbage dump and distribute small rations of food to the people who lived at the dump and made their living scavenging the enormous piles of garbage. Bar customers and others were invited to go and assist and to contribute money if they wanted to. There was no pressure. One of the owners did regularly speak about how much better it was to give direct help of this kind rather than giving money to NGO’s where much would be wasted.
I went to the dump with a group 2 or 3 times with about 7 to 15 volunteers. I contributed $20 2 or 3 times. I was offered a receipt but I declined it, as the guys seemed trustworthy. We would all get in the truck, drive to the market were the owner would get out with a few volunteers to help and buy quantities of bananas, oranges and bread baggetts. I went along to the market to buy and help load the food at least once.
When we got to the dump, people, mainly children, would line up at the back of the truck. Each would be given a baggette, one or two oranges and one or two bananas. About 500 of these ration packets would be given out until the food was gone. It was quite hard work for the volunteers to put these rations together and hand them off one by one.
Also, there was a volunteer who was medical professional who would set up a simple station to treat kids with cuts mainly on the feet, skin infections and other such injuries. He seemed a gentle and competent guy.
As to the owner’s [who I assume to be Fletcher] interaction with the kids, he would stand around and some kids would gather around him. He was somewhat happy and affectionate with them. For as much as I saw, it was nothing unusual and did not appear to be sexual. It did not attract my attention. I was working hard and busy almost all the time [about one hour or so] that we were out there.
I returned a few years later and looked for the bar but it was gone. Some other bar was there in its place. I was curious about the bar and the garbage dump program so I asked around in a few bars, I think. I was told, generally, that he owner had cheated some people in a business deal, abandoned the bar and left town. That was the end of the story and the limit of my knowledge until, out of idle and chatty curiosity I made my July 2013 post on 440.
I give to a number of charities, 2 or 3 of which are Cambodia related. As may be seen above, my involvement with the dump food distribution was minor and not particularly personal. If such a program were ongoing now, I would happily volunteer and contribute again. I would be embarrassed not to. If I have a fault in this area, it’s not giving enough money and work to charity. I suspect I share this fault with many here.
I posted on this site today in response to other posts that told of suspicious looks and negative reactions to barangs in the company of children. I told the the story of my long experience being in public in Southeast Asia with the children in my girlfriend’s family and the agreeable and unremarkable reactions to it. One of the several outings described was the rock performance at Sharky’s. Some thought it inappropriate for a small child. I did not. Really an unremarkable disagreement. It should have led to some exchange of ideas and, at worst, vigorous argument.
What happened was that in short order, with my Bogey and Bacall post as “evidence” I was called out as a pedophile supporter and an accessory to rape. This is by far the worst and most frightening conversational conduct I have ever experienced on or off the internet. For shame.