Jose Berroawith his thin septuagenarian body and hands dirty with soot, pushes through streets of Villa Juana and other sectors of the capital its old forklift truck of rotten wood and worn wheels, driven by the weakened driving force of the years.
Inside the forklift truck black pieces taken from wood are observed, raw material from homes where poverty is cooked, but also used to a lesser extent for barbecuein which steaks and succulent meats are cooked.
¡Titmouse, titmouse! It is the word that the dealer José uses for more than 40 years and is repeated on the walls of the houses where he offers his merchandise, while he pushes the forklift truck using his weak legs as an engine and the hope that someone will respond to his cry as fuel.
He titmouse It is a Dominican image that has been out of use in the city’s neighborhoods for many years, but its figure remains intact in the minds of those who are half a century old and perhaps less. Proclaiming evokes the past of a city that has evolved in various aspects and customs.
Don José has worked in the bastard business since he was a child, a trade that he learned from his father and that has allowed him to support his family. With the rise of stoves and the use of propane gas, their clientele has decreased significantly, but some remain poor and can only get 20 pesos for a cast of coal to cook what little they get.
When asking Don José who still buys coal answers timidly: “The grocery stores and poor people”. The merchandise is brought from different places in the country, mainly from the southern region, to a stand on Arturo Logroño Street, former 18 de Villa Juana and another in the area around the Duarte Market, some stalls where Don José and other charcoal makers get their supplies.
Don José does not think about retirement, but his body is already showing signs of wear, fatigue and limitations. His strength is no longer what it used to be, his thin legs barely support his thin body. Their children no longer depend on the sale of the coalthey are all adults and he says he can live with little.
The distributor
José Manuel Sánchez (Mañiño) is a distributor of coalhas his business on Arturo Logroño Street, where Don José supplies himself every day. Each bag of coal It currently costs a thousand pesos.
He tells that the coal He buys them from farmers in the southern region, mainly from Azua. He clarifies that his 38-year-old business is legal and that he acquires the merchandise under equal conditions. To confirm, he showed reporters from Free Diary various route letters given to them by the authorities for the transfer of the coal to your business.
He says that the business is not like before, that after the rise of stoves and propane gas, sales have dropped significantly, but that some customers remain, such as very poor people from the neighborhoods and people who have barbecues at home or business.
Like every year, he hopes that the Christmas holidays will boost business because many people have barbecues because the food tastes better made in coal than in stoves.
“There are days when nothing is sold, other days more are sold. The grocery stores use coal to sell at retail, but there are also many poor people who still use coal“, held.
Don José and José Manuel are aware that the business from which they live is not in progress nor does it generate it for their families, but that, although with limitations, it allows them a little income from the black fossil fuel, of little use, which is used for cooking. the foods that sustain the body and allow it to continue pushing life forward.
