At 6am this morning the sun was up and the day had begun. I took a walk to the beach - nope - no workers out yet. Oh well - I guess that as the sun was only just starting the day - so to were the "workers" - probably have one of their three meals a day at the compound.
7am - ok by now I figured - they have had breakfast - had time to be bussed to the beach - and get their boots on. So I walked back to the beach - nope noone around yet. Ok - I figured well maybe they did not sleep well last night at the compound and were having a slow start.
7:30am - Hmmmm still no sign of anyone
8am - ok I was starting to see the workers arriving. They walk down the beach from where they are dropped off. I decided to sit and watch how their day started. It was a beautiful morning and I could see dolphins out in the water - so I tried to ignore the fact that the beach was blocked off and that there is a question as to whether or not these dolphins will be alive this time next year.
The workers approached and starting bagging stuff from the beach into white bags - I could not get really close - but looked like it is the dead seaweed that they were bagging. Hmmmmm - I could see oil on the beach - why were they ignoring the oil?
8:30am - an arguement started amongst the workers. There seemed to be two guys - wearing saftey vests - in charge. Sorry but I don't know what they were arguing as they did not speak English and my spanish is limited.
But suddenly after about 15 minutes of work they all headed off back down the beach from where they had come from. Oh yes - I forgot - they can only work fro 20 minutes - including walking time - and then they have to take a break.
I myself was really enjoying the morning sun and would have liked to have spent a few more hours on the beach. But I thought that I would head back to the motel and post a blog about a moment in the day of the workers here on the beach.
A good question was asked last night on the discussion board at Boycott BP - have these workers received pay checks? I cannot speak for all of the workers - only for Keiswich who I met two days ago - yes he is being paid regularly. I will try to ask this question of more of the workers today.
I guess that the Shrimpers here just chose the wrong career. Who knew that it would be more profitable to wait for a manmade disaster and get hired on - be given three square meals a day - accommodation - regular paycheck - then to continue in the family business and shrimp for a living.
2 comments:
Pam - this is astounding! Why on earth would dead seaweed be collected and not the oil? The answer to that is obvious - it is easier for unqualified labourers to walk a beach and pick up seaweed then it is to somehow fix a momumental problem like an oil soaked beach.
Are there any protests going on anywhere or have people become shell shocked (or should I say BP-shocked). Bad Joke, sorry.
Love you and thanks for keeping us in the loop.
I hope Daily Planet is plugging this blog.
Pam, I am crying as I look at the photo of the birds. And wow, how did you find a cat that looks like both Jupitor AND Oomar!
Amazing photos and great commentary.
Love you,
Your sister
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