This next story is a cautionary tale about the complexities of poverty and that there's hardly ever a simple solution for complicated problems.
Yesterday, we told you about the Latchman couple and the grim conditions that they had been living in. Following the story, there was a massive outpouring of support and donations, and even the Department of Human Development stepped in.
And while this couple no doubt needed assistance, they required a different type of help than just material items. Courtney Menzies went back to the house on George Street today and learnt that perhaps what they really need is intervention and supervision.
An elderly couple, living in a damaged home overrun with garbage was enough to tug on anyone's heartstrings. And that's what happened to us - we were moved to buy groceries and lunch for the Latchman's after hearing their story.
And so did many other Belizeans, here at home and abroad. Since our story aired, the couple has been deluged with goodwill.
But there are two sides to every story, and today, we got the flip side - from the people who say they have been taking care of the couple. Their landlady, who chose to remain anonymous, and another caretaker hired by Dora's family, informed us that, like the wider public, we were drawn into a tangle of circumstances far more complicated than they appear on the surface.
The couple's landlady, who lives a short distance away, watched in dismay as the Good Samaritans poured in, and told us how she felt when she saw the story on the news.
Voice of: Landlady
"I was so shocked, I feel ugh. I don't think I could have slept good, every minute I get up and think, why did he do this? Because I help him, he never goes to sleep hungry. When he tell you he didn't get a meal from morning, he had just left from here with his breakfast."
"When he first came to me, he was homeless, and he said somebody took away his wife, some relative, and he need to get back his wife. The day when he came was November or December and cold, he said he didn't have anywhere to sleep and if I could give him the house to sleep for a night. I told him sure."
"He asked me, you couldn't rent me the house? Because I want to get back my wife but I need somewhere to put him. I said okay. He said I get $50 a week from Sista B, either a week or every two weeks."
"Then a lady, she doesn't want her name call, who donates $100 for the rent. But this was when the house was very good and clean, it wasn't like that, he broke the window, he take down the partition and sell it like the house belongs to him. He have the wire down on the ground in the water, I have to get a electrician to come and move it."
"Some time he call me and when I get there, I personally have to sweep or a young lady from West Street, she bathe Ms Dora, have all Dora clothes and I got some of the clothes from my people at states so she could have clothes. He took the clothes and throw them down for the dog to sleep on."
"But every morning, three times a day he get a meal."
Clearly, the 84 year old Latchman has his own problems - but according to her, not having food to eat wasn't his only misrepresentation. She told us that he sells the groceries he gets - and she proved it by these pictures her son took last night of Rupert on the street.
And this account was corroborated by Glennis Logan, who says she's been taking care of Dora for about decade. She told us she bought the groceries from Rupert because she uses them for Dora, and we saw for ourselves that she bought the very same groceries we had donated to the couple!
Glennis Logan, Dora's Caretaker
"He says no one helps him, I [take care] of his wife, I bathe his wife almost every day."
"I have clothes here, enough clothes to see what the lady has. Channel 7 already has on their camera the amount of groceries he got. And this is every month, they bring groceries for Mr Rupert, all he does is sell it."
And while this is a tough case that both ladies have had to deal with for years, they say all they want to see is that Dora is properly taken care of.
Courtney Menzies:
"What are you hoping comes out of this situation?"
Voice of: Landlady
"That they take care of Ms Eldora. She's the one who really needs the help. So the person that maybe come to you guys about them, I think the person wants Ms Eldora to get help, which is very good. But not that kind of help like putting things there because he will sell it. She needs to be somewhere like in a home."
Glennis Logan, Dora's Caretaker
"The social people need to look at this and get the lady from around him and put her in a home. The little $50 I make every two weeks doesn't matter if I stop get that as long as the lady is living in a livable condition and live happy and peaceful."
It's a complicated mess - and there are no simple solutions. For now though the couple has been taken into the care of the Human Services Department.
The landlady informed us that Rupert does have children, both here and in the US, and she says they often send money, clothes, and groceries.
