Saturday, June 7, 2008

Today's Gasoline Price; Feeding Flood Victims; and Doing it "Belizean Style"!

Hi everyone,
It is Saturday, June 7. If you look back on my post of May 29th, you will see where the gas prices here for regular was around $10.59 for 1 gallon of regular gas. $10.59bz translates into about $5.30 U.S. dollars per gallon. Well, I checked today and the avg price per gallon of regular gasoline today, just 9 days later is $10.82bz. Which would be about $5.41 U.S. dollars. Who would have ever thought just 2 years ago that gasoline could cost this much?

This evening around 5:00p, I will be assisting the Ministry of Human Services in preparing food for some of the tropical storm victims on the outskirts of the Dangrigan township who are still tremendously affected by last weekends flooding rains. Many are still without electricity, food, etc....This morning, the Ministry provided meals to be delivered for lunch and will do the same this evening for dinner. Michelle Irving, Director of the Women's Dept here, also serves as the director of the human services. She informed me that althoughcitizens of Belize are used to rains during this time of the year, these particular tropical storm depressions were more devastating than anyone expected. Her offices count of the dead and missing is now up to 11 people. She said no one really anticipated the flooding because Belize had experienced 6 straight months of no rain. Everyone was actually happy for the rain and thought it woud be soaked up in the barren grounds quickly. That really demonstrates exactly how severe of rain systems Tropical Storms Alma and Arthur were.

Since I have some extra time on my hand this weekend, I want to do whatever I can to help out. The government is distributing food, foam beds, water and more. Although it is slow getting to some of the villages, they are making progress "Belizean style" (as I have heard many say here). Meaning, they may be slow but they will eventually get it done. Meanwhile, it is good to see the high spirits many have while helping their brothers and sisters in need.

Also, today, I found an internet cafe to post this message on. Unfortunately, our internet provider for the house I live in is having trouble getting several customers up and running since the storms. So I may not be able to post as frequently or with pix until our internet service is restored at the house......Belizean style.

Next post, I have just a few words on Hillary's speech today and her endorsement of Barack Obama from an African American female perspective........

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